Alongside diplomacy and humanitarian action, both of which are in constant use throughout the global South, two further tools are employed more sparingly by the international community to shape the political trajectories of developing states: sanctions and humanitarian intervention. Here the notion of managing falls away, and the stronger conception of disciplining comes into play. Again in the Myanmar case, how might these tools be deployed?

While arms embargoes are still in place, most economic sanctions have now been lifted. The EU took this step in April 2013, having announced a suspension one year earlier. In the US, President Obama in mid-May renewed limited investment sanctions. Broadly, though, the major western powers have allowed Myanmar to come in from the cold. At a time when people in Rakhine State and elsewhere have already had ample global censure, there appears to be no good reason to reimpose economic sanctions.

In every case military intervention is a last resort, and may look to be a distant prospect in Myanmar. Nevertheless, the situation in Rakhine State requires that options for peacekeeping be placed on the agenda. Once or twice a year (most recently on April 17), the UN Security Council is briefed by Vijay Nambiar, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Myanmar. The next session needs to give serious consideration to a future peacekeeping force, and could profitably draw on the deep well of expertise amassed by China as a key player in UN peacekeeping over the past decade.