Gerard McCarthy
Gerard McCarthy is Assistant Professor of Social Policy and Development at International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (part of Erasmus University of Rotterdam). He specialises in the politics of inequality and development in Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar where he has researched democracy, welfare and authoritarian legacies since 2013. His book, 'Outsourcing the Polity: Non-State Welfare, Inequality and Resistance in Myanmar' was published by Cornell University Press in 2023 (https://bit.ly/3FLIzwR).
He was previously Research Fellow at National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute (2020-2023) and Visiting Fellow at London School of Economics and Politics Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre (Sept-Dec 2022), Associate Director, Myanmar Research Centre at Australian National University (ANU) (2016-2019) and Visiting Fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore (2018). He has conducted extensive qualitative and survey research in provincial areas of Myanmar focusing on informal political and economic institutions and how these work to entrench precarity and inequality at the heart of contemporary democratic practice. He has also worked and conducted fieldwork in Singapore, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
His doctoral research in the ANU Department of Political & Social Change examined state-business relations and the politics of redistribution and inequality in Myanmar. His Myanmar-focused publications based on this research variously examine the origins and evolution of military capitalism (for ISEAS); how state-failure during disasters shapes political and moral community (in Southeast Asia Research); on how the competition between government and insurgent actors to broker development erodes the political viability of ceasefires (in Conflict, Security and Development); on informal social welfare, taxation and public goods provision and the notions of 'moral community' and 'citizenship' animating them (for International Growth Centre and in 'Citizenship in Myanmar'); on social media, citizenship and the socio-political exclusion of minorities (in 'Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar'); and on gendered dimensions of anti-Muslim narratives and Buddhist revivalism (w/ Jacquie Menager in Journal of Contemporary Asia).
Since COVID-19 he has examined the politics of state social response and absence in Southeast Asia throughout the pandemic through a regional social history project and quantitative socio-political household surveys. From this work he has developed a new research track examining how the boom of the gig-economy during COVID-19, especially amongst informal sector workers in developing country contexts, is being approached by government - focusing especially on the resilience or change of welfare regimes in the face of rising worker agitation.
Gerard has advised and consulted for a range of agencies including The Asia Foundation, Oxfam, Centre for Good Governance Myanmar, International Growth Centre Myanmar, United States Institute of Peace, The Carter Centre and TechChange. His writing and commentary on Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Sudan and Australia has been published in outlets including the Journal of Contemporary Asia, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, South East Asia Research, Institute of South East Asian Studies, New Mandala, The Myanmar Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, Lowy Institute for International Affairs, DevPolicy and ABC News. In 2017 he was a visiting scholar at St Antony's College University of Oxford and throughout 2015 and 2016 was a Visiting Fellow at University of Yangon's Department of International Relations where he ran workshops on research design and methods.
He was previously Research Fellow at National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute (2020-2023) and Visiting Fellow at London School of Economics and Politics Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre (Sept-Dec 2022), Associate Director, Myanmar Research Centre at Australian National University (ANU) (2016-2019) and Visiting Fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore (2018). He has conducted extensive qualitative and survey research in provincial areas of Myanmar focusing on informal political and economic institutions and how these work to entrench precarity and inequality at the heart of contemporary democratic practice. He has also worked and conducted fieldwork in Singapore, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
His doctoral research in the ANU Department of Political & Social Change examined state-business relations and the politics of redistribution and inequality in Myanmar. His Myanmar-focused publications based on this research variously examine the origins and evolution of military capitalism (for ISEAS); how state-failure during disasters shapes political and moral community (in Southeast Asia Research); on how the competition between government and insurgent actors to broker development erodes the political viability of ceasefires (in Conflict, Security and Development); on informal social welfare, taxation and public goods provision and the notions of 'moral community' and 'citizenship' animating them (for International Growth Centre and in 'Citizenship in Myanmar'); on social media, citizenship and the socio-political exclusion of minorities (in 'Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar'); and on gendered dimensions of anti-Muslim narratives and Buddhist revivalism (w/ Jacquie Menager in Journal of Contemporary Asia).
Since COVID-19 he has examined the politics of state social response and absence in Southeast Asia throughout the pandemic through a regional social history project and quantitative socio-political household surveys. From this work he has developed a new research track examining how the boom of the gig-economy during COVID-19, especially amongst informal sector workers in developing country contexts, is being approached by government - focusing especially on the resilience or change of welfare regimes in the face of rising worker agitation.
Gerard has advised and consulted for a range of agencies including The Asia Foundation, Oxfam, Centre for Good Governance Myanmar, International Growth Centre Myanmar, United States Institute of Peace, The Carter Centre and TechChange. His writing and commentary on Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Sudan and Australia has been published in outlets including the Journal of Contemporary Asia, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, South East Asia Research, Institute of South East Asian Studies, New Mandala, The Myanmar Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, Lowy Institute for International Affairs, DevPolicy and ABC News. In 2017 he was a visiting scholar at St Antony's College University of Oxford and throughout 2015 and 2016 was a Visiting Fellow at University of Yangon's Department of International Relations where he ran workshops on research design and methods.
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Books by Gerard McCarthy
FULL BOOK AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD OPEN SOURCE: https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/after-coup#tabanchor
The triumph of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy at the 2015 election was supposed to mark the consolidation of a reformist trajectory for Myanmar society. What has followed has not proved so straightforward. This book takes stock of the mutations, continuities and fractures at the heart of today’s political and economic transformations. We ask: What has changed under a democratically elected government? Where are the obstacles to reform? And is there scope to foster a more prosperous and inclusive Myanmar? With the peace process faltering, over 1 million people displaced by recent violence, and ongoing army dominance in key areas of decision-making, the chapters in this volume identify areas of possible reform within the constraints of Myanmar’s hybrid civil–military governance arrangements.
This latest volume in the Myanmar Update Series from the Australian National University continues a long tradition of intense, critical engagement with political, economic and social questions in one of Southeast Asia’s most complicated countries. At a time of great uncertainty and anxiety, the 13 chapters of Myanmar Transformed? offer new and alternative ways to understand Myanmar and its people.
Presentations by Gerard McCarthy
This round includes data on: Employment & migration; Food security; Access to support and services; Household finances; Lifestyle & behavioural changes (including water, sanitation and hygiene); Debt; and Preferences for taxation & spending.
Based on 4727 respondents, headline findings:
- 78% HHs reduced meals (size or number) in 7 days pre-survey, mostly due to reduced income
- >Half HHs have taken new loans, mostly for survival/purchase of food; 2/3 new loans are with interest
- 21% of HHs received any government support (food or cash), though >60% says it lasted less than a week.
- Those who received government support and those who had not have been accruing new COVID-19 survival debt at similar rates. This suggests problems in targeting and magnitude of government social aid.
Data is based on respondents from localities in 5 states and regions of Myanmar.
Project is a collaboration between scholars and practitioners at National University of Singapore, University of Sydney, University College London, Innovations for Poverty Action Myanmar, The Asia Foundation Myanmar and WaterAid Myanmar.
For project info see: http://www.poverty-action.org/recovr-study/myanmar-city-covid-19-impacts-recovery-monitor-mccirm-survey
FOR CITATION AS: Kyu Khin Gar, McCarthy, Smurra & Toth. 2020. “Myanmar COVID 19 Impact & Recovery Monitor,
Round 2 briefing (Oct/Nov 2020 data)”. Innovations for Poverty Action, The Asia Foundation and Water Aid. Yangon.
This round includes data on: Employment & migration; Food security; Access to support and services; Household finances; Lifestyle & behavioural changes (including water, sanitation and hygiene); Debt; and Preferences for taxation & spending.
Headline findings:
80% HHs reduced meals (size or number) in 7 days pre-survey, mostly due to reduced income
>Half HHs have taken new loans, mostly for survival/purchase of food
20% of HHs have received any government support (food or cash)
Data is based on 4800 respondents in localities across 5 states and regions of Myanmar collected via geolocated ChatBot survey verified with 10% follow-up phone calls with respondents.
Project is a collaboration between scholars and practitioners at National University of Singapore, University of Sydney, University College London, Innovations for Poverty Action Myanmar, The Asia Foundation Myanmar and WaterAid Myanmar.
For project info see: http://www.poverty-action.org/recovr-study/myanmar-city-covid-19-impacts-recovery-monitor-mccirm-survey
FOR CITATION AS: Kyu Khin Gar, McCarthy, Smurra & Toth. 2020. “Myanmar COVID 19 Impact & Recovery Monitor,
Round 1 (Sept/Oct) Briefing”. Innovations for Poverty Action, The Asia Foundation and Water Aid. Yangon.
Papers by Gerard McCarthy
Published: March 2021 (Vol.16 No.1)
Original article: https://bit.ly/3dbxbwa
This roundtable summary discusses the 2016 local elections of village tract and urban ward administrators and reflects on the future of local democracy and decentralization in Myanmar. Local administrators are the primary point of contact between the state and citizens. How they are elected and how they govern in the everyday are essential to understanding political developments at the most local level.