Partly as a result of this, Burmese nationalism became increasingly conflated with Buddhist religious identity, conveying a sense that to be authentically a citizen of Myanmar was to be (and ethnically Burman) (Walton 2013c). This exacerbated the dynamic of non-Burman, non-Buddhist “others” being considered a threat to the state, and tools of regional or global power interests. Outside support from Western or other foreign elements to insurgency efforts and anti-junta democratic movements fed this perception