Welfare State, DIY

Insight Myanmar · Jan 30, 2026 · 2h 19m

Episode #477: “I found Myanmar a really interesting case study,” says Gerard McCarthy, a political sociologist and author of Outsourcing the Polity. His work explores how deeply divided,impoverished societies emerge from conflict and build political settlements. Drawn to Myanmar during its 2010 transition, McCarthy focuses his research on provincial regions like northern Bago and Karen States—areas largely ignored in existing scholarship, which tends to center on Yangon and Mandalay.

McCarthy examines how Myanmar’s military regime, following the collapse of socialism, strategically withdrew…