Building consensus
Philipp Annawitt's biography as a former United Nations official and senior advisor to the European Union provides him with a unique perspective on the complexities of coordinating different actors in a conflict situation like the one in Myanmar. In his quote, he emphasizes the difficulties of finding consensus among various actors, including the parliament, the CRPH, and the National Unity Consultative Council, when it comes to developing a common approach to education. You can hear his full thoughts on our recent podcast conversation with him.
As someone who has worked on procedural frameworks and reporting lines in previous posts, Annawitt has experience in developing structures that facilitate decision-making. He believes that the NUG is further along in developing these frameworks than the NUCC, and that establishing rules for committees and membership on those committees will be essential for simplifying the conversation and making progress toward consensus.
Overall, Annawitt's comments highlight the complexity of coordinating different actors in a conflict situation and the need for clear structures and frameworks to facilitate decision-making and consensus-building.
“It would be extremely difficult in a national unity government even in peacetime! This is very fluid; it’s a conflict situation, pressure on all sides.”
“When we talk about finding consensus, on say, proposed policy, then there are other actors involved. There is certainly the parliament involved, the CRPH, the interim federal union parliament, if you want to call it that. And there's also the National Unity Consultative Council involved. And there have been really strong efforts on all sides, we have to say, to make this coordination work, when it comes to, say, developing a common approach to what education should look like, delivered by different systems, delivered by the ethnic revolutionary organization systems, delivered in schools that are that are run by the Ministry of Education, and so on and so forth. This coordination is very, very difficult.
And it would be extremely difficult in a national unity government even in peacetime! This is very fluid; it's a conflict situation, pressure on all sides. Not everybody has been friends before they have found themselves to be allies. So, I think it is to be expected. I think one of the key priorities in the future for the NUG, as an executive government but also for the democratic movement more widely to be successful, is to work on simplifying this conversation. To work on developing structures that allow for decision-making while still being inclusive, allow some sort of delegation, right? If you have a committee, have rules for the committee, have rules for membership on the committee, established secure reporting lines, have a procedural framework on how things is done. I think the NUG internally is further in terms of developing that procedural framework. In the NUCC, I have my doubts. But that is what's needed.”