Download or read book The Military in Burma Myanmar written by David I Steinberg and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021-05-12 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Myanmar military has dominated that complex country for most of the period since independence in 1948. The fourth coup of 1 February 2021 was the latest by the military to control those aspects of society it deemed essential to its own interests, and its perception of state interests. The military’s institutional power was variously maintained by rule by decree, through political parties it founded and controlled, and through constitutional provisions it wrote that could not be amended without its approval. This fourth coup seems a product of personal demands for power between Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and Aung San Suu Kyi, and the especially humiliating defeat of the military-backed party at the hands of the National League for Democracy in the November 2020 elections. The violent and bloody suppression of widespread demonstrations continues, compromise seems unlikely, and the previous diarchic governance will not return. Myanmar’s political and economic future is endangered and suppression will only result in future outbreaks of political frustration.
Download or read book Making Enemies written by Mary Patricia Callahan and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Burmese army took political power in Burma in 1962 and has ruled the country ever since. The persistence of this government--even in the face of long-term nonviolent opposition led by activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991--has puzzled scholars. In a book relevant to current debates about democratization, Mary P. Callahan seeks to explain the extraordinary durability of the Burmese military regime. In her view, the origins of army rule are to be found in the relationship between war and state formation.Burma's colonial past had seen a large imbalance between the military and civil sectors. That imbalance was accentuated soon after formal independence by one of the earliest and most persistent covert Cold War conflicts, involving CIA-funded Kuomintang incursions across the Burmese border into the People's Republic of China. Because this raised concerns in Rangoon about the possibility of a showdown with Communist China, the Burmese Army received even more autonomy and funding to protect the integrity of the new nation-state.The military transformed itself during the late 1940s and the 1950s from a group of anticolonial guerrilla bands into the professional force that seized power in 1962. The army edged out all other state and social institutions in the competition for national power. Making Enemies draws upon Callahan's interviews with former military officers and her archival work in Burmese libraries and halls of power. Callahan's unparalleled access allows her to correct existing explanations of Burmese authoritarianism and to supply new information about the coups of 1958 and 1962.
Download or read book Burma s Armed Forces written by Andrew Selth and published by Pacific Century Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Selth's book will become a standard reference work. [It] is an encyclopedic, nuts and bolts analysis of the modern-day Tatmadaw...updat[ing] our understanding of th[eir] increasingly modernized armed forces." Critical Asian Studies "Selth's 25 years as a diplomat, strategic defence analyst, and academic has produced more subtle elements...[than a simple] confrontation between the movement for democracy and the all-powerful military, the Tatmadaw." John Graham, in The Canberra Times"This book is essential reading for any student of Burma, security in the Asia-Pacific region, China-India relations, or military and strategic priorities in Asia and the world. The key to coming to grips with modern Burma is to understand the country?s armedforces. Although it has dominated all aspects of Burmese life since the 1962 coup, there has been no comprehensive ordetailed study of the Tatmadaw as a military institution. Drawing on five years of research in Burma and beyond, including interviews with military specialists and commentators, Andrew Selth has written the first book on the inner workings of the Tatmadaw. Here is a scholarly and objective account of Burma?s strategic posture, its defense policies and threat perceptions; its military doctrine, defense expenditures, arms acquisitions, and combat capabilities. Here are chapters on Burma?s intelligence apparatus, and its suspected uses of chemical and biologicalweapons. Diagrams and maps illustrate the Tatmadaw?s organization, structure, and order of battle.The authorpays particular attention to the dramatic expansion and modernization of the Tatmadaw since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and the secret role that countries like China have played in this process. There are valuable insights into the way the armed forces have attempted to govern Burma over the past 14years, their internal disputes, and how they see their future role. Finally, the book examines how the Tatmadaw might cope with a democratic government coming to power in Rangoon.?This study is unique in the literature and it is evident that it will be required reading for anyone seriously concerned with Myanmar, the Southeast Asia region, and indeed with the relationships between India and China. It is not only those observers of the Burmese scene who are in Mr. Selth?s debt, but also those involved in thestudy of the military in various societies who can learn much from this important volume. There are lessons of Burma/Myanmar applicable in relation to policies in other multi-ethnic states, in economic development, and in civil-military relations. Mr. Selth has given us much to muse on beyond the borders of that unfortunate country?. from the Foreword by David I. Steinberg
Download or read book The Disorder in Order written by Donald M. Seekins and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Burma Myanmar written by David Steinberg and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No country in Asia in recent years has undergone so massive a political shift in so short a time as Myanmar. Until recently, the former British colony had one of the most secretive, corrupt, and repressive regimes on the planet, a country where Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was held in continual house arrest and human rights were denied to nearly all. Yet events in Myanmar since the elections of November 2010 have profoundly altered the internal mood of the society, and have surprised even Burmese and seasoned foreign observers of the Myanmar scene. The pessimism that pervaded the society prior to the elections, and the results of that voting that prompted many foreign observers to call them a "sham" or "fraud," gradually gave way to the realization that positive change was in the air. In this updated second edition of Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Davd I. Steinberg addresses the dramatic changes in the country over the past two years, including the establishment of a human rights commission, the release of political prisoners, and reforms in health and education. More than ever, the history, culture, and internal politics of this country are crucial to understanding the current transformation, which has generated headlines across the globe. Geographically strategic, Burma/Myanmar lies between the growing powers of China and India. Yet it is mostly unknown to Westerners despite being its thousand-year history as a nation. Burma/Myanmar is a place of contradictions: a picturesque land with mountain jungles and monsoon plains, it is one of the world's largest producers of heroin. Though it has extensive natural resources including oil, gas, teak, metals, and minerals, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. And despite a half-century of military-dominated rule, change is beginning to work its way through the beleaguered nation, as it moves to a more pluralistic administrative system reflecting its pluralistic cultural and multi-ethnic base. Authoritative and balanced, Burma/Myanmar is an essential book on a country in the throes of historic change. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
Download or read book The Hidden History of Burma Race Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century written by Thant Myint-U and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did one of the world’s "buzzy hotspots" (Fodor’s 2013) become one of the top ten places to avoid (Fodor’s 2018)? Precariously positioned between China and India, Burma’s population has suffered dictatorship, natural disaster, and the dark legacies of colonial rule. But when decades of military dictatorship finally ended and internationally beloved Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from long years of house arrest, hopes soared. World leaders such as Barack Obama ushered in waves of international support. Progress seemed inevitable. As historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U saw the cracks forming. In this insider’s diagnosis of a country at a breaking point, he dissects how a singularly predatory economic system, fast-rising inequality, disintegrating state institutions, the impact of new social media, the rise of China next door, climate change, and deep-seated feelings around race, religion, and national identity all came together to challenge the incipient democracy. Interracial violence soared and a horrific exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fixed international attention. Myint-U explains how and why this happened, and details an unsettling prognosis for the future. Burma is today a fragile stage for nearly all the world’s problems. Are democracy and an economy that genuinely serves all its people possible in Burma? In clear and urgent prose, Myint-U explores this question—a concern not just for the Burmese but for the rest of the world—warning of the possible collapse of this nation of 55 million while suggesting a fresh agenda for change.
Download or read book Burma written by David I. Steinberg and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2001-11-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long isolated by rigid military rule, Burma, or Myanmar, is one of the least known, significantly sized states in the world. Possessed of a rich cultural history yet facing a range of challenges to stability and growth, it has struck the imaginations of those concerned not only with geopolitical or trade affairs but also with poverty, health, and human rights. David I. Steinberg sheds new light on this reclusive state by exploring issues of authority and legitimacy in its politics, economics, social structure, and culture since the popular uprising and military coup of 1988. Exploring the origins of that year’s tumultuous events, Steinberg analyzes a generation of preceding military governments and their attempts to address the nation’s problems. He focuses on the role of the military, the effects of Burma’s geopolitical placement, the plight of the poor, the destruction of civil society, and rising ethnic tensions. While taking into account the importance of foreign observers as counterpoints to official views, suppliers of economic aid, and advocates of reform, Steinberg contends that ultimately, the solutions to Myanmar’s varied problems lie with the Burmese themselves and the policies of their government. The paperback edition includes a postcript that reveals the most current and critical issues facing Burma since the publication of the original hardcover in March 2001. Steinberg brings readers up to date on the recent release of political prisoners, economic and military conditions, United Nations actions, and the complex, ever-changing relationship between Thailand and Myanmar.
Download or read book Strong Soldiers Failed Revolution written by Yoshihiro Nakanishi and published by Singapore University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General Ne Win's state reformation in the name of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" contributed to the expansion of the political role of the Myanmar Armed Forces, the tatmadaw, but the underlying dynamics of this change remain poorly understood. Drawing on propaganda publications, profiles of the country's political elites, and original documents in Burma's military archives, Yoshihiro Nakanishi offers a fresh look at the involvement of the tatmadaw in Burma's ideological discourse and civil-military relations. The tatmadaw's anti-communist propaganda during the 1950s was a key element in state ideology under the Ne Win regime, and the direct participation of tatmadaw officers in the Burma Socialist Programme Party and government ministries at the national and local level transformed the political party system and civilian bureaucracy. Personal relationships -- between Ne Win and the tatmadaw officer corps, and within the military -- were central to the growing influence of the military, and to the outcome of the political crisis and subsequent military coup d'état in 1988. Nakanishi's discussion of these processes reveals many heretofore-unknown facts about this "dark age" in the country's political history, and highlights its institutional legacy for the post-1988 military regime and the reformist government that succeeded it. His thought-provoking conclusions are significant for Southeast Asia specialists and for students of politics generally, and his insights will be useful for anyone seeking to engage with Myanmar as it comes to terms with an outside world it once kept at arm's length.
Download or read book Living Silence in Burma written by Christina Fink and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight years after the first edition of this insightful and highly regarded book, Burma remains one of the most troubled nations in Southeast Asia. While other countries have democratized and prospered, Burma is governed by a repressive military dictatorship and is the second largest producer of heroin in the world. In this exceptionally readable yet scholarly account of Burma today, Christina Fink gives a moving and insightful picture of what life under military rule is like. Through the extensive interviews conducted inside and outside the country, we begin to understand Burma's political and domestic situation and a comprehensive understanding of why military rule has lasted so long. This significantly revised new edition includes material taking the reader up to present day action and accounts, including the impacts of the dramatic 2007 monks' demonstrations, which were coordinated with former student activists and members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party. The book explores the regime's continued attempts to weaken and divide the democratic movement and the ethnic nationalist organizations and explains how the democratic movement and ethnic groups have sought to achieve their goals; in part, by working more closely together.
Download or read book Burma Myanmar written by Nathaniel Harris and published by Marshall Cavendish. This book was released on 2010 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging series examines places around the globe where life is anything but serene.
Download or read book Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma written by Renaud Egreteau and published by NUS Press. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soldiers and Diplomacy addresses the key question of the ongoing role of the military in BurmaÍs foreign policy. The authors, a political scientist and a former top Asia editor for the BBC, provide a fresh perspective on BurmaÍs foreign and security policies, which have shifted between pro-active diplomacies of neutralism and non-alignment, and autarkical policies of isolation and xenophobic nationalism. They argue that important elements of continuity underlie BurmaÍs striking postcolonial policy changes and contrasting diplomatic practices. Among the defining factors here are the formidable dominance of the Burmese armed forces over state structure, the enduring domestic political conundrum and the peculiar geography of a country located at the crossroads of India, China and Southeast Asia. Egreteau and Jagan argue that the Burmese military still has the tools needed to retain their praetorian influence over the countryÍs foreign policy in the post-junta context of the 2010s. For international policymakers, potential foreign investors and BurmaÍs immediate neighbors, this will have strong implications in terms of the countryÍs foreign policy approach.
Download or read book Dictatorship Disorder and Decline in Myanmar written by Monique Skidmore and published by ANU E Press. This book was released on 2008-12-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mass peaceful protests in Myanmar/Burma in 2007 drew the world's attention to the ongoing problems faced by this country and its oppressed people. In this publication, experts from around the world analyse the reasons for these recent political upheavals, explain how the country's economy, education and health sectors are in perceptible decline, and identify the underlying authoritarian pressures that characterise Myanmar/Burma's military regime.
Download or read book Building the Tatmadaw written by Maung Aung Myoe and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Myanmar regained her independence in January 1948, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) has been crucial in restoring and maintaining law and order. It is one of the most important institutions in Myanmar politics. Various aspects of the Tatmadaw have been studied. The most notable area of study has been the political role of the military. This study looks at the organizational development of the Myanmar armed forces. It analyses four different aspects of the Tatmadaw: military doctrine and strategy, organization and force structure, armament and force modernization, and military training and officer education. It sets out security perceptions and policies, charting developments in each phase against the situation at the time, and also notes the contributions of the leading actors in the process. Since early 1990s, the Tatmadaw has implemented a force modernization programme. This work studies rationales and strategy behind the force modernization programme and examines the military capabilities of the Tatmadaw. Drawing extensively from archival sources and existing literature, this empirically grounded research argues that, while the internal armed security threat to the state continues to play an important role, it is the external security threat that gives more weight to the expansion and modernization of the Tatmadaw since 1988. It also argues that, despite its imperfections, the Tatmadaw has transformed from a force essentially for counter-insurgency operations into a force capable of fighting in limited conventional warfare.
Download or read book By Force of Arms written by Paul Keenan and published by Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Burma has been racked by extensive ethnic conflict. As numerous groups sought to secure their individual ethnic rights, successive Burmese governments sought to destroy them through numerous counter-insurgency measures, negotiated ceasefires, and by integrating them into Burma Army controlled Border Guard Forces or militias. ‘By Force of Arms' provides background information on the numerous armed ethnic groups that have emerged in the country since independence. It highlights the various reasons for conflict and argues that while military force has been successfully used in preserving ethnic rights, as the country moves forward, new methods have to be explored. It states that for genuine peace to be attained, armed ethnic groups need to reassess their methodologies and motivations and both the Government and Non-State Armed Actors need to hold substantive political dialogue before there can be genuine peace.
Download or read book Citizenship in Myanmar written by Ashley South and published by Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.. This book was released on 2018-05-24 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myanmar is going through a period of profound - and contested - transition. The country has experienced widespread if sometimes uneven reforms, including the start of a peace process between the government and Myanmar Army, and some two dozen ethnic armed organizations, which had long been fighting for greater autonomy from the militarized and Burman-dominated state. This book brings together chapters by Burmese and foreign experts, and contributions from community and political leaders, who discuss the meaning of citizenship in Myanmar/Burma. The book explores citizenship in relation to three broad categories: issues of identity and conflict; debates around concepts and practices of citizenship; and inter- and intra-community issues, including Buddhist-Muslim relations. This is the first volume to address these issues, understanding and resolving which will be central to Myanmar's continued transition away from violence and authoritarianism.
Download or read book Military Rule in Burma Since 1962 written by F. K. Lehman and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Nowhere to Be Home written by Maggie Lemere and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2023-06-15 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decades of military oppression in Burma have led to the systematic destruction of thousands of ethnic minority villages, a standing army with one of the world’s highest number of child soldiers, and the displacement of millions of people. Nowhere to Be Home is an eye-opening collection of oral histories exposing the realities of life under military rule. In their own words, men and women from Burma describe their lives in the country that Human Rights Watch has called “the textbook example of a police state.”
