Empowering the subaltern? Critical approaches to Japan’s human security policy in Myanmar

DOI

抄録

In 2010, Edward Newman proposed a Critical Human Security Studies (CHSS) that sought to bridge policy-making and academic divides over the concept of human security by marrying problem-solving and critical approaches. CHSS aimed to provide a clearer definition of human security, challenge the structural dynamics of human insecurity and engage communities whose existence was threatened. Whilst CHSS purports to offer a real opportunity to address human insecurity, the question remains as to whether CHSS can truly incorporate the demands of local communities into its framework and engender structural change. This paper considers post-colonial contributions to International Relations to explore the concept of empowerment. Taking Japanese investment into the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Myanmar as a case study, the argument demonstrates how Japanese policymakers and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) alike have defined empowerment in terms of resilience or through the provision of socio-political infrastructure. These approaches silence the subaltern voice, condemning the insecure other to a condition of bare life, and maintain existing social and political relations. Postcolonial approaches maintain that human security has to be inclusive by engaging local communities, listening to their needs, understanding the local context, and empowering individuals to design and guide projects to enable them to live lives in ‘freedom and dignity’. This critique can be further extended to highlight the necessity for NGOs to question their complicity in neoliberal development policies and evolve novel practices that advocate structural change to realize human security as dignity. Keywords: Japan, Human Security, Critical Security Studies, Myanmar, Subaltern

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詳細情報 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390285300185488128
  • NII論文ID
    130007892589
  • DOI
    10.34517/jahss.8.1_1
  • ISSN
    24321427
  • 本文言語コード
    en
  • データソース種別
    • JaLC
    • CiNii Articles
  • 抄録ライセンスフラグ
    使用不可

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