Comparative Study of Child Soldiering on Myanmar-China Border: Evolutions, Challenges and Countermeasures.

• Author: Myoe, Maung Aung
• Position: Book review

Comparative Study of Child Soldiering on Myanmar-China Border: Evolutions, Challenges and Countermeasures. By Kai Chen. Singapore: Springer, 2014. Soft Cover: 98pp.

As this book is the first comprehensive study of child soldiering on the Myanmar-China border it represents a welcome addition to the extensive literature on Myanmar politics and society. The book is clearly structured and logically argued, and this reviewer finds it valuable for those who are not only interested in armed conflict in Myanmar but the global problem of child soldiering in general.

"Limited Statehood" and "Transnational Public-Private Partnership" are two key concepts that form the conceptual framework of the author's research. Limited statehood means that "central government is unable to implement and enforce rules in certain parts (or part) in its territory" (p. 11), while Transnational Public-Private Partnership means "continuous and relatively institutionalized transboundary interactions between public and private actors that formally strive for the provision of collective goods, whereas private actors can be for-profit and/or civil society organizations" (p. 12). As he is not satisfied with the existing definitions of "child soldiering", the author argues that "the definition should refer to a process of associating any person below 18 years of age with any armed force or group which contains recruitment, training and deployment" (p. 18). The author discusses the intensity and various stages of armed conflicts in Myanmar, and the organizations involved in recruiting, training and deploying child soldiers as well as the negative consequences of child soldiering on the border.

The author provides six structural causes of child soldiering in Myanmar: first, the decentralization of security which allows local military units to mobilize resources for troops and conduct business for unit welfare; second, inadequate manpower resources, due mainly to high rates of desertion in the armed forces, an imbalanced population structure which results in a relative shortage of adults, and competition for manpower between the military and ethnic-based militias; third, insufficient legal enforcement; fourth, the displacement of children as a consequence of armed conflict, drug smuggling and the HIV/AIDS epidemic; fifth, stateless children due to the lack of marriage and birth registration; and sixth, chronic poverty. While the last five causes are quite obvious, this reviewer...