Saffron Ethnocracy: conceptualising ethnocracy in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

So pleased to join @RudabehS as coauthor of a new article where we intro #SaffronEthnocracy identifying #Islamophobic variation of ethnocracy in #India #Myanmar #SriLanka https://t.co/UIctLRqceg

— Dr Ronan Lee (@Ronan_Lee) August 5, 2024

China prefers a weak + reliant junta, but this makes it vulnerable to defeat. #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar comment from me for The Monocle Minute @Monocle_Radio

Myanmar’s junta plans to hold elections. Can the country pull off a ‘democratic transition’? https://t.co/LVjo9W2tkt

— Dr Ronan Lee (@Ronan_Lee) August 20, 2024

NEW CHAPTER: Ronan Lee (2024), ‘Islamophobia and Genocide: Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide’, in Sahar F. Aziz, and John L. Esposito (eds), Global Islamophobia and the Rise of Populism (New York, 2024; online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 May 2024), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197648995.003.0014

The Rohingya’s exclusion from Myanmar’s political community, the genocide against them that this enabled, and their high-profile 2017 forced deportation provide a disturbing illustration of how quickly Islamophobia can be weaponized to diminish the social and political standing of a previously well-integrated minority. While Islamophobic policies might have been expected from Myanmar’s military rulers, these practices continued in a democratic context and were aided by improved access to modern media technologies. Using language about demographic threat that mirrored Great Replacement narratives, Buddhist nationalists successfully advocated for policies that severely limited Muslim rights and had devastating consequences for the Rohingya. Despite Myanmar’s moves toward democracy, once anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya speech was normalized, the path to genocide was a short one and occurred with little meaningful public outcry. This should provide a serious warning that in democratic contexts, normalized hate rhetoric can lead to atrocity crimes against even previously well-integrated groups.