Stalemate: Autonomy and Insurgency on the China-Myanmar Border

Stalemate: Autonomy and Insurgency on the China-Myanmar Border

Winner of the AMSEAS Early Career Book Prize of The Association of Mainland Southeast Asian Scholars Stalemate reveals the history and contemporary politics of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Asia's strongest insurgent army on Myanmar's border with China. This ethnographic tale recounts how a highland group, often dismissed as rebels or narcotraffickers, maintains a relational autonomy between two powerful lowland states. The Wa polity engages rather than evades these surrounding states, yet struggles to fit into their registers of sovereignty and statehood. Andrew Ong examines political culture among Wa elites and people, UWSA external relations, and capital flows with neighboring China, showing how Wa autonomy is enacted through careful navigation of complex borderland geopolitics and the shadow economy. He analyzes the seeming stalemate between the Myanmar state and the UWSA as one of tactical dissonance―adopting simultaneous postures of authority and subordination and creating disruptions and connections. Stalemate illuminates how seemingly ambiguous and disorderly practices of political signaling, economic regulation, and military governance produce relative stability, challenging our assumptions about state-like processes at the peripheries. Complex, rich and lucid, Stalemate is vital reading to understand the political cultures of the United Wa State Army. Andrew Ong brings ethnographic nuance to one of the most important geographically peripheral power holders in the decades-long struggles over sovereignty and autonomy in the Shan State/Yunnan borderlands. A stunning achievement. -- Jane M. Ferguson, author of Repossessing Shanland Stalemate is engaged anthropology at its finest. Offering a richly nuanced perspective on the UWSA, Asia's largest and most powerful ethnonationalist insurgent army, this book is a brilliant investigation of the politics of the Wa State in Myanmar. -- Magnus Fiskesjö, Cornell University, author of Stories from an Ancient Land Vivid, insightful, powerful, and comprehensive analysis of the most enigmatic yet politically significant group in Myanmar. Ong makes an important theoretical contribution to the study of nation/state building by using captivating individual stories to reflect on lived experiences of ordinary residents from varied occupations as well as on rebel governance, elite level politics, and broader geopolitical and border environments. Highly accessible and will appeal to ordinary readers and experts. -- Ardeth Thawnghmung, author of Everyday Economic Survival in Contemporary Myanmar A comprehensive and authoritative account of groups, personalities and events in a little-known conflict-ridden part of Southeast Asia. This trailblazing book is the first to describe the complexity of the UWSA and its allies, and their relationships with the Myanmar military. -- Bertil Lintner, author of Burma in Revolt A comprehensive and authoritative account of groups, personalities and events in a little-known conflict-ridden part of Southeast Asia. This trailblazing book is the first to describe the complexity of the UWSA and its allies, and their relationships with the Myanmar military. -- Bertil Lintner, author of Burma in Revolt Andrew Ong is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.