This book provides a sophisticated, yet accessible, overview of the key political, economic and social challenges facing contemporary Myanmar and explains the complex historical and ethnic dynamics that have shaped the country.
With clear and incisive contributions from the world’s leading Myanmar scholars, this book assesses the policies and political reforms that have provoked contestation in Myanmar’s recent history and driven both economic and social change. In this context, questions of economic ownership and control and the distribution of natural resources are shown to be deeply informed by long-standing fractures among ethnic and civil-military relations. The chapters analyse the key issues that constrain or expedite societal development in Myanmar and place recent events of national and international significance in the context of its complex history and social relations. In doing so, the book demonstrates that ethnic and cultural diversity is at the core of Myanmar’s society and heavily influences all aspects of life in the country.
Filling a gap in the market, this research textbook and primer will be of interest to upper undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars of Southeast Asian politics, economics and society and to journalists and professionals working within governments, companies and other organisations.
Author(s): Adam Simpson, Nicholas Farrelly
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors
Chapter 1: Interrogating contemporary Myanmar: the difficult transition
Introduction
Historical background
Chapter structure
Book structure
Note
References
Part I: Politics
Chapter 2: Elections and political reform: new hopes, old fears
Introduction to political conflict
Myanmar under military rule: political stalemates
Thein Sein and the USDP: new hopes
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: frustrated dreams
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 3: The military: institution and politics
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: expanding strength and role
Thein Sein and the USDP: engaging institutional reform
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: managing civil-military relations
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 4: Law, lawyers and legal institutions
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: declining fortunes of law and lawyers
Thein Sein and the USDP: law in the shadows of military rule
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: still in the shadows?
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 5: Ethnic politics: diversity and agency amid persistent violence
Introduction
Ethnicity as an identity category
The conceptual language of ethnicity
Myanmar under military rule: ethnicity as oppositional identity or existential threat?
Thein Sein and the USDP: electoral opportunities and renewed ceasefire efforts
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: stagnation and alienation
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 6: Democracy and human rights: in the shadow of Myanmar’s national security state
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: building the national security state
Thein Sein and the USDP: reforming the national security state
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: wrestling with the national security state
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 7: Foreign policy and international engagement: strategic realities, domestic priorities
Introduction
A post-independence decade of active neutralism
Myanmar under military rule: from hermit nation to pariah state
Thein Sein and the USDP: Myanmar as the ‘new frontier’
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: illusions and delusions
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Part II: Economy
Chapter 8: Political regimes and economic policy: isolation, consolidation, reintegration
Introduction
Economic life under the junta: from isolationism to tentative engagement
Thein Sein and the USDP: reform and reintegration into the global economy
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: the challenge of policy implementation
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 9: Industrial policy and special economic zones: engaging transformation in a globalised world
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: from autarky to cautious liberalisation (1962–2011)
Thein Sein and the USDP: engaging foreign capital (2011–16)
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: implementing the ‘right’ industrial policy? Special economic zones as a tool for industrialisation
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 10: Agriculture and the rural economy: the struggle to transform rural livelihoods
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: resource extraction from agriculture and the rural economy
Thein Sein and the USDP: towards investment in agriculture and the rural economy
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: charting a new course despite headwinds
Conclusion: future challenges
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Chapter 11: Natural resources: wealth and conflict
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: what governance?
Thein Sein and the USDP: unanticipated reform
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: eyes off the ball
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Part III: Society
Chapter 12: Art and heritage: creating and preserving cultural histories
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule
Thein Sein and the USDP
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 13: Women’s rights: change and continuity
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: repression and resistance
Thein Sein and the USDP: a transition for women?
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: two steps forward, one step back
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 14: Myanmar’s contested borderlands: uneven development and ongoing armed conflict
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule
Thein Sein and the USDP
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 15: Ethnicity, culture and religion: centralisation, Burmanisation and social transformation
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: Burmanisation and its discontents
Thein Sein and the USDP: cultural resurgence in transition
Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD: globalisation and cultural resurgence
Conclusion: future challenges
Notes
References
Chapter 16: Journalism and free speech: freedom and fear
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: state control
Thein Sein and the USDP: a wave of change
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: troubling times
Conclusion: future challenges
References
Chapter 17: The Rohingya crisis: nationalism and its discontents
Introduction
Myanmar under military rule: stranglehold on belonging
Thein Sein and the USDP: neglect and exclusion
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD: battles continue
Conclusion: future challenges
Note
References
Index
