“Agents” of the state or revolution? Resistance, accommodation, violence and the role of local administrators in post-coup Myanmar

This paper examines the role of local authorities in Myanmar following a military coup in February 2021 which has generated a nation-wide resistance and put local state authorities in a difficult situation as mediators between the junta authorities, resistance movements, and local populations. Based on surveys of 26 community researchers, interviews of 51 residents in three most violent areas in Myanmar, and secondary sources published by state and non-state media, we find that local state administrators have adopted different responses and strategies depending on the types of authorities in control of a territory, and the level of local resistance to the military junta; the nature and scale of their loyalty to the military's regime; their relationship with the local residents; and the evolving political situation. These varying responses have in turn shaped whether they are perceived as "agents of the state," or "agents of the revolution" by local populations and the resistance movement. The Myanmar case offers an insight on how the same type of actor (local administrators who are part of the state administrative machinery) can adopt two identities: agents of the state facilitating autocratization, or agents of the revolution resisting autocratization.