About the Project
For decades, OECD states have used foreign aid as a tool for stabilizing central governments in conflict-affected countries. However, the situation in Myanmar since the 2021 coup turns this on its head. Western governments are more ideologically aligned with armed groups across the country, fighting to restore democracy as part of the Spring Revolution. Hence, they are hesitantly using aid to support revolutionary groups’ abilities to act as democratic and “good” governance actors in the territories they control. In other words, aid actors are seeking to to support rebel governance. Governing the Revolution aims to aid dynamics within the Spring Revolution, while using Myanmar as a vantage point for capturing changes in foreign aid flows globally, especially as they pertain to states deemed “fragile” or “failed”.
The core questions are: How is foreign aid being used in the Spring Revolution? How does aid shape social relations between Western governments and Burmese revolutionaries? And how does aid shape the Spring Revolution itself? These will be answered through qualitative research in two border areas of Myanmar, as well as in Geneva, Washington, and other centers of aid policy.
The project will contribute to human geography, development studies, and international relations through several journal articles and a monograph. It also speaks to policymakers navigating the role of foreign aid in a changing global geopolitical context.
About the People
Dr. Shona Loong (https://www.shonaloong.com) is a Senior Scientist with the Political Geography Group at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich (UZH). Her research focuses on conflict, peacebuilding, and the politics of development in Myanmar’s borderlands.
Since completing her DPhil in geography at the University of Oxford in 2021, her work has been published in top journals such as Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Geoforum, Political Geography, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Currently, she has papers under review at Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Civil Wars, Development and Change and the Journal of Burma Studies.
Between 2023-2024, Dr. Loong was also an Associate Fellow in Southeast Asian Politics and Foreign Policy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). With the IISS, she works on the Myanmar Conflict Map (http://myanmar.iiss.org) and co-published a book, entitled New Answers to Old Questions: Myanmar Before and After the 2021 Coup d’etat (Connelly and Loong 2024).
Dr. Loong strives to do publicly engaged scholarship, based on both rigorous theoretical engagements and long-term relationships in the field, guided by an ethic of care.
Since completing her DPhil in geography at the University of Oxford in 2021, her work has been published in top journals such as Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Geoforum, Political Geography, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Currently, she has papers under review at Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Civil Wars, Development and Change and the Journal of Burma Studies.
Between 2023-2024, Dr. Loong was also an Associate Fellow in Southeast Asian Politics and Foreign Policy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). With the IISS, she works on the Myanmar Conflict Map (http://myanmar.iiss.org) and co-published a book, entitled New Answers to Old Questions: Myanmar Before and After the 2021 Coup d’etat (Connelly and Loong 2024).
Dr. Loong strives to do publicly engaged scholarship, based on both rigorous theoretical engagements and long-term relationships in the field, guided by an ethic of care.