Grassroots resistance against hydropower dams: Community campaigns and civilian-rebel cooperation in Myanmar

When large hydropower dams are planned in conflict-affected regions, these projects can exacerbate pre-existing tensions and conflicts. This article focuses on the conflicts surrounding Myanmar’s controversial Myitsone and Hatgyi dam projects. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the findings demonstrate how politicized identities influence local mobilization and grassroots efforts to resist dams amid violent conflicts. Comparative analysis reveals the multifaceted nature of resistance mobilization in conflict settings, highlighting the role of ethnic solidarity, identity-based framing, alliance building, and social imaginaries. In both cases, civil society activists sought to generate support among co-ethnic populations by invoking their shared lived experiences and suffering from protracted conflicts. This framing succeeded in amplifying emotions and solidarity, and strengthening grassroots resistance. In addition, powerful ethnic resistance organizations lent their support to opposing dams, thereby boosting the significance of the resistance. However, the involvement of armed groups can undermine cooperation between civilian populations living under different political authorities, as shown in the Hatgyi case. Differing social imaginaries of a river—whether it is considered nationally significant or peripheral—have distinct political ramifications for resistance. The article underscores the centrality of underlying social psychological processes as the drivers of local resistance and environmental conflicts in conflict settings.