Analysis of “Murderous Majorities”
This was an analysis of an article concerning Myanmar that I did for my political theory class at my university and wanted to share it with you guys!
“Murderous Majorities” by Mukul Kesavan is an exposé on the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar and the crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar government against the Rohingya. The article explains that the Myanmar government has been gradually eroding the rights of the Rohingya by doing things such as confiscating “the registration cards that had entitled Rohingyas to health and education services and, until recently, to the right to vote” (Kesevan). The abuse of the Rohingya at the hands of the Myanmar government is not new. The Myanmar government has been terrorizing the Rohingya through violence and intimidation for years in efforts to remove them from the country. The article also discusses Majoritarianism in context of South East Asia and how the actions of regimes such the current Myanmar government are indicative of a Majoritarianism. Later in the article, Kesevan explains that “Majoritarian violence had become a shortcut to power throughout South Asia”, which resulted in “majoritarian parties…[being] either in power or the principal opposition in every South Asian nation”. The strengths of the article shine where Kesevan details Majoritarianism in South Asia. He has many examples to chose from and had substantial evidence to support each claim he makes. With the underlying premise of the article being Majoritariansim, a realist approach to the situation of oppression or assault on a minority would be to see how the actions of the majority have impeded and harmed the minority in any way. The article details how the Myanmar government committed horrendous acts of violence targeted on the Rohingya people and this would be considered by the international community with little regard made to the statements of the Myanmar state. The power of the majority can be used to inflict real harm on the minority that is in line with the realism style of thinking and policymaking. Aside from majoritarianism, North Korea has been the subject of numerous realist political theory topics. North Korea rationalizes that “without nuclear weapons, North Korea would receive very little attention, which is an international embarrassment given its grave yet largely ignored human rights crises” (Potts). North Korea has observed that the United States’ threats to retaliate militarily against its nuclear program have not been acted upon and are thus to be considered false. The Myanmar government chooses to oppress the Rohingya because, like North Korea, nobody has taken any action to stop them and the Myanmar government continues to gain power from their atrocious treatment of the Rohingya. The author also explains the history of majoritarianism in South Asia by using numerous examples of how it is prevalent even to this day in most South Asian countries. One contributing factor as to why majoritarianism has been so rampant in South Asia is from weaponized narratives. Weaponized narrative can be explained as a narrative that “seeks to undermine an opponent’s civilization, identity, and will by generating complexity, confusion, and political and social schisms” (Allenby and Garreau). The actions of the Myanmar government against the Rohingya models this definition perfectly. The plight of the Rohingya brings into account the power of majoritarianism and how other political philosophies such as realism come into account when real problems are encountered.
Work Cited
Garreau, Brad AllenbyJoel. “Weaponized Narrative Is the New Battlespace.” Defense One, 3 Jan. 2017, www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/01/weaponized-narrative-new-battlespace/134284/.
Kesavan, Mukul. “Murderous Majorities.” The New York Review of Books, www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/01/18/rohingya-murderous-majorities/.
Potts, Morgan. “The Koreas, Bastion of Cold War Realism.” The Diplomat, The Diplomat, 25 June 2015, thediplomat.com/2015/06/the-koreas-bastion-of-cold-war-realism/. �