The MRC Policy Briefs are original policy papers based on cuttingedge research and analysis, which aim to inform Australia's policy response to emerging political, economic, and humanitarian issues in Myanmar.
We are pleased to publish our second brief, titled Rakhine's Changing Political Order and the Future of Rohingya Citizenship.
This policy brief examines the evolving political landscape in Rakhine State following the 2021 military coup and the consolidation of de facto authority by the Arakan Army (AA)/United League of Arakan (ULA). The AA/ULA have established a parallel proto state with its own administrative, judicial and security structures that now govern daily life for many communities. While the emergence of a new substate governance system has altered power relations in the region, it has not resolved Rohingya statelessness. Instead, it has generated new and compounded vulnerabilities linked to legal exclusion, identity denial, and constrained political participation, alongside the persistence and, in some areas, intensification of longstanding discriminatory practices.
