Melissa Crouch FAHA researches authoritarian regimes to expose how the military threatens constitutional democracy

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra (Unsplash)

Based on archival research and fieldwork using both Indonesian and Burmese language materials, Professor Melissa Crouch‘s research illuminates critical contemporary issues by addressing the impact of political and social factors on the functioning of law, both historically and in the current context. Her research has covered the ambiguous role of women judges, the relationship between lawyers and democratisation, the process of constitution-making and the application of blasphemy law.

Professor Melissa Crouch joins us to talk about her work defending constitutional democracy and the role of the humanities in bringing together people to find a shared resolution in times of war and conflict.

What inspired you to pursue your field of study?

Professor Melissa Crouch FAHA

It was accidental that I ended up in academia at all. While I didn’t think anything of it at the time, I am the first woman in my family to finish high school and the first in my family to go to university, let alone undertake a PhD or become an academic or professor. It was from my language studies, first Bahasa Indonesia and later Burmese, that my interest in Asian Studies and Asian legal traditions emerged. I grew up in country Victoria, but later my family moved to Melbourne I had the chance to study Bahasa Indonesia in high school. I loved the way languages offer a different perspective on the world, and that’s where my interest began.

I first went to Indonesia on a school trip, then advanced my language skills at university where I was taught by outstanding Indonesian scholars such as Prof Ariel Heriyanto and Dr Arief Budiman. I went to Indonesia most summers during my undergraduate degree on various exchange programs.

During my undergraduate degree, I found synergy between my study of Bahasa Indonesia and law through subjects on Indonesian law and working as a research assistant at the Asian Law Centre. I never looked back.

My interest in Burmese language began after university, from 2006, when I lived in Southeast Melbourne with neighbours who were predominantly refugees from Myanmar. Later, I took Burmese language courses in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Myanmar from a range of local and foreign teachers – the late Prof John Okell, Dr Justin Watkins, Ms Yu Yu Khaing and others. After my PhD, I held research fellowships in Leiden (briefly) and then at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, the National University of Singapore, which enabled me to pursue my research on Myanmar further. In short, my interest in languages expanded into a fascination with the cultural and social dimensions of law, and the relationship between law and social change.

Can you tell us about your current project / research?

I’m just finishing off a book project on The Palimpsest Constitution: The Social Life of Constitutional Legacies in Myanmar (OUP 2025) which uses ethnography to explore how past constitutions matter in the postcolony through a case study of constitutional history in Myanmar. Beyond that, next year I will commence an ARC Future Fellowship on ‘Defending Constitutional Democracy: The Military and the Constitution in Asia’. The foundational ideas for this project are based upon a recent publication on the military turn in comparative constitutional law and builds on my prior interests in Indonesia and my recent work on constitutionalism in Myanmar. At the heart of the project is the idea that military involvement in governance is not just or only a political project, but also a legal one.

The military may often claim to take over in the name of defending constitutional democracy, but in fact it often uses law to undermine it.

There are currently PhD scholarships open for applications, which will provide an opportunity for a student to undertake a project on other jurisdictions such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Thailand.

How does your research address the challenges we’re facing as a society?

In 2023, the United Nations Secretary General issued urgent statements condemning military coups and calling for ‘a restoration of the constitutional order’. Military influence and military rule through constitutions directly threatens constitutional democracy in several of Australia’s neighbours across Asia, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa. Yet there has been little focus on the role of the military in constitutional law. My ARC project will produce a comparative account of the military as constitution-makers, law-makers, and administrators. By explaining how the military uses constitutions in authoritarian regimes, this project will help Australian policymakers, civil society organisations, constitutional advisors and legal advocates develop empirically informed strategies that can respond to the legal challenges that military rule poses to constitutional democracy and offer new constitutional design strategies to subordinate the military to civilian rule.

Globally, we live in difficult times of war. While most Australians know of the conflict between Russia-Ukraine, Hamas-Israel and so forth, there is little awareness of the war on our doorstep – the war Myanmar’s military is waging against its own people. Nor do many Australians know that a former disgraced military general, Prabowo Subianto, has just taken office as president in Indonesia. My current project is about identifying and exposing the ways the military uses law and constitutions to advance its interests and to influence what are otherwise assumed to be civilian state institutions.

I am concerned with the ways that the military may claim to be ‘defending constitutional democracy’ while actually undermining it, and the implications this has for how we think about constitutionalism.

Myanmar is a worst-case example of military rule, yet there are many examples in the region of military influence and involvement in civilian rule – from Thailand to Fiji to Pakistan and Indonesia. The project seeks to make explicit the civilian assumptions inherent in ideas of liberal constitutionalism and to advocate for a more sociologically grounded understanding of constitutionalism in practise.

Why are the humanities important?

In my view, the humanities are important because it prioritises the importance of listening to the experiences and stories of others, past and present, and being open to different worldviews and alternative perspectives. Intercultural dialogue, such as through language learning, is a key part of that. One way I have worked across the humanities is through my term as the president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), an interdisciplinary body of academics and students working across disciplines on Asia, with commitments that are closely aligned to the AAH.

Further, in an era of AI and ChatGPT, the humanities are important because the ability of humans to understand and engage with others through language and culture remains central to our efforts to communicate, connect and collaborate. The beauty of thinking and working comparatively and across cultures is that it simultaneously exposes us to different worldviews while at the same time de-centring our own experiences, knowledge and ways of thinking and being. It also puts us in a position of humility as we are all always learning.

At a time when the world seems so divided, knowledge that can bring us together and affirm our shared humanity is vital.

 

As a student of the tail end of the boom in Asian studies in Australia (1990s-early 2000s), I will always be grateful for the educational institutions and structures that enabled me to develop skills and knowledge in this area. It is essential for Australian higher education institutions to continue to provide the structures, programs and support necessary to ensure future generations of students can also engage deeply in studies of Asia.

What excites you in your field right now?

Internationally and regionally, in studies of Asian legal traditions and law in the Global South, I am excited by the growth in ideas and research about constitutionalism in the Global South. There is a real opportunity to re-conceptualise studies of constitutionalism more broadly to account for sociological realities beyond liberal constitutionalism and to continue to grapple with the challenges we face due to the decline of constitutional democracy and the rise or persistence of authoritarian constitutionalism. These challenges are most pressing in some of Australia’s closest and most important neighbours – from Myanmar to Indonesia and Thailand, among others.

Further, Australia is a place of real scholarly talent and intellectual innovation, and so it is an exciting time to be a scholar of Asian Studies and law and society here. While this is the case, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the serious challenges that the sector faces and the potential negative impact this will have – or is already having –  on scholars and students in terms of teaching and research on the humanities at Australian universities.

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