Militant Monks? Ethnoreligious Nationalism and the 2021 Military Coup in Myanmar

While much has been written regarding the factors that influenced the Burmese military to stage the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, little research considers the impact of ethnoreligious nationalism on the military's decision to depose the government. This paper aims to illustrate potential ethnoreligious nationalist motives that caused the military to stage the coup, with a particular focus on the role of Buddhist nationalist organizations and their relationships with the Burmese military. Drawing on the activities and status of Buddhist nationalist groups from the period preceding the 2015 Myanmar general elections to the post-coup period, military statements, and the military’s interaction with the Burmese Buddhist community following on the coup, this paper intends to prove that the Burmese military believed that the Bamar-Buddhist agenda in Myanmar became increasingly threatened under the National League for Democracy- led government. Therefore, the military staged the coup, subsequently indicating that ethnoreligious nationalism played a considerable role in the military's decision-making process. This paper will provide an alternative explanation regarding the military’s motive to stage the 2021 coup, as well as insight into the influence of ethnoreligious nationalism on civil-military relations in Myanmar and throughout South and Southeast Asia.