Nwet Kay Khine

Nwet Kay Khine, a former journalist and writer from Myanmar, is now affiliated to the Center for Social Development Studies under the Faculty of Political Science of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand as a research associate. Nwet joined the master’s programme for International Development Studies in Chulalongkorn University in 2006 and then continued her learning with the Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Journalism, Media and Globalization in the universities of Aarhus and Hamburg in 2010. She completed her doctoral study at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies in Mahidol University in 2019.

Neoliberalism, Populism, and Authoritarianism in Myanmar, and Political Struggles for Social Justice by Emerging Social Movements

This study aims to have a better and more concrete understanding of the origins, current conditions, consequences, and political trajectories of Myanmar’s current political regime that is firmly grounded on the tripodal power of neoliberal capitalism, authoritarianism, and populism. This research will inform civil society members of some creative ways of mobilizing the public support in activist work and policy debates. The remainder of this study is to make an urgent call to fill the void of alternative ideology while politicians and the army would resort to populism in a bid to gain power over their rivals in every election season. Thus, the project will be both examining contemporary political struggles by social movements – but at the same time, the project will be embedded within these movements.

All Publications from Nwet Kay Khine:

  • Myanmar: Media Fragility and Space for Authoritarianism during COVID-19

    In the midst of the global COVID-19 response, governments around the world continue to curtail some fundamental civil rights to curb the unprecedented spread of the disease and limit its impact. As of May 2020, 84 countries have officially declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19. Others have not officially declared a state of emergency but have still suspended or restricted certain civil and political rights for temporary purposes in the name of public health; COVID-19 has prompted authoritarian tendencies amongst a variety of different types of governments—including many liberal democracies.

  • Myanmar’s Election Under the Threat of Right-Wing Populism

    Life under Myanmar’s military dictatorship, which has existed in various guises since 1962, has been harsh, which is why people wish to send the military back into the barracks as soon as possible. On 8 November 2020 they chose the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, as the winning party in the country’s general election held every five years. Voter turnout was high in both Burmese-dominated areas in Central Myanmar and the other seven states representing the seven major ethnic groups: Kachin, Kayar, Kayin, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, and the Shan from the frontier areas bordering China, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.

  • Campuses in Action: Myanmar’s Academia Resisting against the Coup

    “My decision was firm since I left my university in mid of February. My aunts are now giving me pressure to go back to my professor job. After seeing atrocities and mass killing of the junta, I no longer want to be part of the system they are ruling.”

  • Making business accountable: The voice of civil society on Telenor’s sale of its Myanmar business to blacklisted company

    Even before the coup in Myanmar, the military was preparing to strengthen surveillance mechanism by pressuring telecommunication companies to enforce intercept spyware. Although it was not confirmed whether the Ministry of Transport and Communication under the National League for Democracy government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was involved to some extent in the implementation of these surveillance procedure, the budget amounted to nearly 3.4 million Euro were approved in 2019-2020 financial year for the purchase of spyware products and phone hacking technology. Since the coup, Myanmar military has been exerting control over the Internet service providers and telecommunication companies. The military’s order to intensify electronic surveillance systems lead to a recent speculation that Telenor, Norwegian multinational telecommunications would sell its business in Myanmar. Eventually, Telenor picked up a blacklisted company with bad track record for selling 100% of its share in Myanmar without giving any notice to its customers. This interview shares the voice of an activist who leads the movement for digital rights and the cancelling of Telenor’s sale to M1 group for the data security of 18 million users. The identity of the activist is kept under anonymity due to security concerns.

  • New Study: Independent Media in Myanmar Since the Military Coup

    Nine months after the elected government was overthrown, free and independent media is almost non-existent