Exclusionary Inclusion: The Unforeseen Consequences of Norm Promotion in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement Process

Abstract

What happens when the promotion of ‘inclusive peace’ creates an exclusionary negotiated settlement? Through an empirical analysis of the promotion of inclusion in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) negotiations that took place from 2011-2015, my analysis challenges claims in peace research that the more inclusive and participatory a peace process is, the more effective the outcome. Through discussing how the promotion of the inclusivity norm to the negotiating parties had unintended negative effects on the outcome of the process, namely excluding certain armed groups and crowding out civil society actors, I argue against assuming that integrating salient peacemaking norms always results in effective outcomes.