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Author

Nick Cheesman

Bio: Nick Cheesman is an academic researcher from Australian National University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Rule of law & Politics. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 43 publications receiving 550 citations. Previous affiliations of Nick Cheesman include Kyoto University & Institute for Advanced Study.
Topics: Rule of law, Politics, Torture, Democracy, Public law

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The idea of "national races" or taingyintha has animated brutal conflict in Myanmar over who or what is "Rohingya" as mentioned in this paper. But because the term is translated from Burmese inconsistently, and because its u...
Abstract: The idea of “national races” or taingyintha has animated brutal conflict in Myanmar over who or what is “Rohingya.” But because the term is translated from Burmese inconsistently, and because its u...

158 citations

Book
12 Mar 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss how law and order oppose the rule of law and how to make money by performing order, making money, and speaking up for the Rule of Law.
Abstract: Introduction 1. How law and order opposes the rule of law 2. Ordering law in the colony 3. Reordering law in the postcolony 4. Subsuming law to order 5. Embodying the law and order ideal 6. Performing order, making money 7. Through disorder, law and order 8. Speaking up for the rule of law 9. Against quietude Glossary Bibliography Index.

61 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reveal subjective criteria that have come to signify pan-Karen identity and review contemporary Myanmar government policy on ethnic identity, highlighting the assigned role of 'union spirit' among all groups in the country towards overcoming superficial differences.
Abstract: Karen identity is problematic, as peoples known as 'Karen' do not share a common language, culture, religion or material characteristics. Most of the research on Karens has been conducted in Thailand, but the dominant 'pan-Karen' identity is a product of social and historical forces in Myanmar, where this study is focused. In the main part of this paper, I reveal the subjective criteria that have come to signify pan-Karen identity. My primary source material consists of internal literary discourses. In particular, I have drawn on the historical texts of two British colonial-era authors: T. Thanbyah and Saw Aung Hla. Three significant concepts appear in their works and subsequent internal discourses on Karen identity: that Karens are oppressed, uneducated and virtuous. In the latter part of the paper, I review contemporary Myanmar government policy on ethnic identity, highlighting the assigned role of 'Union Spirit' among all groups in the country towards overcoming superficial differences. State policies ...

46 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a case study of an authoritarian regime in Burma that used special courts not to insulate the judiciary but to defeat it, and suggest that the Burmese regime's composition and character better explain its strategy than does extant judicial authority or formal ideology.
Abstract: Why do authoritarian rulers establish special courts? One view is that they do so to insulate the judiciary from politically oriented cases and allow it continued, albeit limited, independence. In this article I present a contrary case study of an authoritarian regime in Burma that used special courts not to insulate the judiciary but to defeat it. Through comparison to other Asian cases I suggest that the Burmese regime's composition and character better explain its strategy than does extant judicial authority or formal ideology. The regime consisted of war fighters for whom the courts were enemy territory. But absent popular support, the regime's leaders could not embark immediately on a radical project for legal change that might compromise their hold on power. Consequently, they used special courts and other strategies to defeat judicial independence incrementally, until they could displace the professional judiciary and bring the courts fully under executive control.

45 citations

Book
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The 2011 Myanmar/Burma update conference considered the openings offered by these political changes and media reforms and the potential opportunities for international assistance as mentioned in this paper, and the obstacles covered include impediments to the rule of law, continuation of human rights abuses, the impunity of the Army, and the failure to end ethnic insurgency.
Abstract: With the world watching closely, Myanmar began a process of political, administrative and institutional transition from 30 January 2011. After convening the parliament, elected in November 2010, the former military regime transferred power to a new government headed by former Prime Minister (and retired general), U Thein Sein. With parliamentary processes restored in Myanmar's new capital of Naypyitaw, Thein Sein's government announced a wide-ranging reform agenda, and began releasing political prisoners and easing press censorship. Pivotal meetings between Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi led to amendment of the Election Law and the National League for Democracy contesting by-elections in April 2012. The 2011 Myanmar/Burma update conference considered the openings offered by these political changes and media reforms and the potential opportunities for international assistance. Obstacles covered include impediments to the rule of law, the continuation of human rights abuses, the impunity of the Army, and the failure to end ethnic insurgency.

36 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
TL;DR: This poster presents a probabilistic procedure to characterize the response of the immune system to EMT and shows clear down-regulation in response to EMMARM.
Abstract: Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-223260View record in Web of Science Record created on 2016-11-21, modified on 2016-11-21

653 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Benhabib argues that the central principles that shape our thinking about political membership and state sovereignty are in tension, if not outright contradiction, with one another as mentioned in this paper, and argues for an internal reconstruction of both, underscoring the significance of membership in bounded communities, while at the same time promoting the cultivation of democratic loyalties that exceed the national state, supporting political participation on the part of citizens and noncitizen residents alike.
Abstract: The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents, and Citizens. By Seyla Benhabib. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 251p. $65.00 cloth, $23.99 paper. Between 1910 and 2000, the world's population more than tripled, from 1.6 to 5.3 billion. The number of persons who live as migrants in countries other than those in which they were born increased nearly sixfold, from 33 million to 175 million, and more than half of this increase has occurred since 1965. Almost 20 million of these are refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons. In her book, Seyla Benhabib grapples with both the political and moral implications of this rapid increase in transnational migration, arguing that the central principles that shape our thinking about political membership and state sovereignty are in tension, if not outright contradiction, with one another. “From a philosophical point of view,” she writes, “transnational migrations bring to the fore the constitutive dilemma at the heart of liberal democracies: between sovereign self-determination claims on the one hand and adherence to universal human rights principles on the other” (p. 2). She argues for an internal reconstruction of both, underscoring the significance of membership in bounded communities, while at the same time promoting the cultivation of democratic loyalties that exceed the national state, supporting political participation on the part of citizens and noncitizen residents alike.

431 citations