The New Transnational Activism

How well are industrialized nations doing in terms of their energy security? Without a standardized set of metrics, it is difficult to determine the extent to which countries are properly responding to the emerging energy security challenges related to climate change: a growing dependency on fossil fuels, population growth, and economic development. In response, this article first surveys the academic literature on energy security and concludes that it is composed of availability, affordability, efficiency, and environmental stewardship. It then analyzes the relative energy security performance, based on these four dimensions, of the United States and 21 other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 1970 to 2007. Four countries are examined in greater detail: one of the strongest (Denmark), one of the most improved in terms of energy security ( Japan), one with weak and stagnant energy security (United States), and one with deteriorating energy security (Spain). The article concludes by offering implications for public policy.

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-042509-143035

Competing Dimensions of Energy Security: An International Perspective

Authoritarian environmentalism is a non-participatory approach to public policy-making and implementation in the face of severe environmental challenges. Using the case of China's climate change policy, the meaning, causes, and consequences of authoritarian environmentalism are explored. A key finding is that authoritarian environmentalism is more effective in producing policy outputs than outcomes. Theoretical and policy implications follow.

https://people.uwec.edu/jamelsem/papers/CC_Literature_Web_Share/Policy/CC_Authoritarian_Environmentalism_China_Gilley_2012.pdf

Authoritarian environmentalism and China's response to climate change

The notion of « civil society » refers either to citizens as opposed to the state but also citizens working in non-profit. In the newly elected assembly, it refers to a mixed profile of private and public expertise, which is not representative of the French society.

Where Is the Civil Society

The East Asian region generally and Southeast Asia in particular have long been associated with authoritarian rule. It is argued that the intensification of a range of environmental problems means that authoritarian rule is likely to become even more commonplace there in the future. Countries with limited state capacity will struggle to deal with the consequences of population expansion, economic development and the environmental degradation with which they are associated. A resurgence of authoritarian rule is made even more likely by China's ‘successful’ developmental example and the extent of the region's existing environmental problems. The dispiriting reality may be that authoritarian regimes – unattractive as they may be – may even prove more capable of responding to the complex political and environmental pressures in the region than some of its democracies.

The coming of environmental authoritarianism

The mantra of energy security is regularly employed as an excuse for governing elites in the less affluent South to pursue large-scale energy projects that are often inappropriate and unnecessary for local development needs. This situation is exemplified in Thailand, Burma and Laos. Here the dominant classes have created an energy ‘love triangle’, whereby Thailand exports the many problems associated with cross-border energy projects to its more authoritarian neighbours while importing the resultant energy. This article employs critical security literature and the concept of earth rights to investigate these relationships and elucidate resultant linkages between environmental and energy security. It finds that, far from safeguarding local communities from depravation, these projects often exacerbate existing social tensions and conflict, hastening environmental degradation and intensifying various manifestations of insecurity.

The environment – Energy security nexus: critical analysis of an energy ‘love triangle’ in Southeast Asia

Although general elections in Myanmar (Burma) in November 2010 have transformed the political landscape, many of the characters remain the same. While there is evidence of incremental domestic political openings many of the political constraints that existed during military rule remain in force. As a consequence of decades of military authoritarian governance and civil conflict, it is Myanmar's contested ethnic borderlands that have been the important locales for the development of environmental movements, despite increased recent domestic activity. This article analyses a case study of the largely cross-border campaign against hydropower dams on the Salween River in Myanmar and finds that through the suppression of opposition and dissent at home the regime has stimulated the creation of an ‘activist diaspora’, a dynamic transnational community of expatriates who engage in environmental activism beyond the reach of the regime. Due to their relative freedom on the border and in Thailand this commu...

Challenging hydropower development in Myanmar (Burma): cross-border activism under a regime in transition

It is generally assumed that in the era of globalisation politics crosses borders at will. While the borders of some nation-states are mere speed bumps to the rapid movement of transnational capital and other commodities – including ideas – the borders of other nation-states remain less permeable. The success of transnational crossings, or the manifestations thereof, will obviously be determined by national difference (and this cannot be overstated), but also by the type of political regime which governs particular nation-states. This article seeks to redress an imbalance in the literature by seeking to understand how the politics of environmental concern have crossed into the hinterlands of two authoritarian regimes: Burma and Iran. It examines the political challenges faced under repressive regimes and investigates activists' attempts at addressing human and environmental security issues, as well as more narrow, post-materialist green agendas. Green movements under authoritarian regimes are oft...

Traversing More than Speed Bumps: Green Politics under Authoritarian Regimes in Burma and Iran

Traversing more than speed bumps: Green politics under authoritarian regimes in Burma and Iran

After decades of mismanagement and direct military rule, Myanmar’s contested transition to a more democratic government has rapidly shifted the outlook in this significant Southeast Asian nation. Since 2011, the removal of Western sanctions and new foreign investments have resulted in high rates of economic growth and an expanding middle class, albeit from a very low base. In a result unthinkable a few years earlier, former political prisoner and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), formed a national government in early 2016. However, despite significant political and economic reforms since the liberalisation process commenced, the transition to civilian rule remains constrained by the military’s 2008 Constitution, which guarantees that it operates unfettered by civilian oversight. As a result, although some ethnic conflicts have abated, others continue to fester and new conflicts have erupted. With a daunting task ahead the NLD government has made some progress in removing the vestiges of repressive military-era laws but many remain untouched and some of the practices of the new government provide unwelcome reminders of its authoritarian history.

This timely Handbook describes the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of this crucial period of transition in Myanmar. It presents explanations for contradictory trends, including those that defy some of the early narratives about the comprehensive transformation of Myanmar. The Handbook also considers the impact of major environmental, strategic, and demographic trends which help underscore that Myanmar’s development will be an ongoing task. In addition to introductory and concluding chapters by the editors, the body of the Handbook is divided into seven core sections:

• Fundamentals

• Spaces

• Cultures

• Living

• Governance

• International

• Challenges

Written by an international team of scholars, with a mix of world-leading established academics and talented emerging researchers, the Handbook provides a rigorous scholarly overview of Myanmar’s politics, economics, and society. As Myanmar opens to Western businesses and government agencies, this is an invaluable reference book that will provide a foundation for further research and offer the first port of call for scholars, students, and policy makers working on Myanmar and Asia.

Adam Simpson

Papers

The environment – Energy security nexus: critical analysis of an energy ‘love triangle’ in Southeast Asia

Challenging hydropower development in Myanmar (Burma): cross-border activism under a regime in transition

Traversing More than Speed Bumps: Green Politics under Authoritarian Regimes in Burma and Iran

Traversing more than speed bumps: Green politics under authoritarian regimes in Burma and Iran

Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar