This Peaceworks report maps the religious landscape of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, focusing in particular on the current and potential influence of religion in peace and reconciliation efforts. Part of a broader USIP initiative to map the religious landscape in conflict-affected environments, it presents key findings and offers recommendations to enable policymakers and peacebuilding practitioners to better navigate and engage within Rakhine’s religious landscape.

Two boys walking in Rakhine State near Sittwe. (Suphapong Eiamvorasombat/Shutterstock)
Two boys walking in Rakhine State near Sittwe. (Suphapong Eiamvorasombat/Shutterstock)

Summary

Conflict dynamics in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are deeply rooted in a complex and traumatic history of violent confrontation with expansionist powers, making international and union-level engagement on peace and conflict issues particularly sensitive. Rakhine’s recent conflicts and humanitarian crises can be understood as an intersection of numerous grievances—many of which are not explicitly religious. Interethnic tensions, economic inequalities, and political drivers all contribute to violent conflict.

To date, few influential religious leaders and religious social service networks have been engaged by aid, policymaking, and peacebuilding actors—whether national or international. This lack of engagement has sustained pervasive mistrust of the international community at all levels of Rakhine society. Key opportunities to build trust with the religious sector include engaging religious actors in consultations, needs assessments, and aid distributions and providing dispute resolution training to religious leaders across all communities.

International nongovernmental organizations need to be sensitive to the concerns that religious actors and networks have about engaging with them on social issues. When engaging with religious actors in programming, it is essential to bear in mind that though religious figures and networks may be able to influence community perspectives and attitudes, they rarely have the power to enforce broad behavior change. Furthermore, ordination is not essential to religious influence in Rakhine (and in Myanmar more broadly). The elderly and members of local religious committees and networks, including women’s and youth groups, are regularly cited as sources of religious influence despite their being lay persons.

About the Report

This report examines the ways in which religious actors, networks, and organizations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State navigate and influence local conflict and peace dynamics. The research was supported by the United States Institute of Peace and the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations at the U.S. Department of State.

About the Author

Melyn McKay is a research anthropologist at the University of Oxford. Her work explores women’s participation in religious and nationalist movements in Myanmar. For nearly a decade, she has designed and implemented qualitative research in complex environments including Syria, Lebanon, Burundi, and South Sudan. Susan Hayward, a senior advisor for religion and inclusive societies at USIP, and two local lead researchers, who for reasons of security are unnamed, also contributed to this report.


Related Publications

The Myanmar Military’s Institutional Resilience

The Myanmar Military’s Institutional Resilience

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

The Myanmar military has endured historic losses over the past three years, leaving it in the weakest state in its history. While there are few paths to recovery — and mounting challenges to its stranglehold on power — the military has managed to stay afloat so far in the face of an expanding revolution against its rule. What are the factors threatening its viability? And what is holding it together? While there is no single explanation, a critical factor is its culture of internal loyalty cultivated over decades of military rule.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Myanmar Scam Hubs Revive Fast After China Eases Pressure on Junta

Myanmar Scam Hubs Revive Fast After China Eases Pressure on Junta

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Transnational crime groups in Southeast Asia, hit with intense scrutiny and law enforcement action earlier this year, are moving into new areas and adapting their operations as they revive and expand global scam operations. In Myanmar — a key center of this internet-based criminal activity — extreme political instability combined with the connivance of the country’s military and its militias continue to provide fertile ground for crime groups, albeit in new configurations. At the same time, a sudden shift in China’s posture toward Myanmar’s military regime has eased pressure on the scam industry, allowing criminal networks to further scale up their malign activities.

Type: Analysis

EconomicsGlobal PolicyHuman Rights

Out of the Spotlight, Myanmar’s Rohingya Face Worst Violence in 7 Years

Out of the Spotlight, Myanmar’s Rohingya Face Worst Violence in 7 Years

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Since early 2024, fighting in northern Rakhine state has led to the worst attacks on the Rohingya population since 2017, when Myanmar’s military drove more than 750,000 across the border into Bangladesh. The new attacks are a stark reminder of the Rohingyas’ vulnerability. The world has known about their plight for decades, and in 2024, only 636,000 Rohingya — or 23 percent of the 2.8 million Rohingya around the world — still live in their homeland, Myanmar.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGlobal PolicyHuman Rights

Southeast Asia Web Scams Reach U.S., Setting Off Alarms for Law Enforcement

Southeast Asia Web Scams Reach U.S., Setting Off Alarms for Law Enforcement

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

From their base in ungoverned stretches of Southeast Asia, international criminal networks are prowling the Internet, seeking to defraud victims around the world with sophisticated and psychologically devastating scams. Gangsters operating out of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, relying on forced labor, have spread their tentacles through Asia, Africa and Latin America and increasingly within the United States, stripping gullible prey of at least $64 billion annually. Clearly, to eradicate such a global menace will require a coordinated international response. Even so, the United States is not internally powerless to confront this striking example of how conflict and corrupt governance in distant parts of the world can directly threaten Americans’ security and well-being.

Type: Analysis

EconomicsGlobal Policy

View All Publications


Related Projects

Religious Landscape Mapping in Conflict-Affected States

Religious Landscape Mapping in Conflict-Affected States

Diplomats and peace practitioners often cite lack of familiarity with the religious landscape as a barrier to their engagement of religious actors. In 2013, USIP launched an initiative to address this need by developing a methodology for systematically mapping and assessing the religious sector’s influence on conflict and peace dynamics in discrete conflict settings. These mappings, which have been done or are underway in Libya, South Sudan, Iraq and Burma, help illuminate recommendations for effective partnerships within the religious sector for peacebuilding.

ReligionConflict Analysis & PreventionDemocracy & Governance

View All