Table Of ContentMYANMAR
This book provides a sophisticated, yet accessible, overview of the key political,
economic and social challenges facing contemporary Myanmar and explains the
complex historical and ethnic dynamics that have shaped the country.
With clear and incisive contributions from the world’s leading Myanmar scholars,
this book assesses the policies and political reforms that have provoked contestation in
Myanmar’s recent history and driven both economic and social change. In this
context, questions of economic ownership and control and the distribution of natural
resources are shown to be deeply informed by long- standing fractures among ethnic
and civil-m ilitary relations. The chapters analyse the key issues that constrain or expe-
dite societal development in Myanmar and place recent events of national and inter-
national significance in the context of its complex history and social relations. In
doing so, the book demonstrates that ethnic and cultural diversity is at the core of
Myanmar’s society and heavily influences all aspects of life in the country.
Filling a gap in the market, this research textbook and primer will be of interest
to upper undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars of Southeast Asian politics,
economics and society and to journalists and professionals working within govern-
ments, companies and other organisations.
Adam Simpson is Program Director of the Master of Communication in UniSA
Justice & Society, at the University of South Australia. He is the co- editor, along
with Nicholas Farrelly and Ian Holliday, of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary
Myanmar (2018) and author of Energy, Governance and Security in Thailand and
Myanmar (2014, 2017).
Nicholas Farrelly is Professor and Head of Social Sciences at the University of
Tasmania, Australia. He was previously Associate Dean of the College of Asia and
the Pacific at the Australian National University.
MYANMAR
Politics, Economy and Society
Edited by Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Adam Simpson and Nicholas
Farrelly; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly to be identified as the
authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Names: Simpson, Adam (Adam John), editor. | Farrelly, Nicholas, 1982–
editor.
Title: Myanmar: politics, economy and society/edited by Adam Simpson
and Nicholas Farrelly.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020020166 | ISBN 9780367110352 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780367110444 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429024443 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Burma–Politics and government–1988- | Burma–Politics
and government–1962–1988. | Burma–Economic conditions–1988- |
Burma–Social conditions–1988–
Classification: LCC DS530.65 .M935 2021 | DDC 959.105-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020166
ISBN: 978-0-367-11035-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-11044-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-02444-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
For Lisa and Kyela
CONTENTS
Notes on contributors x
1 Interrogating contemporary Myanmar: the difficult transition 1
Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly
PART I
Politics 13
2 Elections and political reform: new hopes, old fears 15
Nicholas Farrelly
3 The military: institution and politics 28
Maung Aung Myoe
4 Law, lawyers and legal institutions 44
Mish Khan and Nick Cheesman
5 Ethnic politics: diversity and agency amid persistent violence 59
Matthew J Walton
6 Democracy and human rights: in the shadow of Myanmar’s
national security state 74
Morten B Pedersen
viii Contents
7 Foreign policy and international engagement: strategic realities,
domestic priorities 87
Renaud Egreteau
PART II
Economy 103
8 Political regimes and economic policy: isolation, consolidation,
reintegration 105
Michele Ford, Michael Gillan and Htwe- Htwe Thein
9 Industrial policy and special economic zones: engaging
transformation in a globalised world 120
Giuseppe Gabusi and Michele Boario
10 Agriculture and the rural economy: the struggle to transform
rural livelihoods 136
Duncan Boughton, Ikuko Okamoto, SiuSue Mark, Ardeth Maung
Thawnghmung, Theingi Myint and Tin Htut Oo
11 Natural resources: wealth and conflict 149
Adam Simpson
PART III
Society 169
12 Art and heritage: creating and preserving cultural histories 171
Charlotte Galloway
13 Women’s rights: change and continuity 186
Jenny Hedström, Elisabeth Olivius and Kay Soe
14 Myanmar’s contested borderlands: uneven development and
ongoing armed conflict 204
Busarin Lertchavalitsakul and Patrick Meehan
15 Ethnicity, culture and religion: centralisation, Burmanisation and
social transformation 219
Violet Cho and David Gilbert
16 Journalism and free speech: freedom and fear 234
Thomas Kean and Mratt Kyaw Thu
Contents ix
17 The Rohingya crisis: nationalism and its discontents 249
Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly
Index 265
