"...This thesis seeks to explain the prevalence of child soldiering in contemporary Burma. The development of various cultural and structural aspects of Burmese society allows the practice to function as part of the military strategy of the Tatmadaw and ethnic minority armies. In Chapter One, I argued for the importance of three historic features of the Burmese context that enable the practice of child soldiering. First, the gradual conflation of nationalism and warfare in the Burmese independent movements during the 1930s and 1940s had a significant impact on the future structure of the Burmese government. The colonial period saw a reliance on military intervention to establish control and order and the emergence of guerrilla conflict as a way to engage with the government, which became models for later governance and agitation. The precedent for the many non-state ethnic armies in contemporary Burma is seen in the militarisation of the nationalist movement and the prevalence of ethnically-affiliated tats under colonial rule. Second, historic ethnic tensions are also of critical importance for understanding the practice of child soldiering in modern Burma. The poly-ethnic fabric of pre-colonial Burmese society was upset by the British administration, which politicised ethnicity by introducing concrete definitions of difference and distinct geographical separation of ethnic groups..."