%0 Journal Article
%T Discourses of Exclusion: The Societal Securitization of Burma¡¯s Rohingya (2012¨C2018)
%A Adam E. Howe
%J Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs
%@ 2349-0039
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/2347797018799000
%X Abstract The contemporary persecution of Burma¡¯s Rohingya has rapidly evolved from isolated episodes of communal violence into a global humanitarian crisis. The article analyses the evolution of the recent violence in Rakhine State from 2012 to the present. Specifically, I argue that Buddhist nationalist monks, including members of the ¡®969¡¯ Movement and Ma Ba Tha, in concert with the Burmese government, have acted as authoritative voices in society, depicting the Rohingya ethno-religious group as an existential threat to the country¡¯s majority Buddhist population. As such, hate-filled rhetoric has provided a politically unstable Burmese regime with an ideological justification for human rights abuses committed in Rakhine State. This phenomenon is analysed through Barry Buzan and Ole Waever¡¯s securitization thesis as a means of better understanding the discursive relationship among Buddhist nationalist monks, the Burmese government and the Burmese Buddhists. Ontologically, this article focuses on anti-Rohingya discourse and major episodes of violence in western Burma¡¯s Rakhine State from 2012 to 2018. As a discursive process, securitization has not merely amplified Islamophobia within Burma, but significantly endangers future generations of Rohingya civilians
%K Burma
%K Myanmar
%K Rohingya
%K securitization
%K ethnic conflict
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2347797018799000