Why did the Myanmar military initiate mass atrocities in Rakhine state alongside radical democratic reforms? We argue that the atrocities in Rakhine were driven by intra-military rivalry. The... Show moreWhy did the Myanmar military initiate mass atrocities in Rakhine state alongside radical democratic reforms? We argue that the atrocities in Rakhine were driven by intra-military rivalry. The transition to democracy was a generational transition of the military leadership that brought pre-existing rivalries within the military to the fore. As is common to military regimes, Myanmar military elites rely on regional support bases. The democratic transition coincided with a transition of power from generals with a Western support base – e.g. Shwe Mann – to generals with an Eastern support base – e.g. Thein Sein and Min Aung Hlaing. We argue that atrocities can strengthen control over security services by raising militias, locking rival units in the execution of the violence, and restructuring units under a new command. We demonstrate how atrocities in the Western Rakhine province served to consolidate power over the western faction of the military and allowed General Hlaing to consolidate. Show less
Balsaminaceae is a diverse plant family characterized by a huge floral morphological diversity. Its classification has changed many times throughout the taxonomic history of the group, owing to... Show moreBalsaminaceae is a diverse plant family characterized by a huge floral morphological diversity. Its classification has changed many times throughout the taxonomic history of the group, owing to the emphasis on particular diagnostic characters. This suggests that patterns of character evolution are labile and do not contain much phylogenetic signal. This appears particularly prevalent among floral characters, suggesting that floral evolution and pollination ecology may be important drivers of diversification in the family. Further complications in taxonomy arise from the fact that one of the two genera of the family, Impatiens, has a very large number of species, and that it is distributed across several continents. This has led to a lack of taxonomic effort, especially those regions where very few studies have been done, despite large species diversity. In this thesis, I filled particular gaps in knowledge of Balsaminaceae, focusing on issues related to the Southeast Asian region, including the taxonomic revision of this family in Myanmar (Chapter 2-4), molecular phylogeny and morphological character evolution of Impatiens sect. Semeiocardium (Chapter 5), comparative pollination biology of 7 sympatric Impatiens species in Thailand (Chapter 6), and evolution of corolla symmetry and pollination system of this family (Chapter 7). Show less