Exposing the political use of narratives

This chapter turns to the task of exposing the ways that meanings of democracy are wielded politically by networks of aid workers, activists and democratic leaders in Myanmar. Rather than narratives being neutral or objective, it describes how understandings and communication about democracy are embedded within unequal relations of power. Activists and aid workers use narratives of democracy to position themselves in relation to rivals and to establish themselves and their allies as experts who can define what ‘genuine’ democracy is and is not. Narratives are a tool through which activists, opposition leaders and aid workers can exercise power in a discursive form.