Senior Researcher, Southeast Asia Studies Programme
Dipannita Maria Bagh is Senior Researcher - Southeast Asia Studies Programme. Prior to joining Gateway House, she was at Institute of Human Rights and Democratic Governance (IHRDG), Spring University Myanmar, with dual roles as Editor since July 2023 and faculty member since September 2024, coordinating the elective course “Diplomacy for a Democratic Myanmar” for the 2023-2024 academic year. As Editor at IHRDG, she oversaw the publication of the inaugural 'IHRDG Quarterly Update' in October 2023, and the flagship research publication, the 'IHRDG Annual Summary of Myanmar Research' published annually since 2024, highlighting over a hundred resources consisting mainly of peer-reviewed research publications and multimedia related to Myanmar Studies. Prior to these appointments, she contributed as a Research Assistant at the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies in Kolkata, working on a Government of West Bengal-funded project examining Myanmar’s political transformation and its implications for regional cooperation, with particular focus on the country’s higher education landscape. In 2018, she completed a year-long research assignment monitoring developments in Bangladesh’s Chittagong district and their impact on Bangladesh’s 2018 general elections; the project report was compiled for the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (Kolkata Bureau). Dipannita has recently submitted her PhD thesis in Political Science at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Her doctoral research, titled ‘Sino-U.S. Contestation in Myanmar (2011-2020): A Study’, contributes to norms research and great-power competition and their implication on democratisation in Southeast Asia, with the case study of Myanmar. She holds an MPhil in Foreign Policy Studies, and MA in South and Southeast Asian Studies with specialisation in Peace Studies, and Refugee Studies, from the University of Calcutta. She also pursued beginner-level Burmese language at the Institut Français de Birmanie, Yangon, and a Diploma in Burmese language from the Centre for Myanmar Studies, Manipur University. Her expertise encompasses democratic transitions, great-power politics, norm contestation, and regional developments in South and Southeast Asia.
Expertise
Myanmar’s domestic politics and external relations, ASEAN, China-U.S. contestation in Southeast Asia, and Northeast India.
Myanmar heads to the polls in December amidst a festering conflict, now running on five years. At home, the balance of power is constantly shifting between the military and the anti-junta forces. Internationally, there is a growing fatigue with resolving the conflict. However, for the ruling military this election is strictly about putting the derailed train of ‘limited democracy’ back on track.
The Thai–Cambodia border dispute, which erupted anew in July, is 70 years old, and there’s no resolution in sight. Both nations have differing political ambitions: Thailand seeks to reclaim former territories while Cambodia aims to retain its sovereign rights. This contestation requires a regional political resolution, but Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship failed to forge consensus. Can the new chair, the Philippines, resolve it?
The 46th ASEAN Summit led by Malaysia in the chair, concluded in May. Malaysia is one of the founding members of the ASEAN, and is fully cognisant of its prolonged challenges, but as chair it has not addressed the issues. It raises questions on whether the stated deliverable of “inclusivity and sustainability” is merely a diversion from the country’s weakening leadership in the region.
A proposed humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar’s suffering Rakhine state is the need of the hour. But Chief Advisor Yunus has linked it with repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, mixing up unrelated issues. This is a classic ploy to distract the public from his own shortcomings, and his single-minded focus to extend and legitimise his regime.
The March 28 earthquake in Myanmar has devastated a country already in civil war. Multiple groupings and militias now occupy different parts of Myanmar, leaving its neighbours and the international community concerned about which stakeholder to engage with for provision of humanitarian relief, particularly those areas beyond the writ of the ruling military. What can India do to help?
