Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2018. xiii, 333 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$20.90, paper. ISBN 978-961-4818-53-7.
Since Myanmar’s transition from military rule to a quasi-civilian government in 2011, the country has undergone rapid political, social, and economic changes, including a landmark victory at the 2015 polls by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). This book—a product of the Australian National University’s biannual Myanmar Update conference—represents a valiant attempt to take stock of the changes, continuities, and opportunities for meaningful reform in the wake of Myanmar’s first non-military-backed government in 54 years.
This collection of 11 essays covers a range of diverse topics. To provide some congruity across subjects as disparate as agricultural mechanization, healthcare provision, and national identity, the editors have structured the book into three sections bookended by an introduction and epilogue. Each section focuses on examining issues from a grassroots, spatial, or institutional perspective.
The multidisciplinary nature of the volume means that this manner of organization can feel forced at times. Yet as opposed to a topical approach, this organizational strategy works for the purposes of the book: the reader is encouraged to draw out key patterns and trends across topics to arrive at two overarching conclusions. The first observes the persistent continuities at the elite level despite the handover of power to a civilian government. The second highlights the expansion of space at the local level for greater political engagement and contestation.
In many ways, this book serves as a scorecard of the NLD’s performance to date. The general consensus one gets from reading the different chapters, is that the NLD has been unable to meet initial expectations of increased political liberalization and further reconciliation with ethnic minority groups. Giuseppe Gabusi’s chapter on the continued conflict in Kachin state, as well as Muang Aung Myoe’s chapter on the relationship between the military and the NLD after 2016, speak to the continued role of the military behind the scenes in both politics and the economy. Decades of Tatmadaw rule have also ensured a certain degree of path dependency, making it difficult to overturn or reverse previous decisions. Nicholas Farrelly’s in-depth look at Naypyitaw—Myanmar’s capital city that “defies the ordinary laws of geography, society, and culture” (181)—is perhaps one of the more visceral examples of how the NLD has found itself coming round to past decisions made by the military.
Still, not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the military. As several authors illustrate, the NLD’s lack of governing experience and political will have stifled its own progress at meeting its campaign promises. The highly centralized governing apparatus, dominated by the ethnic Bamar majority, has also done nothing to assuage the suspicions of ethnic minorities. The most high-profile misstep by the NLD, however, has been its reluctance to take a strong stance against anti-Muslim sentiments incited by extremist Buddhist groups, culminating in large-scale communal and military violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Despite disappointments with the country’s new leadership, not all is gloom. Various chapters draw attention to how the opening up of the country has created new opportunities for political engagement and contestation at the local level. Samuel Pursch et. al. outline the social and economic transformations that have taken place within Myanmar’s rural communities. Even as villagers have come to expect more from the government, governance reforms have also “re-aligned the centers of power and influence at the local level” (43). In some cases, this enlarged space for both horizontal and vertical engagement has fostered greater accountability towards local communities, as Pyae Phyo Maung and Tamas Wells chronicle in their chapter on advocacy organizations. Yet this shift in power towards civil society and local communities has not always been positive or even benign in terms of its consequences. Kyaw Zeyar Win’s piece on the securitization of the Rohingya offers a sobering look at the horizontal peer-to-peer processes that have reinforced prejudices against the Rohingya.
Amidst this mixed assessment of Myanmar’s prospects, one of the core strengths of the book is its honest discussion about the country’s opportunities for genuine reform. A few key prescriptions emerge from the array of topics discussed. First, the notion of citizenship and its corresponding social contract needs to be reimagined. There cannot be two layers of citizenship where the ethnic majority is privileged at the expense of the minority. This may be facilitated by moving away from an ethnocultural definition of citizenship, and expanding the basis of political legitimacy to include the provision of universal social protection and welfare on an equal basis (69).
This, in turn, requires greater devolution of power in a manner that allows policy making to take into account “place-specific diversity, unevenness, and spatial complexity” (133). The state has to exercise greater flexibility in its governing approach even as it keeps its eye on the prize. The ongoing stalemate with the various ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) is a good example of this. The NLD’s insistence on an “all-inclusive” nationwide ceasefire agreement, despite the lack of homogeneity in the motivations and grievances among various EAOs, has made it difficult for the peace process to move forward. On the flipside, Si Thura and Tim Schroeder’s chapter on collaboration between EAO-linked health organizations and government health agencies towards a shared goal of universal healthcare demonstrates the potential for building trust between communities, individual citizens, and the state.
Myanmar Transformed? is an important collection of essays that provides a snapshot of a country in transition. Its contribution lies not only in its illumination of the various political, social, and economic changes unfolding in Myanmar—a country long considered an enigma—but in its discussion of the implications and possibilities for reforms within the evolving landscape. This makes it a useful resource not just for scholars of comparative politics and development, but for policy makers, NGOs, and other organizations invested in the future of the country.
Isabel Chew
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver