School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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ItemJustice in Crisis: Pursuing community-based liberation in Eastern Myanmar, its borderlands, and beyond( 2023-09)This thesis explores the gaps between community aspirations for justice and the possibilities offered through international law, development, and justice interventions in Eastern Myanmar and its borderlands. Grounded in collaborative and reciprocal community-engaged principles, this research was undertaken with contributions from ethnic community-based organisations (CBOs) in Eastern Myanmar and Northern Thailand. Qualitative interviews (21) and small group discussions (SGDs) (9) with 51 individuals of Karen, Karenni, and Ta’ang CBOs explored questions of identity, justice, and development from the perspective of CBOs, activists, and the communities that they worked for. I applied a grounded theory approach to the thematic analysis of transcribed interviews and SGDs, holding discussions with contributing CBOs before finalising two key findings. Firstly, this research found that activists and CBOs approached community justice needs through the specificity and groundedness of injustices that they experienced, and by exploring a holistic and interconnected conceptualisation of how justice could be achieved. Secondly, while international responses were found to enable justice through the mobilisation of resources towards, and the legitimation of, justice demands, they could also hinder justice by approaching it from an abstracted and universal perspective and through siloed approaches. These findings are explored in this thesis through a detailed discussion of how activists and CBOs conceptualise injustice, the opportunities and limitations they experience in invoking international frameworks to address these injustices, and the potential for their own conceptions of justice to form part of a liberatory justice that is not simply of local relevance but could transform the coloniality of current hegemonic approaches. By engaging with anticolonial and critical theories through a post-disciplinary approach, I seek to explain the ‘justice gap’ that emerges between activist/CBO-based justice goals and the opportunities for justice that are enabled by international frameworks of human rights, international development, and transitional justice. This thesis builds upon critical, community-engaged research on ethnicity, development, and justice in Myanmar, while bringing in wider theoretical critiques of the coloniality of international frameworks that can offer explanations for the ‘justice gap’ discussed above. In doing so, I consider how these frameworks might actively and passively uphold the very structures of violence against which CBOs work. In identifying such limitations in advancing struggles for justice, this thesis offers a compelling argument for supporting community-driven futures in Myanmar and beyond.
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ItemIndigenous resurgence and self-determination in Southeast Asia( 2023-05)The UNDRIP is the most comprehensive international instrument setting out the rights of Indigenous peoples, including the right to self-determination. While it did not create new rights, the UNDRIP introduced what some theorists argue is a “relational” model of self-determination, whereby Indigenous peoples exercise their right to self-determination in relationship with states. Some Southeast Asian countries have substantive legal and constitutional recognition and protections of Indigenous rights, including self-determination. There are also examples of Indigenous-state multilevel governance arrangements that empower self-determination at the local level, particularly in land and resource management. However, despite some such innovations and commitments in international and domestic law, Indigenous peoples’ rights in the region are largely ignored by governments. Indeed, the experience of ongoing colonisation connects Indigenous peoples globally. Indigenous resurgence, a growing body of decolonisation literature from North America proposes radical alternatives to the colonial relationship between Indigenous peoples and states. Central to resurgence theory is the assertion that Indigenous peoples should disengage from the state in order to protect themselves from further colonial harm and instead focus energies on their nationhood-building priorities. Then, from positions of renewed strength, engage with states in order to achieve political relationships based on mutuality and autonomy. This thesis considers how Indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia are defining and pursuing their right to self-determination, and whether these definitions and efforts reflect the tenets of Indigenous resurgence. To undertake this investigation, two original theoretical frameworks based on resurgence theory are applied to empirical findings about how self-determination is defined and pursued in the region. The findings show that self-determination in Southeast Asia can be understood in three ways: as a movement, an objective and a “toolbox” of tactics for interacting with states. Evidence of an Indigenous resurgence occurring across the region is reflective of Indigenous resurgence movements taking place in settle-colonial countries. As an objective, self-determination is a multifaceted pursuit, ranging from a pathway out of poverty to political power, and broadly consists of three domains: socio-economic wellbeing, civil rights, and cultural 'thrival'. As a “toolbox”, self-determination is being exercised via a trend of nine tactics that Indigenous peoples are strategically employing in their interactions with states. This thesis shows Indigenous resurgence is resonant in these objectives and tactics and fills a gap in the literature about Indigenous peoples’ political aspirations in Southeast Asia, advancing understanding of how self-determination as a relationship between Indigenous nations and states might be realised in the region. To this end, a novel relationship model is presented as a guide for Indigenous-state political relationships. The thesis also demonstrates the global reach of Indigenous resurgence theory, contributing to the ongoing global dialogue on the transformational impact of Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination in international and domestic political spheres.
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ItemAfter the Empire - Governance, Planning and Sustainable Indigenous Development in Australia( 2022-08)This transdisciplinary thesis identifies six planning systems significantly impacting the Indigenous community in the Mid-West region of Western Australia to consider their compatibility with the community’s aspirations for self-determined sustainable development. Assessments are based on each planning system’s procedural and development theories and practices as well as their track record in producing desired outcomes. With their interactions conceptualised as a planning supra-system, this is also assessed on its ability to produce congruent outcomes. While some planning systems are found to be better than others in supporting Indigenous aspirations for sustainable development, none are assessed as adequately compatible or resourced to make sustainable Indigenous development probable. Five of the six fail to adequately involve the region’s Indigenous communities in the normative aspects of their planning, with other inadequacies varying between systems. Shortcomings include narrow planning scopes, reactivity rather than proactivity, analytical reductionism, fragmented strategies, and inadequate evaluation, learning and adaptation. Conclusions include the need for a structure of planning subsidiarity, with the regional level determined as the most appropriate scale for holistic self-determined, sustainable Indigenous development planning that covers its economic, social, cultural, environmental and governance dimensions. Optimally, Indigenous regional planning would provide a point of orientation for government sectoral policies and a point of articulation for associated and appropriately reformed planning structures. These conclusions about planning system redesign are potentially synergistic with current proposals for the establishment of Regional Indigenous Voices across Australia.