The Impact of the Vacant, Fallow, and Waste Land Management Actand the Empirical Evolution of Critical Thought in Myanmar

Introduction: Land Politics Between War and Peace

Land disputes in Myanmar are not mere economic conflicts; they are intersections of state-building, capital accumulation, and ethnic politics. During the so-called "democratic transition" from 2011 to 2021, a unique model called "ceasefire capitalism" flourished in border regions. Coined by American scholar Kevin Woods (author of Ruling the War: Ceasefire Capitalism and State Building in Myanmar), this concept reveals how ceasefire agreements were transformed into legal frameworks for resource plunder. Ceasefire deals created conditions for capital accumulation by specific economic interests—especially military elites and local armed groups—making economic activity itself a tool to maintain ceasefire status and fragile power balances. In this process, land became the core battlefield for state expansion and capital accumulation, with its control and distribution directly linked to the reshaping and perpetuation of power structures.

This paper aims to provide an empirical analysis of how Myanmar’s Vacant, Fallow, and Waste Land Management Act(hereafter referred to as the "Vacant Land Act") became a key instrument of "ceasefire capitalism." It also systematically examines the critical thought and civil society actions inspired by the Act. The struggles over land have generated knowledge production and practices that deconstruct state-led dispossessive accumulation and explore alternative paths—constituting an important evolution of contemporary Myanmar’s left-wing intellectual heritage.

I. Theoretical Basis: The Vacant Land Actas a Legitimizing Engine for "Ceasefire Capitalism"

The theory of "ceasefire capitalism" reveals a unique political-economic formation in Myanmar’s border regions: ceasefire agreements are not just military arrangements but economic governance converters for resource plunder and territorial control. The enactment and implementation of the Vacant Land Actin 2012 provided the core legal-administrative engine for this process.

Its essence lies in using legally ambiguous categories such as "vacant," "fallow," and "waste" to systematically negate the customary land tenure and diverse livelihood models (e.g., shifting cultivation forests, collective pastures) widely existing in Myanmar’s ethnic regions. The technicality of the legal text conceals its political nature: it paves a "legal" path for the state and capital alliance to commodify previously inaccessible border lands on a large scale in the post-ceasefire era. Multiple field studies confirm that the granting of large-scale land concessions geographically and temporally overlaps highly with major ceasefire zones. Thus, the law becomes a sophisticated device to convert "peace" into exclusive economic interests.

II. Evolution of Thought: Empirical Structural Critiques and Alternative Theory Production

The widespread land crisis triggered by the Vacant Land Acthas stimulated profound reflection and theoretical construction among Myanmar’s intellectuals and civil society. This evolution of thought is not abstract but grounded in solid case studies and interdisciplinary analysis, mainly reflected in three dimensions:

From Single-Ethnic Narratives to Intersectional Analytical Frameworks

Early analyses of land conflicts were often confined to a binary narrative of "center vs. local ethnic groups." However, in-depth fieldwork (e.g., Kevin Woods’ research in Shan State) revealed a more complex picture: within ethnic armed group-controlled areas, land plunder is often accompanied by collusion with local elites, forming "internalized dispossession." This empirical finding prompted a shift in analytical paradigms toward the integration of political ecology and class analysis. Critical studies began to systematically reveal that land plunder is intertwined with ecological processes (loss of biodiversity), class processes (proletarianization of farmers), and political processes (state spatial control). This intersectional framework transcends ethnic contradictions to delve into the multi-dimensional exploitative nature of "ceasefire capitalism."

Demystifying "Developmentalist" Discourse and Constructing Alternative Visions

The Vacant Land Actand concession economies have always relied on official discourses of "national development," "modernization," and "investment." In response, research institutions and international NGOs (e.g., the International Land Coalition) have empirically deconstructed these discourses through numerous livelihood impact assessments. These reports compare the differences between traditional mixed livelihoods and monoculture plantations in terms of employment quality, nutritional security, income distribution, and ecological resilience. The conclusions generally point out that the benefits of so-called "development" are highly concentrated, while costs are socialized—essentially constituting dispossessive accumulation. As a response, alternative paradigms such as "food sovereignty" and "community-centered development" have been proposed. These concepts are not purely theoretical but linked to community forestry and ecological agriculture pilot projects supported by international or local NGOs in Myanmar, attempting to demonstrate the feasibility of another resource governance model centered on community dominance over resource definition and use.

Theorization and Politicization of "Customary Tenure"

To directly counter the Vacant Land Act’s disregard for customary tenure, a movement to elevate local practices into serious political-legal concepts has emerged in academic and advocacy circles. Influenced by international theories and combined with local empirical records, researchers and activists have systematically documented local customary land governance systems, arguing for their value as rational institutions adapted to local ecologies. Thus, "customary tenure" has transformed from a social fact into an active collective right claim demanding legal recognition. Its core is a political struggle over "who has the right to define property rights and efficiency"—challenging the state’s project of completely individualizing and commodifying land tenure.

III. Practical Responses: Strategic and Networked Civil Society Actions

The aforementioned critical thought has spawned and shaped strategic resistance and constructive practices in the civil society sector, mainly reflected in innovations in organizational and action models:

Networked and Professional Organizational Forms

Initiative networks represented by the Myanmar Land Allianceconstitute a loose but effective platform for information sharing, strategy coordination, and joint advocacy. Their members include local community organizations, professional NGOs providing legal and technical support (e.g., the Legal Aid Society, Earth Rights Myanmar), and policy researchers. This structure differs from traditional vertical parties, being more resilient and capable of flexibly connecting affected communities across regions and ethnic groups—practicing "issue-based solidarity."

"Law + Community" Dual-Track Action Strategies

Movement strategies exhibit both confrontational and constructive characteristics. On one hand, they support test case litigation and participate in legal policy lobbying, striving to expose injustice and promote reform within the system. On the other hand, more fundamental work lies in "community empowerment." By promoting "participatory community land mapping" and assisting in the formulation of "community forest management agreements," actors not only help communities collect evidence to claim rights but also rebuild community traditional knowledge, collective identity, and self-governance capabilities in the process. These actions essentially create and consolidate "decommodified" land governance realities at the margins of the legal framework.

Constructing Collective Identity Narratives Across Divides

Conscious advocacy efforts strive to build a shared narrative beyond ethnicity and region: whether delta farmers of the Bamar ethnic group or mountain-dwelling ethnic minorities, they are all "the dispossessed." This narrative aims to overcome the political legacy of "divide and rule" and attempt to build a broader rights诉求 alliance based on common economic situations and抗争 targets.

IV. Conclusion: Positioning and Challenges of Critical Knowledge Production

The thought and practices generated around the Vacant Land Actand land struggles represent an important force of critical knowledge production and civil society action in contemporary Myanmar. They mark an evolution from relatively dogmatic old frameworks to more refined, empirically grounded critiques of political economy and political ecology.

However, it must be objectively acknowledged that these thoughts and practices mainly operate in professional circles and project-based civil society sectors. Although they provide critical discursive weapons and organizational tools for grassroots resistance, they have not yet transformed into a large-scale, unified political force capable of challenging the structural power of the state-capital alliance. They also face tensions with the fundamental logic of state power, complex relationships with ethnic politics, and enormous challenges in constructing systematic alternatives.

Nevertheless, this work is crucial. In the face of the logic of "ceasefire capitalism" attempting to commodify everything, it tenaciously defends another value definition of land as the foundation of life, culture, and community. It also provides indispensable intellectual resources and practical experiences for any future social vision in Myanmar seeking justice and sustainable peace. This struggle is not just about land ownership but about whether and how a society can define its own development path and a just future.