Download or read book Liberalism and Democracy in Myanmar written by Roman David and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historic Myanmar elections in November 2015 paved the way for an NLD government led by Aung San Suu Kyi to take office in March 2016, and saw the country deepen its graduated transition away from authoritarian rule. Nevertheless, military forces that for decades dominated national politics remain privileged in a constitutional framework designed to deliver 'discipline-flourishing democracy'. In August 2017, the military intensified its campaign of ethnic cleansing of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority, and more than 750,000 refugees fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. One critical question that now confronts the fifty million people of this Southeast Asian nation is whether their push for greater democracy is strong enough to prevail over the resistance of a powerful military machine and swelling undercurrents of intolerance. What are the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar? This book addresses this question by examining historical conditions, constitutionalism, popular support for democracy, major political actors, group relations and tolerance, and transitional justice. To probe the meaning and purchase of key concepts it presents a rich array of evidence, including eighty-eight in-depth interviews and three waves of surveys and survey experiments conducted by the authors between 2014 and 2018, all of which are triangulated with constitutional and legal texts and reports issued locally and globally. The analysis culminates in the concept of limited liberalism, which reflects an at times puzzling blend of liberal and illiberal attitudes. The book concludes that a weakening of liberal commitments among politicians and citizens alike, allied with spreading limited liberal attitudes, casts doubt on the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar.
Download or read book Myanmar in Transition written by Claiton Fyock and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Myanmar is in the midst of a major political/economic transition. After years of repressive rule under a harsh military regime, the country is moving towards liberalism. At the behest of the domestic and foreign liberal pressure, the foundations of liberalism including the rule of law, democracy, and open markets are taking shape in Myanmar. This paper demonstrates the lack of agency that Myanmar, both as a state and for the citizens within the state, maintains during this transition. This lack of agency is due, in part, to the neoliberal interpretation of liberalism and its founding tenets. Utilizing Roberto Unger and Susan Marks's theories of "False Necessity" and "False Contingency,"I will demonstrate how international institutions and ideologies are propagated and forced on Myanmar. The belief in these ideologies and institutions creates pressures and imposes limitations on the systems that they influence in Myanmar. These pressures and limits, in turn, create a lack of true agency in the transition that Myanmar and its people are experiencing. I begin by first exploring the general liberal thought in regards to transition. I then demonstrate the false contingencies that a neoliberal understanding on the liberal tenets reflects. I apply this dynamic to actual circumstances in Myanmar as a case. The thesis concludes with the exploration of the concept of false contingency on Myanmar's transition to democratization, neoliberalizing markets, and its embrace of human rights.
Download or read book International Norms and Local Politics in Myanmar written by Yukiko Nishikawa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-07 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nishikawa explores how international norms have been adopted in the local context in Myanmar to project a certain international image, while in fact the authorities are exploiting these norms to protect their own interests. In the liberal international world order promoted since the end of the Cold War, democracy, rule of law and human rights have become key components in state and peace-building around the world. Many donor governments and international organisations have promoted them in their aid and assistance. However, the promotion of these international norms is based on a flawed understanding of sovereignty and the world. For this reason, the enforcement of these international norms in Myanmar not only fails to protect vulnerable people but also, in some instances, exacerbates the situation, thereby generating critical insecurity to the most vulnerable people. A vital resource for scholars of Myanmar’s politics, as well as a valuable case study for International Relations scholars more broadly.
Download or read book Liberalism and Democracy in Myanmar written by Roman David and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the contours of Myanmar's political culture in the context of ongoing reform.
Download or read book Democratisation of Myanmar written by Nehginpao Kipgen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military coup abruptly ended a decade of a civilian-military hybrid regime – a massive setback for the democratisation process. Citizens from all walks of life took to the streets and protests erupted over the following weeks, and Myanmar became the centre of global attention. This book brings up to date how the story of Myanmar’s experiment with democracy unravelled over the last few years. This second edition: ● Traces the political transition of Myanmar from a military rule of nearly five decades to a short-lived democratic experiment; ● Outlines the factors that contributed to this transition and the circumstances in which it took place; ● Shows how political groups – especially Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) – and the military worked together and paved the way for democratisation and what led to the failure of the NLD government; ● Examines the 2020 general election and the declaration of national emergency following the NLD landslide electoral win. Bringing together a balance of primary ethnographic fieldwork and nuanced analysis, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Asian and Southeast Asian Studies, politics and political processes, democratisation process and democratic transitions, international relations and peace and conflict studies, especially those concerned with Myanmar.
Download or read book Debating Democratization in Myanmar written by Nick Cheesman and published by Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is Myanmar (Burma) democratizing, or is it moving towards a new form of authoritarianism, perhaps one more consonant with other contemporary authoritarian regimes in Asia? Coming at a critical time, and one of growing interest in this Southeast Asian country among researchers and policymakers, Debating Democratization in Myanmar addresses this complex question from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives. Chapters by leading international scholars and practitioners, activists and politicians from Myanmar and around the world cover political and economic updates, as well as the problems of democratization; the re-engagement of democratic activists and exiles in domestic affairs; the new parliament, the electoral system, and everyday politics; prospects for the economy; ethnic cooperation, contestation and conflict; the role of the army and police forces; and conditions for women. Together they constitute an empirically deep and analytically rich source of readable and relevant material for anyone keen to obtain a greater understanding of what is happening in Myanmar today, and why.
Download or read book Demystifying Myanmar s Transition and Political Crisis written by Chosein Yamahata and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers the assessment of Myanmar’s societal changes, development aspects, and political situation over the course of the nation’s short lived democratic transition disrupted by the coup d’état on 1 February 2021. A multitude of authors with different expertise add new dimensions of analysis to provide a foundation for any future international cooperation in Myanmar’s center and peripheries. The military’s institutionalization of its influence and control in political, economic and social affairs has negatively affected the safety, security and peace of people and their communities at the periphery. This in turn has led the people to undertake local grassroots initiatives towards securing a genuine democratic transition at the local and national level. The chapters probe into Myanmar’s transition and political crisis through in-depth discussion on the issues such as, but not limited to, state fragility, community resilience, political leadership, ethnic women’s organizations, human security, education equality, IDPs and non-state actors, ethnic community-based health organizations, the 2020 election, peace process, development issues, the coup’s destruction, and a new-born unity. The book covers an important collection of inputs from young and prominent scholars alike, offering a valuable resource for general readers, students, and practitioners. The editors present this volume as a vital collection to literature at a time of heated political crisis and societal responses on her current course since the contributors highlight the state of Myanmar by also focusing on the margins, the grassroots, and the recent coup.
Download or read book Securing a Democratic Future for Myanmar written by Priscilla A. Clapp and published by Council on Foreign Relations Press. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To ensure the success of Myanmar's historic democratic transition, the United States should revise its outdated and counterproductive sanctions policy, writes Priscilla A. Clappin a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations' Center for Preventive Action. When the Aung San Suu Kyi–led National League for Democracy assumes power in Myanmar next week, the party will inherit the long-standing problems that developed in the country's half-century of military dictatorship. U.S. support for a successful transition will help strengthen the newly elected government and prevent a return to martial law. "Continuing to rely on a sanctions regime—designed primarily to inhibit U.S. participation in and assistance to Myanmar's economy and government—no longer makes sense, particularly when Western allies and others observe no restrictions on their activities in Myanmar," Clapp contends in the Council Special Report, Securing a Democratic Future for Myanmar. "Washington should therefore restructure the remaining financial sanctions and restrictions to carefully target individuals and entities to promote better behavior, rather than punish bad behavior." Clapp, the former chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar and senior advisor to the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Asia Society, argues that reforms over the past five years have transformed Myanmar "from a country of little strategic interest to the United States into one that promises substantial benefit to core U.S. interests in Southeast Asia and beyond." However, she cautions that the situation remains fragile. "More than five decades of military rule have left large parts of the country in a near feudal condition, beset by an overly large national army, a multitude of ethnic armed forces, and hundreds of militias," she warns. "Rule of law is almost nonexistent, and the competition for resources and wealth is a virtual free-for-all." Clapp offers several other recommendations for how the United States and other international actors can support the democratic transition in Myanmar, including expanding and coordinating global aid, helping to resolve the stateless status of Rohingya Muslims, developing a stronger relationship with the military, and strengthening Myanmar's integration into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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 Democracy in Myanmar and the Paradox of International Politics written by Xiaolin Guo and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " ... Revisiting political developments in Myanmar, this paper draws attention to the unintended consequences of a "politically correct" contemporary practice, raising questions not about the values of democracy per se, but rather about the practice of intervention in that very name, irrespective of indigenous conditions. Equally, it dwells not on the technicality of "humanitarian intervention" that falls within the purview of the UN mandate, but instead, the paper challenges the use of that concept as a foreign policy tool without giving sufficient consideration to its socio-economic consequences in another country. The paper argues that without taking into account its history, ethnic complexity, and socio-economic conditions, any policy-making toward Myanmar is likely to remain irrelevant to what is going on inside the country. Finally, the relative fading of rhetoric concerning "building democracy" from foreign policy speeches in the new U.S. Administration under President Obama is eye-opening, and being watched closely by the international community to determine how the change will materialize in policy-making toward Myanmar."--Executive summary.
Download or read book Islam and Democracy in Indonesia written by Jeremy Menchik and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-11 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains how the leaders of the world's largest Islamic organizations understand tolerance, explicating how politics works in a Muslim-majority democracy.
Download or read book A World of Insecurity written by Pranab Bardhan and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-18 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A development economist with roots in India and the United States offers a short but deep and ambitious account of the corrosive effects of economic and cultural insecurity on liberal democracy in rich and poor countries alike. His diagnosis: the problem is not inequality or capitalism, but snowballing fear of material and cultural loss"--
Download or read book Myanmar s Transition written by Nick Cheesman and published by Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.. This book was released on 2003-08-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the world watching closely, Myanmar began a process of political, administrative and institutional transition from 30 January 2011. After convening the parliament, elected in November 2010, the former military regime transferred power to a new government headed by former Prime Minister (and retired general), U Thein Sein. With parliamentary processes restored in MyanmarIs new capital of Naypyitaw, Thein SeinIs government announced a wide-ranging reform agenda, and began releasing political prisoners and easing press censorship. Pivotal meetings between Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi led to amendment of the Election Law and the National League for Democracy contesting by-elections in April 2012. The 2011 Myanmar/Burma update conference considered the openings offered by these political changes and media reforms and the potential opportunities for international assistance. Obstacles covered include impediments to the rule of law, the continuation of human rights abuses, the impunity of the Army, and the failure to end ethnic insurgency.
Download or read book The Paradox of Myanmar s Regime Change written by Roger Lee Huang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes Myanmar’s contemporary political history, arguing that Myanmar’s so-called "democratization" has always been a calculated regime transition, planned by the military, with every intention that the military to remain the key permanent political actor in Myanmar’s political regime. Using the period since Myanmar’s regime change in 2011 as an extended case study, this book offers an original theory of regime transition. The author argues that Myanmar’s ongoing regime transition has not diverged from its authoritarian military roots and explains how the military has long planned its voluntary partial withdrawal from direct politics. Therefore, Myanmar’s "disciplined democracy" contains features of democratic politics, but at its core remains authoritarian. Providing an original contribution to the theoretical literature on regime change by developing a theory of trial and error regime transition, the book engages with and challenges the popular democratization theory by arguing that this theory does not sufficiently explain hybrid regimes or authoritarian durability. Additionally, the book adds to an alternative understanding of how the regime transition was initiated by examining the historical evolution of Myanmar’s post-colonial regime and offers a fresh perspective on contemporary political developments in Myanmar. An important contribution to the study of authoritarian durability and the dynamics of regime change in Southeast Asia, this book will be of interest to academic researchers of comparative politics, international relations, and Southeast Asian studies.
Download or read book Routes to Democracy in Burma Myanmar written by Peter Wallensteen and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Living with Myanmar written by Justine Chambers and published by Iseas - Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 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 Youth Citizenship and Democracy in Conflict Affected Postcolonial States written by Liyun W. Choo and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Citizenship is a critical component of statebuilding and peacebuilding efforts in conflict affected states, yet it is also the most neglected. Taking a critical realist, ethnographic case study approach, this thesis investigates the problem of state fragility in conflict-affected, postcolonial Myanmar from the lenses of state formation and youth citizenship. From the photo-elicitation interviews with twenty young Myanmar citizens and an analysis of the country’s citizenship laws, the study found that contra liberal conceptions of citizenship, citizenship (i.e., the political) and identities (i.e., the social) in Myanmar are intertwined. Young people’s social identities affect and are affected by their political identity as Myanmar citizens. Furthermore, the everyday sites of citizenship that construct young people’s identities as citizens are simultaneously private and public. Young people’s agency in their volunteerism and attitudes towards social norms reflects the same entanglement between the social and the political, as well as the private and the public. This thesis argues that the liberal notion of a social contract, which imagines a political society of free-standing individuals who possess their own subjectivities, is misaligned to the socio-political realities of citizenship in Myanmar’s hybrid political order. Rather than forcefit postcolonial states such as Myanmar into the liberal democratic model, I propose that the notions of relationality and agonistic democracy offer the means of indigenizing democracy and bringing peace to conflict-affected, postcolonial states. Overall, this thesis provides a valuable opportunity to advance understandings of the relationship between democracy and peace from the lenses of state formation and citizenship and to contribute to the discussion about what democratic citizenship in present-day Myanmar is and should entail. It responds to calls by Southeast Asian scholars to study citizenship ‘from below’ and to pay attention to the particular forms that democratic citizenship takes in postcolonial states. In doing so, this thesis seeks to provoke civil society actors and international non-governmental organizations advocating for democracy into a rethinking of what democratic participation and deliberation might look like in a postcolonial state.
