oa Violence and the Production of Space in Yangon: From “Transition” to the State Administration Council (2011 – 2021)

In this presentation, I wish to describe the spatial politics of Yangon (before 1989 officially known as Rangoon), Myanmar’s largest city, focusing on the relatively short period of “Transition” from rule by the Army-State to a hybrid military-civilian government as defined by the 2008 Constitution. This period ended suddenly on February 1, 2021, when Senior General Min Aung Hlaing carried out a coup d’état and established a new martial law regime, the State Administration Council (SAC). The Transition – ending with a reverse course back to military rule – lasted a little less than ten years (March 2011 – February 2021); but even before the Army-State took back power, the direction this “hybrid democracy” was taking was ambiguous and problematic.