Arms Politics: Becoming and Being a Weapon in the Borderlands of Myanmar

by Francesco Buscemi

Overview

In Arms Politics, Francesco Buscemi tells the story of the ceasefire, disarmament, and rearmament of the Ta'ang movement in Myanmar's Shan State through an analysis of the formation of the Palaung State Liberation Front/Ta'ang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA). With a focus on the circulation of weapons through the post-1991 ceasefire, disarmament, and rearmament years, Buscemi explores how "becoming and being" an armed force leads to the "becoming and being" of a rebel polity.

Buscemi argues that the governance of arms and weaponry by rebel movements such as the PSLF/TNLA shapes historically and spatially complex relationships among leadership, rank-and-file, civilians, and civil society groups. Furthermore, he demonstrates that it is through the acquisition of weapons and the governing of armed collectives that rebel movements reproduce and shape the collective identity of their polity and its political geography. Against the backdrop of the world's longest ongoing armed conflict, Arms Politics shows how the processes and practices of governing weapons shape social and spatial relations of rule at the edges of state authority.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501781735
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2025
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francesco Buscemi is a Postdoctoral Researcher in political geography at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part 1: BLUNT REBEL RULE IN FRONTIER ASSEMBLAGES
1. Frontiers of Violence: Conceptual Bearings
2. Frontier Histories of Weapon Flows
3. Disarming and Rearming Ta'ang Land
4. Territories in Ta'ang Land
Part 2: WEAPONSCAPES
5. Networks (Weapon Biographies)
6. Scales
7. Places
Epilogue

What People are Saying About This

David Brenner

Arms Politics illuminates a poorly understood but crucial aspect of Myanmar's civil war: weapons and their interaction with society. Based on long-term fieldwork, this lens offers unique insights into the political geography of northern Shan State, one of the country's most multifaceted conflict theatres.

Jasnea Sarma

Arms Politics delivers exceptional insights into the contentious lives and afterlives of weapons in Myanmar. Focusing on an in-depth study of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army regions in northern Shan State, this book contributes immensely to the literature on armed politics.