Ethnic Politics in Burma

Ethnic Politics in Burma

Author: Ashley South

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-06-30

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1134129548

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This book considers the conflict and civil war that has ravaged Burma, and considers the implications that conflict has had for Burma’s development and prospects for democratization.


Burma In Revolt

Burma In Revolt

Author: Bertil Lintner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-04-24

Total Pages: 538

ISBN-13: 042970058X

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This book explains how Burma's booming drug production, insurgency, and counter-insurgency interrelate—and why the country has been unable to shake off thirty years of military rule and build a modern, democratic society.


The Golden Land Ablaze

The Golden Land Ablaze

Author: Bertil Lintner

Publisher: Hurst Publishers

Published: 2024-09-26

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1805263420

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Myanmar’s generals didn’t expect the nation to rise up against the coup they staged in February 2021. But after decades of stifling, direct military rule, the Burmese people had become used to another way of life during the relative openness of 2011–21. The army has been unable to suppress anti-coup protests as it did in 1962 and 1988; and, three years after sending tanks into Yangon, Naypyitaw and other cities, the army has yet to establish a functioning administration. For the first time since the 1970s, armed resistance is not confined to traditionally strife-torn frontier areas, where ethnic insurgents like the Karen National Union and Kachin Independence Army have been active for decades—it has spread to the majority-Burmese heartland, in the shape of the People’s Defence Forces. But the anti-junta forces are insufficiently well-equipped to defeat the much more heavily armed Myanmar army, which itself is stretched too thin, on several fronts, to crush the resistance. And, despite foreign observers’ assurances, there is no unity, common command or synchronised strategy among the various ethnic-minority and ethnic-Burmese resistance groups. This is a war that neither side can win. Caught in the middle, and bound to suffer most, are civilians.


Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma

Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma

Author: Ralph

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2020-02-15

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1501746960

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Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma is about commitment to an ideal, individual survival and the universality of the human experience. A memoir of two tenacious souls, it sheds light on why Burma/Myanmar's decades-long pursuit for a peaceful and democratic future has been elusive. Simply put, the aspirations of Burma's ethnic nationalities for self-determination within a genuine federal union runs counter to the idea of a unitary state orchestrated and run by the dominant majority Burmans, or Bamar. This seemingly intractable dilemma of opposing visions for Burma is personified in the story of Saw Ralph and Naw Sheera, two prominent ethnic Karen leaders who lived—and eventually left—"the Longest War," leaving the reader with insights on the cultural, social, and political challenges facing other non-Burman ethnic nationalities. Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma is also about the ordinariness and universality of the challenges increasingly faced by diaspora communities around the world today. Saw Ralph and Naw Sheera's day to day lives—how they fell in love, married, had children—while trying to survive in a precarious war zone—and how they had to adapt to their new lives as refugees and immigrants in Australia will resound with many.


Interpreting Myanmar

Interpreting Myanmar

Author: Andrew Selth

Publisher: ANU Press

Published: 2020-12-10

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13: 1760464058

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Since the abortive 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has attracted increased attention from a wide range of observers. Yet, despite all the statements, publications and documentary films made about the country over the past 32 years, it is still little known and poorly understood. It remains the subject of many myths, mysteries and misconceptions. Between 2008 and 2019, Andrew Selth clarified and explained contemporary developments in Myanmar on the Lowy Institute’s internationally acclaimed blog, The Interpreter. This collection of his 97 articles provides a fascinating and informative record of that critical period, and helps to explain many issues that remain relevant today.


How Generation Z Galvanized a Revolutionary Movement against Myanmar’s 2021 Military Coup

How Generation Z Galvanized a Revolutionary Movement against Myanmar’s 2021 Military Coup

Author: Ingrid Jordt

Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Published: 2021-05-12

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9814951749

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On 1 February 2021, under the command of General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military initiated a coup, apparently drawing to a close Myanmar’s ten-year experiment with democratic rule. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were arrested along with other elected officials. Mass protests against the coup ensued, led by Gen Z youths who shaped a values-based democratic revolutionary movement that in character is anti-military regime, anti-China influence, anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, and anti-sexist. Women and minorities have been at the forefront, organizing protests, shaping campaigns, and engaging sectors of society that in the past had been relegated to the periphery of national politics. The protests were broadcast to local and international audiences through social media. Simultaneously, a civil disobedience movement (CDM) arose in the shape of a massive strike mostly led by civil servants. CDM is non-violent and acephalous, a broad “society against the state” movement too large and diffuse for the military to target and dismantle. Semi-autonomous administrative zones in the name of Pa-a-pha or civil administrative organizations emerged out of spontaneously organized neighbourhood watches at the ward and village levels, effectively forming a parallel governance system to the military state. Anti-coup protests moved decisively away from calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected political leaders, or for a return to democracy under the 2008 constitution. Instead, it evolved towards greater inclusivity of all Myanmar peoples in pursuit of a more robust federal democracy. A group of fifteen elected parliamentarians, representing the ideals of Gen Z youths, formed a shadow government called the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) on 5 February 2021. On 1 March the CRPH declared the military governing body, the State Administrative Council (SAC), a “terrorist group”, and on 31 March, it declared the military’s 2008 constitution abolished. Gen Z’s protests have accomplished what has been elusive to prior generations of anti-regime movements and uprisings. They have severed the Bamar Buddhist nationalist narrative that has gripped state society relations and the military’s ideological control over the political landscape, substituting for it an inclusive democratic ideology.


How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why

How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why

Author: Zoltan Barany

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 0691204101

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An exploration of military responses to revolutions and how to predict such reactions in the future We know that a revolution's success largely depends on the army's response to it. But can we predict the military's reaction to an uprising? How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why argues that it is possible to make a highly educated guess—and in some cases even a confident prediction—about the generals' response to a domestic revolt if we know enough about the army, the state it is supposed to serve, the society in which it exists, and the external environment that affects its actions. Through concise case studies of modern uprisings in Iran, China, Eastern Europe, Burma, and the Arab world, Zoltan Barany looks at the reasons for and the logic behind the variety of choices soldiers ultimately make. Barany offers tools—in the form of questions to be asked and answered—that enable analysts to provide the most informed assessment possible regarding an army's likely response to a revolution and, ultimately, the probable fate of the revolution itself. He examines such factors as the military's internal cohesion, the regime's treatment of its armed forces, and the size, composition, and nature of the demonstrations. How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why explains how generals decide to support or suppress domestic uprisings.


The Military in Burma/Myanmar

The Military in Burma/Myanmar

Author: David I Steinberg

Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Published: 2021-05-12

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9814951722

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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.


New Answers to Old Questions

New Answers to Old Questions

Author: Aaron Connelly

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-26

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 104021665X

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Outside Myanmar, the 2021 coup d’état has often been portrayed as the end of a hopeful period for the country. In this Adelphi book, however, Aaron Connelly and Shona Loong argue that the Aung San Suu Kyi government that preceded it was a false dawn, unlikely to fulfil the international community's aspirations for a stable, peaceful and strong Myanmar. Instead, the movement opposing the 2021 coup holds much greater promise – despite the bloody conflict that dominates the news today. Connelly and Loong survey three fundamental relationships that have shaped Myanmar before and after the coup – between the military and the state, between the majority Burmese and ethnic minorities, and between Myanmar and the world – to explain how opposition to the coup has shifted all of them in a more liberal, pluralist and cosmopolitan direction.


Turning Points and Transitions

Turning Points and Transitions

Author: Daljit Singh

Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Published: 2018-11-21

Total Pages: 808

ISBN-13: 9814843075

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"Southeast Asian Affairs has for decades been an indispensable reference for those concerned with political and economic developments across this vibrant and highly diverse region. Each year, leading experts on the region and its constituent states have contributed detailed assessments of individual countries and region-wide themes which collectively provide an important and reliable record of Southeast Asia¹s often dramatic evolution since the early 1970s. Some of the most significant and interesting of these chapters have been carefully selected and brought together in this volume, which will be a valuable resource for students of the region." — Dr Tim Huxley, Executive Director, The International Institute for Strategic Studies-Asia, Singapore “At a time when Southeast Asia is under-going rapid changes, this compilation of essays is a must-read for all those who seek to understand ASEAN and its member states. Southeast Asia is more than ASEAN and as an inter-state organization that works by consensus, ASEAN can do no more than what its members allow it to do.” — Bilahari Kausikan, Chairman Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore and former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore “For the last fifty years, ISEAS has been the ‘go to’ place for students and scholars from all over the world seeking to develop a deeper knowledge of Southeast Asia. Since it first appeared in 1974, Southeast Asian Affairs has provided thoughtful and timely analysis of critical developments in the region annually. This carefully chosen collection of some of these essays authored over the years brilliantly maps out the contours of change and transformation that have shaped Southeast Asia’s recent history, and captures the dynamism of this fascinating region.” – Joseph Chinyong Liow, Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Dean, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University “The book Turning Points and Transitions, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of ISEAS, is like a literary time machine. It takes us back through contemporary expert commentary and analysis to the major forces and events that shaped the political and economic evolution of the Southeast Asia region. A new generation of scholars has replaced typewriters with computers, but many of the roots of the issues and conflicts that ISEAS will be dealing with in the future are to be found in the past that is so ably documented in this volume.” — Donald E. Weatherbee, Donald S. Russell Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina