The Rohingya Conflict : An Analysis through the Lens of the Geopolitical Economy of Resources

Abstract: This thesis aims to reveal the underlying reason behind the recent Rohingya conflict. This paper argues that, instead of only focusing on the ethnic and religious view of the Rohingya conflict, the geopolitical economic view of the conflict also needs to be addressed sincerely as the conflict has a long history and occurred in different political and economic conditions. From that purpose, this research analyses the recent Rohingya conflict from the perspective of the geopolitical economy of resources. It examines the role and activities of the Government of Myanmar and military force concerning the recent conflict. Besides that, this paper also examines the geopolitical economic interests of China and India in Rakhine state regards to their unwillingness to stop the conflict. In this study, secondary sources such as books, academic articles, reports of government and non-government organisations and the UCDP database have mainly been used for data collection, which is based on textual analysis. This thesis applies the concept of Resource, Resource curse, Resource war and Intrastate conflict along with the analytical framework ‘Vulnerability, risk and opportunity’ by Philippe Le Billon as a tool to explain and analyse the conflict. The research shows that the recent violent conflicts which forcedly displaced hundreds of thousands of the Rohingyas from their houses and destroyed many Rohingya villages in Rakhine state have a possible connection with the resources and economic opportunities that are present in the Rakhine state. There is a strong possibility that the resource and economic opportunities influence the GoM and military force to become involved in this conflict. Also, the resource and economic opportunities might prevent China and India from playing an active role to stop the conflict. The Rohingya crisis has been going on for decades now, yet it has not been solved. Also, there is no sign of solving the crisis soon. The geopolitical economic perspective of the conflict might be the answer to why the Rohingya crisis has not yet been solved.