Myanmar and the international community

This workshop aims to create a few reflections on Myanmar. (i) It aims to encourage a debate concerning the ‘dynamics of change’ as well as the ‘inertia to change’ as intertwined processes in Myanmar. (ii) It adds to the general on-going focus on Myanmar, the dimension of a discussion that includes the European Union. The European Union is too often neglected as an actor, which has been constructively operating in Myanmar towards its governance’s transformation; attention will be paid to this aspect. (iii) Furthermore, the United States and China are usually debated in relation to Myanmar and their balancing power in the region, whereas the EU is left aside. The way in which these three powers interact with Myanmar, considered against the background of both the balancing power context and the power politics race in the Pacific Southeast Asian region, is a supplementary aim. (iv)The aim of this workshop is to strengthen the interaction between the area of study of the EU’s external relations and Southeast Asia-led studies that too often develop separately.