ABSTRACT
Burma (Myanmar) has been making a transition from a military regime to a quasidemocratic system since the middle of 2011. This process of democratization and economic liberalization was launched under the auspices of the military under a government that has been dominated until the 2015 elections by ex-military men. Although various aspects of governance have indeed changed for the better, including initiatives advocated by the international community such as the release of political prisoners, abolition of media pre-censorship, negotiating ceasefires with a number of ethnic armies waging rebellion against the government, in addition to numerous economic reforms, there have been serious outbursts of communal violence. Muslims have been the target of sectarian hostility and rioting that draw on an ‘exclusive’ nationalism propagated by the majority ethnic group of Burmese Buddhists. This ethnic and religious chauvinism is not new but has become virulent in the twenty-first century precisely because of the ongoing political transition and the uncertainties and anxieties it generates in a nation that suffers from endemic poverty. Muslims represent a convenient, and informally sanctioned, target for widespread frustrations. The problems generated by this exclusive nationalism extend beyond Burma’s Muslim minority, inciting often violent backlashes of ‘little’ nationalisms among the nation’s rich array of ethnic groups, but here we focus on the strife and mayhem that have swept through the Muslim community and the colonial-era roots of this scourge.
