DPhil student in Area Studies, Thu Htet, has published an article on Myanmar’s foreign policy and external engagement during the period of the National League for Democracy (NLD) administration (2016-2021).
In his article, Thu Htet examines Myanmar’s foreign relations under the NLD administration through the lens of diversification and prudence. He argues that during the period, the government diversified its relations with major regional and extra-regional powers to reduce overreliance on China. Simultaneously, it continued engaging with China in a prudent manner, pursuing benefits from its regional neighbour that aligned with its priorities while properly assessing and mitigating risks, for example in its reduction of investment size in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. Overall, the article demonstrates how a small state like Myanmar exercised its agency within a tense geopolitical environment.
This article emerges from one of the chapters of his MPhil thesis in International Relations, work on which was supported by the Jardine Foundation. Now a Clarendon Scholar at OSGA, he is expanding his MPhil project into a doctoral thesis and is aiming to develop a grounded theory of hedging in Southeast Asia, drawing from the cases of Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore.
The article, titled Beyond Hedging and Bandwagoning: Approaching Myanmar’s Engagement With External Powers Through the Lens of Diversification and Prudence (2016–2021), is available open access in the journal Alternatives.
