Myanmar: Through the Interregnum

“We believe in dialogs among people of different backgrounds,” explains Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, a Thai professor at Chiang Mai University (CMU) and director of the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), speaking with the Insight Myanmar Podcast. He argues that besides the obvious political and humanitarian challenges of Myanmar’s present situation, there is an equally important “intellectual” strand to consider. RCSD is one of the platforms attempting to articulate and synthesize an ideological future for Myanmar. Chayan’s central claim is that Myanmar is living through what he calls an interregnum—a period in which the existing political order has lost legitimacy and coherence, yet no agreed-upon alternative has as yet taken shape. It is a moment of ideological uncertainty, when foundational questions about national identity, federalism, and shared values remain unsettled. This instability creates both risk and possibility: with deliberate intellectual work, a more inclusive political framework could begin to form; without it, however, ethno-political fragmentation may deepen. He describes RCSD’s mandate as being to provide a critical study of social and environmental transformation in mainland Southeast Asia. Within that regional framework, Myanmar has become a particular focus because of the scale of upheaval it has experienced over the past two decades, especially following the military coup of February 2021. RCSD began to engage with issues regarding Myanmar well before the coup. Bringing together journalists, activists, and researchers to examine land, education, and social change, their early efforts were designed as collaborative spaces where people working inside Myanmar could analyze their own country’s transformation. In past years, RCSD worked with the University of Mandalay to strengthen research capacity among faculty members, supporting research on issues such as land grabbing in Upper Myanmar, education for young girls entering monastic life from northern regions, and the tension between tradition and modernity in agricultural communities. It has organized regular Myanmar-focused conferences in Chiang Mai, and since the coup, established a scholar-at-risk fellowship program in Thailand that offers fellowships to journalists, artists, and researchers affiliated with civil society organizations. All in all, RCSD functions as a relatively safe academic platform at a time when safety is a pressing concern. Chayan frames this support as urgent, because many young people who fled Myanmar after the coup have become trapped in limbo. Without proper documentation, they cannot travel freely within Thailand, and returning home may expose them to arrest or persecution. Some are participants in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a nationwide refusal by civil servants and professionals to work under military rule. Thus, they would essentially be cut off from any possibility of further education. For him, that loss would not affect Myanmar alone: Thailand faces an aging population and increasingly depends on migrant labor in agriculture, services, and industry. A weakened Myanmar ultimately affects the region. Supporting education, he argues, is not charity but long-term, regional investment.