Myanmar (former Burma) has not had an easy path towards democracy. Once a British colony, the country has struggled with the violent military junta for several decades. The international community has been said to have failed in trying to stabilise Myanmar, in spite of good intentions. Although Myanmar is still far from being a consolidated country, there has, however, been some progress with democratisation.   This research will study how we can explain the democratisation process in Myanmar. It will concentrate on three key events which are analysed within a framework of two theories: Joseph S. Nye’s soft power, and realism. This study is conducted as a theory testing case study and is therefore using a qualitative method. Previous research in the form of democratisation theories from Diamond and Linz & Stepan are discussed as well. With the help of the theoretical framework, the study aims to discover whether the democratisation process can be explained with the help of those theories.

羅興亞穆斯林(Rohingya Muslim)或稱阿拉干穆斯林(Arakanese Muslim)，是居住在鄰近孟加拉的緬甸若開邦北部 (或稱阿拉干Arakan)穆斯林社群，大批印度穆斯林在二十世紀初殖民時期遷徙至阿拉干地區，形成新(印度)、舊(阿拉干)穆斯林混居，也導致羅興亞人之身分多有爭議。 因經濟資源壟斷、政治力量競爭及宗教文化衝突等原因，緬甸在1930年及1938年分別爆發反印度及反穆斯林暴動。而阿拉干穆斯林發起將阿拉干地區併入東巴基斯坦（即孟加拉）的政治行動未果後，除了以聖戰軍(Mujahideen)與緬甸政府對抗，並尋求設立自治區外，自1960年代發展以標榜阿拉干原住民的「羅興亞」認同，爭取內部凝聚及外部支持。 在宇努政府(U Nu)主政下，羅興亞人尚能以公民身份獲得參政權，而尼溫軍政府1978年發動清查非法入境者的龍王行動(Nagamin)及1982年實施新公民法後，羅興亞人公民權被徹底剝奪，並被迫在1978、1991-92、2012、2015及2016年間經歷數波難民離散，遷徙至孟加拉、馬來西亞及泰國等國。 「阿拉干羅興亞難民委員會」( RARC)是難民自身所建立的難民社群組織(RCOs)，不僅為羅興亞社群發聲，亦與聯合國難民署(UNHCR) 及非政府組織(NGOs)等單位合作，發展其社群力量。而在馬來西亞政府默許及容忍下，羅興亞難民獲得安全棲身之所，除可透過通婚取得永久居留外，在開放羅興亞難民工作許可等政策開放下，羅興亞難民在地融合及生活發展。 本文以滯留馬來西亞安邦的緬甸羅興亞難民社群為主研究對象，探討羅興亞溯源、緬甸佛教徒與穆斯林之宗教衝突、羅興亞離散、及難民社群組織發展。 / Rohingya Muslim (or Arakanese Muslim) have been residing in Northen Rakhine (or Arakan) in Burma/Myanmarfor centuries , with the mass inflow of Indians during British Colonial Period into Burma, Muslim population grew up and it resulted in competition,then ethnic tension simmered between Indians and Burmeses. The conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim bursted between 1930 and 1938 , and fail of integration of Arakan with East Pakistan (Bangladesh ) triggered Arakanese Muslim’s militant autonomy operation and the Arakanese Muslim created the “Rohingya” ethnic identity movement in the 1960s. The cleaning of illegal immigrant operation “ Nagamin ” in1978 , implementation of new Citizen Law in 1982, and religious and ecthnic conflict had resulted Rohingya in exile in 1978 ,1991-2, 2013, 2015 and 2016 , therefore Rohingya migrated to Bangladesh , Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. With the help of UNHCR and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) ,the Refugee Community Organizations(RCOs) such as Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee (RARC) not only play the role as intermediator between community and NGOs , but also lobbied the Malaysia government. This dissertation focuses on the Burmese Rohingya communities in Ampang Malaysia and the origin of Rohingya, the ethnic and religious conflicts between Buddhists and Muslims , the Rohingya Diaspora and development of RCOs.

Cette thèse étudie l’apparition, dans la mise en scène picturale des récits bouddhiques du début du 18e siècle, d’hommes et de femmes du peuple, discutant, se querellant, s’aimant, ou simplement dépeints dans leur quotidien, sans rapport avec ces récits dont ils occupent pourtant le premier plan. En parallèle à des personnages hauts en couleurs (fumeurs de narguilé, amateurs d’alcool et de femmes) d’origine indienne, portugaise et métisse, dont les noms propres figurent dans le cartouche des légendes des scènes, et qui caractérisent la production picturale de la région de la Chindwin, des quidams dépeints dans leur quotidien (cavaliers, vachers, chasseurs d’oiseau de mauvais augure, enfants accourus voir le Bodhisatta, hommes montant à un palmier) illustrent, eux, la place de plus en plus grande prise par le cadre de la transposition des récits, c’est-à-dire par la société des peintres. Les premiers donnent lieu à une série de portraits, souvent caricaturaux, et de scènes de genre d’un humour paillard qui témoignent d’un sens de l’observation de la nature humaine, d’autant plus aigu qu’il s’agit d’étrangers. Le propos de ces peintures n’est plus seulement d’édifier le spectateur mais de le surprendre et de le divertir. Les seconds illustrent le goût des peintres pour un quotidien perçu comme exotique du simple fait de sa représentation. Finalement, ce n’est pas à une sécularisation du propos des récits bouddhiques que nous assistons, mais au contraire à leur appropriation, à leur birmanisation, comme le prouveront dès la fin du 18e siècle, les séries de monuments bouddhiques régionaux. / This doctoral thesis studies the appearance, in the pictural mise en scène of early 18th century Buddhist narratives, of ordinary men and women discussing, quarelling, loving, or simply depicted in their everyday life, and who occupy the foreground of the narratives though they are not part of them. Together with characters hauts en couleurs (narghile smokers, alcohol and women lovers) of Indian, Portuguese and half-breed origin, whose proper names appear in the cartouche of the captions of the scenes, and who characterize the pictural production of the Chindwin region, are everyday fellows depicted in their daily life (horsemen, cowherds, hunters of ill-omen birds, children running to see the Bodhisatta, men climbing a palm tree). These fellows illustrate the increasingly large place given to the society by the painters. The characters hauts en couleurs give rise to a series of portraits, often of a caricatural inspiration, and to genre scenes of a bawdy humour that reflect a sense of observation of the human nature, all the more accurate as it depicts foreigners. The purpose of the paintings is not just to edify the audience, but also to surprise and amuse it. The fellows illustrate the tendency of the painters to represent life scenes as exotic. Finally we are not witnessing a secularization of the purpose of the Buddhist narratives but, on the contrary, their appropriation and their Burmanization, as shown by the series of regional Buddhist monuments starting from the late 18th century.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out the European Union's position on the discrimination of Rohingya in Burma since 2011. Over the years the country has initiated a number of reforms, transformed its political system and held first democratic elections. Since Burma has undergone considerable changes, the European Union first eased and then lifted almost all sanctions in 2013. The most pressing issue still facing Burma is the violations of human rights, especially in the case of Rohingya minority. Methodologically, the study is anchored by content textual analysis which was applied to a wide range of documents from which data was obtained for the analytical part of the study. The theoretical basis of the thesis is agenda-setting and salience. These theories were used to identify two hypotheses that examine the EU's position on the Rohingya crisis on the Unions agenda and its salience. Research has shown that the Parliament and the EEAS are paying the greatest attention. On the contrary, the Council and DEVCO spend less time on the issue. Despite all of the Union's efforts and the financial, human and material assistance provided, the situation has not improved and the Rohingya still face human rights abuses and are not full citizens of Burma.

In connection with its foreign policy, the European Union was until 2003 often seen as an actor lacking basically any "hard" power and it was often labeled as a "normative" power, "civilian" power etc. However, a group of scholars led by Ian Manners has been claiming that in connection with the adoption of the European Security Strategy in December 2003 the EU has lost its "soft" characteristics and has moved closer towards a traditional military actor. The master thesis deals with this issue of the alleged militarization of the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) after 2003/2004 while focusing on one particular area of the CFSP - the policy of restrictive measures or sanctions. This area is unique because of its special characteristic: on one hand, sanctions as such represent a "hard", coercive foreign policy tool and on the other, the EU has been autonomously using them already since the 1980s. The question therefore is what the frequent use of sanctions implies about the character of the EU and whether does the policy of restrictive measures stand, as a matter of principle, in opposition to being a "soft" power. By means of discourse analysis of the official EU sanction documents and by using the case of Burma (which represents a "typical case"), the thesis attempts to demonstrate,...

L’histoire de la Thaïlande, et sa politique d’intégration des «Montagnards», expliquent la spécificité de la situation des Karen sur le territoire national. Ces derniers ne forment pas un groupe homogène, comme le montre mon ethnographie. A partir, et par la comparaison de deux villages sgaw karen, j’appréhende le vêtement karen et la structure des garde-robes comme révélateurs de «l’identité» de ces populations qui se revendiquent à la fois Karen et Thaïlandaises. Ce qui fait le vêtement karen, les règles internes à la culture karen et les influences extérieures, se dégagent de l’analyse technologique et de la typologie qui en découle. Le processus de constitution des garde-robes, au quotidien et en contexte cérémoniel, mettent en exergue la place centrale de la femme. Le prisme du vêtement nous révèle une société attachée à la continuité des générations et intégrée dans la société thaïlandaise dont elle adopte, en partie, les codes. / The history of Thailand and its integration policy for the «people of the Mountains» account for the specific situation of the Karen on the national territory. As my ethnologic study shows, these people do not constitute a homogeneous group. Taking as a starting point the comparison between two sgaw villages, I consider the Karen garment and the structure of the wardrobes as revealing the identity of these people who claim to be both Karen and Thai. The technological analysis and the ensuing typology outline what characterizes the Karen garment, the internal rules within the Karen culture and the external influences. The process of the development of the wardrobes, in daily use and in ceremonies, highlights the central position of women. Through the prism of the garment, is revealed a society attached to the succession of generations and integrated into the Thai society whose codes it partly adopts.

Purpose: The overarching purpose of this research paper is to broaden the understanding of the rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficking victims by illustrating and explaining common rehabilitation and reintegration processes of Burmese trafficking victims, girls and women, in Yangon, Myanmar. As part of that overarching purpose, this paper also aims to analyse how and if the victims’ human rights are being properly upheld. The paper highlights the problem of the state’s actions of upholding human security and the right to possess protection against modern slavery, with specific focus on trafficked girls or women as right holders and the state (in this case Myanmar) together with non-state responsibility-holders as duty bearers. Method: The paper is based on data derived from a field study, with the empirical material gathered through walk-along at a trafficking shelter and semi-structured interviews with several NGOs, IGOs and other actors and in Yangon, Myanmar. Analysis: In Myanmar there is a lack of shelter space and not enough focus on the long-lasting impact of trauma in a trafficked person's life. A majority of trafficking victims that escape from trafficking situations are placed in shelters operated by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW-shelters) for a few days before being repatriated to their families and/or home community. This method, i.e., the repatriation of victims to their respective home community, is cost efficient, but not always in the best interest of the victims as it increases the risk of re-trafficking. Some victims are offered help from reintegration programs where vocational training is a common component, but little other effort is made to rehabilitate the victim from their psychological trauma. Many victims that seek restorative justice within the court system do not enjoy a fair trial, as procedures are unclear, and corruption is common amongst both judges and prosecutors. The lack of restorative justice is another factor that hinders the victims rehabilitating from their trauma as it decreases the chance to fully reintegrating the victims into society on a long-term basis. Finally, the enforcement of anti-trafficking laws is weakened by the fact that the Myanmar Anti-Trafficking Police Force is understaffed, undereducated and overworked.

An investigative research unraveling the implication of economic sanctions on Burmese women. This research was inspired by allegations in 2003 that thousands of women in Burma/Myanmar lost their jobs in the garment industry, thus exposing women to vulnerable aspects of forced migration and trafficking. A short case study of Iraq, Haiti, and Cuba is additionally provided while the history of economic sanctions and boycotts is heavily scrutinized. Perspectives of humanitarian law, human rights law, and feminist theory frame the basis of the research of which provide another critical dimension into the ongoing debate on economic sanctions.

This practice-based thesis presents the results of experimental research devoted to ethnic tourism among the Kayan minority and has involved the interconnection of artistic and anthropological languages. Known worldwide for the traditional female custom of wearing a long coiled brass necklace aimed at causing a considerable extension to the neck, the Kayan are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group originally from Burma. Due to the prolonged civil war in their own homeland, a large number of Kayan recently fled from Burma to refuge in neighbouring Thailand. Here, over the past years, in response to the “incisive” tourism policy promoted by the Thai government in the northern areas of the country, some families, abandoning the refugee camps where they were hosted, have been resettled in several new villages open to tourists, on payment of a modest entrance fee. Here the Kayan, their culture and their daily life, have been transformed into an authentic tourist attraction capable of drawing about 10,000 visitors a year. Founded on a strictly “visual media primitivist” approach and inspired by its peculiar aesthetics – as systematically presented in the first, theoretical, section of the thesis –, the enquiry involves a multimedia perspective. In such a context, analogue photography and filmmaking, creative writing and sound composition have been combined to give concrete shape to an original artwork firmly grounded in ethnographic practice. The choice, far from being a solely arbitrary and subjective option, has indeed been motivated by the critical employment of specific theoretical assumptions of some of the most recent streams of anthropology and epistemology of the human sciences. The multidisciplinary methodology adopted to develop the research, as well as the multifaceted language employed to display its results, represent an innovative and experimental way of approaching the complex theme of cultural identity in present-day Asian contexts, as well as of highlighting the most aesthetic and philosophic implications connected to the revival of analogue vintage media in contemporary artistic practice.

Les conflits armés dans des pays producteurs de drogues illicites, comme la Birmanie, sont parmi les plus longs du XXe et du XXIe siècles. Dans ces conflits, l’industrie de la drogue est souvent présentée comme la source de financement qui permet aux groupes insurgés de poursuivre leur combat contre le gouvernement central. Cependant, l’économie illicite birmane s’est développée pendant un conflit armé tout comme durant une période de stabilité accrue. Une analyse des régions shan, wa et kokang de l’État Shan démontre que les industries de la drogue ont prospéré à la fois durant le conflit armé et en l’absence de celui-ci lorsque des ententes entre élites existent autour du partage des rentes de cette économie. / Armed conflict in drug-producing countries such as Burma conflict, are among the longest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In these conflicts, the drug industry is often portrayed as the source of funding that allows insurgent groups to continue their struggle against the central government. However, the Burmese illicit economy grew both during armed conflict and during a period of increased stability. An analysis of the Shan, Kokang and Wa regions of Burma’s Shan State demonstrates that drug industries have flourished during armed conflict and in its absence when elites have agreed to share rents from the industry.