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This article traces the revenue category and legal concept of the Waste Land in Burma/Myanmar
from its original application by the British colonial apparatus in the nineteenth century, to its
later use in tandem with Burma Army counterinsurgent tactics starting in the 1960s, and finally
to the 2012 land laws and current issues in international investment. This adaptation of colonial
ideas about territorialization in the context of an ongoing civil war offers a new angle for under-
standing the relationship between military tactics and the political economy of conflict and
counterinsurgent strategies which crucially depended on giving local militias—both government
and nongovernment—high degrees of autonomy. The recent government changes, including the
more civilian representation in parliament and its shift to engage with Western economies, raise
questions regarding the future of the military, as well as local autonomy and the rural peasantry’s
access to land. As increasing numbers of international investors are poised to enter the Myanmar
market, this article will revisit notions of land use and appropriation, and finally the role of the
army and its changing relationship with Waste Lands...
Keywords:
Burma, colonialism, counterinsurgency, land law, Myanmar, Waste Land
