Abstract
AbstractWhy do regional identities develop (or not)? While we know about the institutional incentives that make some identities more salient than others, we know much less about the conditions that make nation‐builders more or less successful. To fill this gap, this paper examines the organizational dimensions of identity formation and the peripheries of Kachin nationalism in Myanmar. It argues that identity formation is shaped by political entrepreneurs’ capacity to (1) create inclusive inter‐elite alliances and (2) turn individuals into “citizens” of a larger ensemble. Empirically, it seeks to understand why we find resistance to a pan‐Kachin identity among two “Kachin” subgroups: Rawang and Lisu. The article shows that their conditional Kachin identity is the outcome of (1) incomplete inter‐elite alliances due to the uneven spread of Christian networks through which nation‐builders worked; and (2) the KIO’s variable and declining capacity to provide public goods inclusively across all Kachin groups.
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