Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know®

289 Pages·2013·3.347 MB·English

by  David Steinberg

BURMA/MYANMAR
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW
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BURMA/MYANMAR
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW
Second Edition
DAVID I. STEINBERG
1
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinberg, David I., 1928-
Burma/Myanmar: what everyone needs to know / David I. Steinberg. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Taking into account the dramatic changes the country has seen in the past
two years—including the establishment of a human rights commission, the release
of political prisoners, and reforms in health and education—David I. Steinberg offers
an updated second edition of Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know.”—
Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978–0–19–998168–7 (pbk.) — ISBN 978–0–19–998167–0 (cloth)
1. Public administration—Burma. 2. Burma—Politics and government.
3. Burma—Colonial infl uence. I. Title.
JQ751.A58S84 2013
959.1—dc23
2012041007
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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To my family
Ann Myongsook Lee
Alexander Lee Steinberg
Eric David Steinberg
who sustained me
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
MAPS xv
PRELIMINARY NOTES xix
INTRODUCTION xxix
1 The Crises That Are Burma/Myanmar 1
What is Burma? 1
Why are we interested in Burma/Myanmar? 2
Why should we be interested in Burma/Myanmar? 3
What can we learn from Burma/Myanmar? 6
Why is learning about Burma/Myanmar so diffi cult? 9
What are the crises facing Burma/Myanmar? 11
2 Important Residues from the
Precolonial Period 16
How does Burmese history relate to contemporary events? 16
How did Burmese kings view governance and authority, and is
this relevant today? 19
What were Burma’s relations with internal peoples, regions,
and neighboring states? 21
What was the role of Buddhism in traditional Burma? 24
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viii Contents
3 The Colonial Era’s Importance in
Understanding Burma/Myanmar Today 27
What led to the three Anglo-Burman Wars of the nineteenth century? 27
What was the role of India in colonial Burma, what are its residual
infl uences, and why are they important? 29
What economic development programs did the British introduce? 32
What was the role of Buddhism during this period and what social
changes affected the society? 33
How did Burmese nationalism develop and what have been
its effects? 35
What was the impact of World War II on Burma, and what effect did
the Japanese conquest have on Burma and its future? 37
How did the Burma army develop in the colonial period and
under the Japanese? 38
How do the Burmese today consider the colonial era? 39
4 Independence and the Civilian Government
(1948–1962): Mixed Heritages 41
How did independence come about? 41
What was the role of Aung San? 43
How did Burma deal with the political and ethnic rebellions? 44
Why didn’t Burma join the Commonwealth? 45
How did the Chinese nationalist incursion affect Burma? 46
What were relations with the United States? 48
What were relations with China? 49
Was Burma communist or socialist, and what were the
ideological infl uences on the society? 51
What were the government’s plans for economic development? 52
What were the effects of the 1947 civilian constitution? 53
How did the AFPFL operate and govern? 54
What caused the military “Caretaker” Government, how did it
function, and what was its legacy? 55
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Contents ix
How did the minorities fare under the civilian government? 57
How did the 1960 elections affect Burma? 59
What caused the coup of 1962? 60
How may we evaluate the civilian, democratic period? 61
5 The Military Coup, the Socialist Period
(1962–1988), and the Perpetuation
of Military Rule 63
What were the effects of the coup? 63
What was the “Burmese Way to Socialism”? 65
How did the BSPP operate? 66
What was the impact of the socialist policies? 67
How were foreign relations under the BSPP? 68
How did the 1974 constitution come about and
what was its impact? 69
How did the indigenous minorities fare under the 1974 unitary state? 71
How were monks registered? 72
How was citizenship defi ned? 73
What was the role of General/President/Chairman Ne Win? 74
What happened to the economy in the 1980s? 76
What were the causes of the 1988 People’s Revolution
and the coup that followed? 78
6 The SLORC/SPDC Era (1988–Present):
Continuation of Military Power 82
What was the SLORC and how did it change into the SPDC? 83
Who were the leaders of the military in this period,
and how were they trained? 84
What political and economic policies were instituted shortly
after the coup? 86
How did the political opposition develop and what was the
National League for Democracy? 88
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