Kota Watanabe

Kota Watanabe is a PhD researcher at Department of Development Studies. His research interests include political economy, conflict, development, humanitarian assistance, and borderlands.  Before joining the SOAS, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for ten years with a focus on politics, conflict, and development of Myanmar, contributing to planning and implementation of Japan’s diplomatic policy towards Myanmar. He spent five years in Myanmar, including two-year language training, after which he was posted to the Embassy of Japan in Myanmar as a political officer. He is fluent in Japanese, English and Burmese. He holds MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Coventry University in the United Kingdom and Bachelor of Social Sciences from Hitotsubashi University in Japan.

I am researching state formation in Myanmar’s borderlands, particularly in the Karen areas in south eastern Myanmar.  I am particularly interested in how interactions between states, ethnic armed groups, and civilian populations generate social order.