Download or read book Governance and Civil Society in Myanmar written by Helen James and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, by focusing on education, health and environment, and the institutions which formulate and deliver policy, shows how the international community can make a significant difference to strengthening Myanmar's/Burma's civil society.
Download or read book Civil Society in Burma written by Ashley South and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2008 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Burma faces a complex of interlinked humanitarian, social, and political crises. The situation is especially grave in areas populated by ethnic minorities, many of which have been affected by decades of armed conflict, and in the Irrawaddy Delta, where in May 2008 some 130,000 people were killed and over two million made homeless by Cyclone Nargis. The military government is deeply unpopular, and further episodes of mass protest similar to those that occurred in August and September 2007 cannot be ruled out. However, strategic options for elite-level regime change in the country remain limited. Therefore, local and international actors should focus on incremental approaches to democratization, and in particular on the roles of local communities and NGOs. The past decade has seen an expansion of previously dormant civil society networks, especially within and between ethnic nationality communities. This development has been particularly significant in areas affected by ceasefires between armed ethnic groups and the military government. The capacities and strategic importance of local NGOs were demonstrated by the impressive civil society responses to the cyclone. At the local level, models of community participation and the promotion of democracy from below can help to transform state-society relations and patterns of governance, including in ceasefire areas. At the national/elite level, the development of civil society is a prerequisite for sustainable democratic change. Although the promotion of civil society is necessary, it is not sufficient to achieve social and political transition in Burma. Furthermore, community networks are vulnerable to suppression by the militarized state and by armed nonstate actors. Such tendencies were demonstrated during the national referendum of May 2008, when the government engineered the endorsement of a new constitution designed to consolidate and perpetuate military rule. The challenge for the international community is to work within the constricted environment of military-ruled Burma in ways that promote positive change - but without exposing local partners to unacceptable risks.
Download or read book Contested Civil Society in Myanmar written by Maaike Matelski and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2023-11-23 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ePDFs of chapters 4, 5 and 7 are available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence This book centres on various contestations in Myanmar society and illustrates the ways in which these are reflected in civil society. The book offers a concise overview of recent political developments in the country, from the short-lived attempts at democratization to the 2021 military coup, and analyses the involvement of various civil society actors, as well as their international supporters. It incorporates multiple identities and fault lines in Myanmar society and explains how these influence diverse perceptions, framing and agenda setting as political developments unfold. The book provides an up-to-date overview of the main identities and contestations within Myanmar’s civil society and, by extension, within Myanmar society as a whole. It also gives recommendations to donors, policy makers and researchers wishing to better understand and support local civil society actors operating in repressive environments.
Download or read book Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar written by Helen James and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-09-27 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Helen James considers security in Myanmar/Burma. She uses the ideas put forward in the United Nations Development Programme's 1994 report, of human, as opposed to state and security, going on to argue that freedom from want, and freedom from fear (of the regime) are in fact mutually supportive ideas, and that the security of the people and the security of the state are in fact in a symbiotic relationship with each other. Presenting new and significant information of the security concept of Myanmar/Burma, James’ original work considers economic development, health, education, environmental issues, the drugs trade, human rights, minority peoples and political, social and economic reforms, arguing that improved governance, the development of civil society and economic development would both strengthen the state and ensure the security and well-being of its citizens.
Download or read book The Firtst Step Toward Participatory Budgeting in Myanmar written by Sandhi Governance Institute and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The citizens of Myanmar have been demanding a more transparent government, and the budget is a practical issue area on which civil society can press its government to be accountable, making this topic a desirable research theme. This partnership between the East-Asia Institute and our four Myanmar civil society organizations was born during an uncertain period in Burma. At that time the country was ruled by a so-called reformist pseudo-civilian government and the outcome of the historic 2015 election were still unknown. However, our civil society organizations were determined to push for the emergence of an accountable democratic government. It was very timely because we were well aware of the fact that Myanmar civil society must shift its focus away from service provision to advocacy and research in the changing political context. Secondly, public financial management is crucial to any country’s socioeconomic development and for civil society in Myanmar it is unexplored territory. Very few organizations at that time were involved in budget monitoring or public financial issues. Therefore, the capacity of civil society in this field needs to be strengthened and this project was really essential for improving public financial management and financial accountability. Thirdly, nurturing local researchers, establishing research organizations for policy advocacy, and networking with international think tanks are important agendas for promoting good governance in Myanmar.
Download or read book Living with Myanmar written by Justine Chambers and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2011 Myanmar has experienced many changes to its social, political and economic landscape. The formation of a new government in 2016, led by the National League for Democracy, was a crucially important milestone in the country’s transition to a more inclusive form of governance. And yet, for many people everyday struggles remain unchanged, and have often worsened in recent years. Key economic, social and political reforms are stalled, conflict persists and longstanding issues of citizenship and belonging remain. The wide-ranging, myriad and multiple challenges of Living with Myanmar is the subject of this volume. Following the Myanmar Update series tradition, each of the authors offers a different perspective on the sociopolitical and economic mutations occurring in the country and the challenges that still remain. The book is divided into six sections and covers critical issues ranging from gender equality and identity politics, to agrarian reform and the representative role of parliament. Collectively, these voices raise key questions concerning the institutional legacies of military rule and their ongoing role in subverting the country’s reform process. However, they also offer insights into the creative and productive ways that Myanmar’s activists, civil society, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and everyday people attempt to engage with and reform those legacies.
Download or read book Governance and Democracy in the Asia Pacific written by Stephen McCarthy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the theoretical and empirical relationship between democracy and governance in the Asia-Pacific region. Examining a variety of country cases and themes addressing the theoretical tension between governance and democracy, it illuminates how this impacts political and civil societies across the region. Analysing the character, structure and current trajectories of polities in the Asia-Pacific, democratic or otherwise, this book demonstrates that the role of civil society, political society and governance has significantly differed in practice from what has been commonly assumed within the international community. The book includes both theoretical investigations tracing the modern development of the concepts of governance, development and democratization as well as regional and country-specific observations of major issues, presenting comprehensive country-level studies of China, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Presenting fascinating insight into non-democratic governance, civil society and the rule of law in illiberal contexts, Governance and Democracy in the Asia-Pacific will prove to be of great use to students and scholars of Asian politics and society, as well as international and comparative politics.
Download or read book The Growth of Civil Society in Myanmar written by Brian Heidel and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book MYANMAR THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY written by International Crisis Group and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Narrating Democracy in Myanmar written by Tamas Wells and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses what Myanmar's struggle for democracy has signified to Burmese activists and democratic leaders, and to their international allies. In doing so, it explores how understanding contested meanings of democracy helps make sense of the country's tortuous path since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won historic elections in 2015. Using Burmese and English language sources, Narrating Democracy in Myanmar reveals how the country's ongoing struggles for democracy exist not only in opposition to Burmese military elites, but also within networks of local activists and democratic leaders, and international aid workers.
Download or read book Active Citizens Under Political Wraps written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Democratisation of Myanmar written by Nehginpao Kipgen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This topical book studies the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. It outlines the factors that contributed to the political transition in the country and the circumstances in which the transition from military rule of nearly five decades to democracy took place. The author shows how political groups —especially Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy — and the military that had been hostile to the idea and practice of democracy came to work together, paving the way for the political change after protracted struggle. The volume also examines the role of the civil society, elites, external agencies, and institutions in the process of democratic change. Bringing together a balance of primary ethnographic fieldwork and nuanced analyses, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Asian and Southeast Asian Studies, politics and political processes, democratization process and democratic transitions, international relations, peace and conflict studies, especially those concerned with Myanmar.
Download or read book The Business of Transition written by Melissa Crouch and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary volume offers a timely reflection on law, development and economics through empirical and comparative perspectives on contemporary Myanmar. The book explores the business that takes place in times of major political change through law and development initiatives and foreign investment. The expert contributors to this volume identify the ways in which law reform creates new markets, embodies hopes of social transformation and is animated by economic gain. This book is an invitation to think carefully and critically about the intersection between law, development and economics in times of political transition. The chapters speak to a range of common issues - land rights, access to finance, economic development, the role of law including its potential and its limits, and the intersection between local actors, globalised ideas and the international community. This interdisciplinary book is for students, scholars and practitioners of law and development, Asian studies, political science and international relations.
Download or read book Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar written by Juliane Schober and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, Burmese have looked to the authority of their religious tradition, Theravada Buddhism, to negotiate social and political hierarchies. Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar examines those moments in the modern history of this Southeast Asian country when religion, culture, and politics converge to chart new directions. Arguing against Max Weber’s characterization of Buddhism as other-worldly and divorced from politics, this study shows that Buddhist practice necessitates public validation within an economy of merit in which moral action earns future rewards. The intervention of colonial modernity in traditional Burmese Buddhist worldviews has created conjunctures at which public concerns critical to the nation’s future are reinterpreted in light of a Buddhist paradigm of power. Author Juliane Schober begins by focusing on the public role of Buddhist practice and the ways in which precolonial Buddhist hegemonies were negotiated. Her discussion then traces the emergence of modern Buddhist communities through the colonial experience: the disruption of traditional paradigms of hegemony and governance, the introduction of new and secular venues to power, modern concerns like nationalism, education, the public place of religion, the power of the state, and Buddhist resistance to the center. The continuing discourse and cultural negotiation of these themes draw Buddhist communities into political arenas, either to legitimate political power or to resist it on moral grounds. The book concludes with an examination of the way in which Buddhist resistance in 2007, known in the West as the Saffron Revolution, was subjugated by military secularism and the transnational pressures of a global economy. A skillfully crafted work of scholarship, Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar will be welcomed by students of Theravada Buddhism and Burma/Myanmar, readers of anthropology, history of religions, politics, and colonial studies of modern Southeast Asia, and scholars of religious and political practice in modern national contexts.
Download or read book Nonviolent Action in Myanmar written by La Ring and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National League for Democracy's decisive victory in Myanmar's 2015 elections inspired hopes of a full transition from military rule and an opening of civil space. Neither has materialized, and the groups working to advance social, political, and economic change in Myanmar continue to face significant challenges. Focusing on three cases of organized nonviolent action in Kachin, Mandalay, and Yangon, this report explores the divide that has opened between civil society and the NLD government and the rifts emerging within civil society itself.
Download or read book Burma Redux written by Ian Holliday and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Contemporary Myanmar faces immense political challenges, and the role outsiders might play in dealing with them is highly contentious. Drawing on views expressed by local citizens, Burma redux argues for committed strategies of grassroots involvement that engage international aid agencies, global corporations and foreign states. The wide-ranging discussion positions Myanmar's history, contemporary politics and social circumstances within broader discussions of global justice, democratic transitions, the aid business, corporate social responsibility and international sanctions."--Publisher's description.
Download or read book Promoting Human Rights in Burma written by Morten B. Pedersen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2008 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1988, when Burma's military rulers crushed a popular uprising, Western governments have promoted democracy as a panacea for the country's manifold development problems, from ethnic conflict to weak governance, human rights abuses, and deep-rooted, structural poverty. Years of escalating censure and sanctions, however, have left the military firmly entrenched in power, the opposition marginalized, and the general population suffering from deepening poverty. In the first book-length study of Western human rights policy in Burma, Morten B. Pedersen argues that Western democracy rhetoric has not supplied the solution to these problems. Each year, Burma's human and natural resources are further eroding, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is mounting, and the prospect of turning the situation around is becoming less and less likely. Based on extensive field research, Promoting Human Rights in Burma proposes an alternative model of "critical engagement" that emphasizes more pragmatic efforts to help bring a deeply divided society together and promote socioeconomic development as the basis for longer-term political change. Although the focus is squarely on Burma, the fallacies in Western policy thinking that this case study reveals, as well as the alternative policy framework it offers, have wider relevance for other poor, conflict-ridden countries on the periphery of the global political and economic system.
