India and Myanmar Borderlands: Ethnicity, Security and Connectivity

This book explores the India–Myanmar relationship in terms of ethnicity, security and connectivity. With the process of democratic transition in Myanmar since 2011 and the ongoing Rohingya crisis, issues related to cross-border insurgency are one of the most important factors that determine bilateral ties between the two neighboring countries. The volume discusses a diverse range of themes – historical dimensions of cooperation; contested territories, resistance and violence in India–Myanmar borderlands; ethnic linkages; political economy of India–Myanmar cooperation; and Act East Policy – to examine the prospects and challenges of the strategic partnership between India and Myanmar, and analyzes further possibilities to move forward. The chapters further look at cross-border informal commercial exchanges, public health, population movements, and problems of connectivity and infrastructure projects. Comprehensive, topical and with its rich empirical data, the volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of political studies, international relations, security studies, foreign policy, contemporary history, and South Asian studies as well as government bodies and think tanks.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Rakhahari Chatterji 1. Conceptualizing India and Myanmar Borderlands: Ethnicity, Security and Connectivity Pahi Saikia and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury Part I: India–Myanmar Relations: Ethnicity and Security Dimensions 2. State-Territoriality, Circulation of Socio-Cultural Relations and Resistance in India–Myanmar Borderlands Pahi Saikia, Ingudam Yaipharemba and Apurba K. Baruah 3. Crisis in the Rakhine State of Myanmar: Bilateral Relations with India in Perspective Mihir Bhonsale 4. Reality on the Indo–Myanmar Border: Field Observations from Longwa and Hmaungbuchhuah on Issues of Ethnicity, Connectivity and Security Rajeev Bhattacharyya 5. Territoriality, Ethnic Contestation and Insurgency in the Indo–Myanmar Borderland Ngamjahao Kipgen Part II: Proximity to Connectivity: India–Myanmar in Perspective 6. India–Myanmar Relations: A Perspective from the Border Alana Golmei 7. India–Myanmar Borderland: Pressing Concerns in Public Health Hazards Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury and Sreeparna Banerjee 8. Employing Proximity: Boosting Bilateral Ties between India and Myanmar Pratnashree Basu Part III: Changing Political Landscape and India–Myanmar Cooperation 9. Political Economy of Sub-Regional Cooperation: ‘Interests’ in Reframing the Peripheries of India and Myanmar Rakhee Bhattacharya 10. Act East Policy and the Importance of Myanmar and Northeast India Region Nehginpao Kipgen 11. India–Myanmar Relations: Political Transition and Shared Borderlands K. Yhome

About the Author :
Pahi Saikia is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. She is the author of Ethnic Mobilisation and Violence in Northeast India (2011). Her areas of specialization are international relations; foreign policy between India and neighboring countries; ethnic identity politics, tribes and indigenous people in Northeast India; governance and political development in developing areas; security issues in borderlands Asia; social movements; and conflict prevention. She has published articles in books and in peer-reviewed journals such as India Review on security concerns and risks of conflict in the South Asian subregion, subnationalist insurgency, ethnofederalism and marginalized tribal ethnic minorities in India’s northeast. Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is Senior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s Neighbourhood Initiative, Kolkata chapter, India. She specializes in South Asia, forced migration and women in conflict zones. Among her published work are the books Connecting Nations: India and Southeast Asia (co-edited, 2019); State of Being Stateless (co-edited, 2015); Women in Indian Borderlands (co-edited, 2011) and SAARC at Crossroads: The Fate of Regional Cooperation in South Asia (2006). She is a regular contributor to peer-reviewed journals, newspapers and magazines on energy crisis and subregional cooperation in South Asia, religious violence, connectivity and refugee issues in South Asia.