Burma Redux: Global Justice and the Quest for Political Reform in Myanmar (6 page)

Chapter 1
examines what colonial officials liked to call the British connexion, focusing on the years from the 1850s to 1948.
⁸¹
Its twin themes are political dependence and social disintegration.
Chapter 2
investigates the prehistory of modern Myanmar in independent Burma from 1948 to 1988. Its core themes are the drive for dominion sought by the
tatmadaw
, and the dissent triggered among many citizens.
Chapter 3
analyzes government by junta from 1988 to 2011. Its central themes are the dictatorship to which the country was subjected for more than two decades, and the deadlock into which it slid at the end of the 1980s and struggled for years thereafter to break.
Chapter 4
looks beyond the sham democracy set in place in 2011 to consider domestic political futures. Taking democratization and dialogue as twin themes, it focuses on transitional process, national reconciliation and transitional justice, drawing evidence and insights not only from Myanmar’s own history and path dependence, but also from the abundant resources of comparative political science. The intention is not to prescribe, but rather to set out as clearly as possible the challenges the country is likely to face if it embarks on real political reform, as well as options for channeling them in a constructive direction.

Rebuilding a country

The major reason for looking in detail in the first half of the book at historical Burma and contemporary Myanmar is to build a secure foundation for analysis of foreign engagement with this problematic state. Ultimately, that is the core aim of everything written here. In the second half, attention thus turns squarely to outside actors and action, and in particular to debates about global justice that for the past two decades and more have infused much analysis of international politics. Again some contextual work is required through examination of existing external efforts to shape the country’s political development. Only when that has been accomplished can fresh possibilities be explored.

Chapter 5
surveys how foreigners have dealt with Myanmar since the late 1980s. The twin poles of debate are inattention and involvement. Taking the major camps in global society, it finds that a case for engagement is made most forcefully in Asia. Practised both by regional powers such as China and India, and by regional bodies such as ASEAN, it is also supported by growing numbers of INGOs. By contrast, a case for isolation is made above all by a bloc of countries led by the US and vociferous activist groups. Citing repression of the country’s democratic opposition and violence against ethnic nationalities, the US eventually ratcheted up sanctions to onerous levels. Alongside economic measures, it has also long placed embargoes on the country to outlaw arms sales, visas for senior officials and their families, and many forms of humanitarian assistance. The European Union and other US allies also impose sanctions. Furthermore, almost all companies with visible trade names in western markets have for years declined to do business in and with Myanmar because of negative consumer reaction and a generally difficult business climate.
⁸²
The chapter finds that current strategies have registered only limited success and are now openly disputed among policymakers and activists outside Myanmar, and politicians and citizens inside.

Chapter 6
begins to explore new ways forward by considering the extent to which foreigners are implicated in injustice in Myanmar, and thereby carry corresponding obligations to engage with it. Picking up on debates about global justice where this issue is most fully examined, it investigates duties of both historical injustice and universal justice in an attempt to determine how the demands of justice might be framed in this context. Rejecting radical cosmopolitan approaches as inapplicable in a world of sovereign states located behind generally secure international frontiers, and indeed of sub-state communities committed to vibrant minority identities within those sovereign domains, it also dismisses fully state-centric views leaving citizens entirely at the mercy of their rulers. In between, it sketches a realm of possibility in which outsiders can confront injustice while paying necessary respect to local agency. Crucially, though, it finds that in the Myanmar case analysts of global justice are unable to specify the demands of justice in anything other than very provisional terms.

Chapter 7
thus follows up by examining how individuals prepared to acknowledge mandates of global justice might properly become involved in the political affairs of a jurisdiction other than their own. Specifically, it draws on the plentiful resources of the just war tradition to develop a typology of intervention configured chiefly by discursive and assertive forms, a framework for evaluation, and a procedure for hearing contributions to debate. In this final context it builds on calls for local control surfacing repeatedly within Myanmar to argue that insiders must be given priority, amounting to an effective veto, and that only on this condition can the views of foreigners be considered. Terming the resultant approach interactive intervention, it sketches the implications for Myanmar of this reading of justice across borders.

Chapter 8
completes the analysis by switching from procedural to substantive matters, and investigating the practical contributions outsiders willing to follow the dictates of global justice might make to political change in Myanmar through intercession and investment. Seeking both to listen to local voices as fully as possible and to learn from elsewhere, it surveys current possibilities for external action and considers prospects for political reform. It argues for an expansive notion of investment spreading beyond financial and commercial undertakings to committed and purposeful engagement designed to help build capacity at grassroots levels, boost indigenous agency and expand political space throughout the society. Alongside analysis of the fundamental role played by international aid organizations, it therefore explores the implications of a growing sense that global corporations are critical in triggering the broad social renewal essential to sustainable political reform. It incorporates each of these elements into the case for intercession made here.

While these four chapters all form part of a structured argument for political change in Myanmar, they also engage in set-piece debate with contemporary global issues.
Chapter 5
on inattention and involvement evaluates existing policies of engagement and isolation. How successful are these divergent strategies?
Chapter 6
on injustice and implication taps into analysis of global justice. How can injustice be confronted in the still strongly statist conditions of today’s world?
Chapter 7
on intervention and interaction extends just war theory to complex cross-border challenges. When intervention takes so many more forms than simply warfare and is pursued by an increasingly diverse range of actors, how should it be framed?
Chapter 8
on intercession and investment focuses on somewhat parallel debates about the aid business and corporate social responsibility to examine what to do in the context of a difficult yet potentially rewarding case for engagement. In toxic circumstances, how might external action properly be fashioned?

Finally, the Conclusion pulls together the threads unraveled in preceding chapters. The core argument acknowledges the strength of opposition claims. Notwithstanding Myanmar’s 2011 praetorian transition, the political situation remains dire and necessitates substantial reform. National reconciliation embracing all strands of political opinion and all ethnic groups is also essential. For foreigners, the critical question is how to deliver on the demands of global justice by making an effective contribution to change sought and driven by local people. The chapter thus focuses on how insiders might unmake Myanmar and remake Burma, and how outsiders might support their endeavors. Looking on this basis at strategic issues generated by external engagement with Myanmar and a future Burma’s reintegration into international society, it argues for an agenda that can be supported by neighboring states and at the same time chime with global opinion. How that might happen is spelt out in some detail, with both state and non-state actors brought within the analytical frame.

Throughout, the main interest is how principles of global justice might inform a quest to create the multiethnic democratic order that the very notion of Burma has come to symbolize in the hearts and minds of both insiders and outsiders. That Burma, the country many seek to build in place of contemporary Myanmar, could come into being by a multitude of routes and may indeed never be fully realized. Even if it is, it will clearly not be a literal reconstruction, but rather a new creation informed by the changed circumstances of a world that has moved on considerably in the 50 years since Burma last came close to measuring up to the expectations many now have for it.
⁸³
While the concept of Burma redux that brands this analysis conveys a sense of bringing back, reviving or restoring a Burma long written off global maps, it contains no suggestion of strict replication.

Still, however, inspiration can be drawn from the past. On the side of democracy, the link is with those who fought and in many cases died for an ideal in the tumultuous year of 1988, those who challenged Ne Win’s autocracy after 1962, those who helped create a rather rickety new state in Burma’s long 1950s, and ultimately those who in one way or another made the case for popular rule in struggles against British colonialism and Japanese fascism. Looming iconically over this parade of Burmese democrats is the father-daughter pairing that above all symbolizes the fight: General Aung San, independence hero and prime minister in waiting, assassinated in cabinet at age 32 in July 1947, and Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate, motivating force behind the NLD and moral leader of the nation for two decades, detained under house arrest for a total of 15 years from 1989 to 2010.
⁸⁴
On the side of ethnic pluralism, the connection is with countless anonymous people who have suffered for years at the hands of a domineering and at times belligerent central state. Although there are no well-known names, no events or dates with wide resonance, and no instantly recognizable images, the need for change in interethnic relations is just as pressing.

Invigorated by the efforts of individuals past and present, this book seeks to contribute to global debate about Myanmar, and about ways forward for those who embrace a desire to wrest it from the iron grip of its military leaders and return it to a Burmese path of democratic development. One animating belief is that much current analysis does not provide a very full or balanced perspective.
⁸⁵
A 2009 examination of the civilian response to Cyclone Nargis noted “a trend which sees news stories about Myanmar narrowly focus on: the brutality of the military regime, deep divisions between Myanmar people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds; emphasising its isolation within the international community.”
⁸⁶
Later, when ethnic people spoke, they made similar remarks. A young Shan INGO worker put it this way: “Things are not that terrible, though of course they are not good. The media paints the country in a bad light and people fear for our country. The impression given internationally is that it is very risky and dangerous to live and work here; but that is not the case.”
⁸⁷
A young Bamar female journalist said this: “Foreigners always think it is oppressed, not safe, and dark in Myanmar; they are afraid. But when they come here they realise the situation is different; communities are OK and survive.”
⁸⁸
The conclusion reached by the researchers was that “along with the stories of horror and destruction” there must be room to “acknowledge and explore the positive and negative parts of this tragedy.”
⁸⁹
This argument merits wide application.

Perhaps more basic still is a sense that there is simply not enough Burma talk of any kind in today’s world. In 2009, one local person had this to say: “It is difficult to access data and facts on Myanmar. External organisations can help out by keeping the issues alive. They need to talk, analyse and discuss what has been written and publicised.”
⁹⁰
The implication is that any news item, op-ed journalism or documentary feature, any academic book, lecture or conference, any parliamentary debate, summit meeting or UN session, any film, novel or play, any painting, sculpture or performance art, indeed any routine daily conversation that makes a sincere attempt to place Myanmar and the concerns it generates at the center of at least part of the world’s attention is welcome. That is the spirit in which this book is written.

1

Dependence and disintegration

Contemporary Myanmar cannot be understood by focusing solely on a quarter-century of heightened global attention since pro-democracy protests were crushed by a brutal military machine and a landslide general election victory generated no perceptible change in domestic politics. Rather, the nationwide uprising and violent crackdown witnessed in the middle months of 1988 and the vacuous political contest staged in May 1990 need to be set in the context of what went before: not only 40 years of sovereign Burma from 1948 to 1988, but also the struggle against both imperialism and fascism that preceded independence, the experience of colonial rule under the British, and so on. At the same time, however, it is not necessary to reach all the way back into Burmese history. The decisive break registered by British colonialism makes examination of the past 150 years or so broadly sufficient. This chapter investigates the period of close to a century from the 1850s to 1948 when Britain first established pervasive sway over much of the territory and then asserted full imperial control, seeking ultimately to introduce the economic, political and social reforms required by a liberal power intent on opening its new possession to global markets. Starting with a brief overview of British Burma, it then looks inside the colonial experience at liberal imperialism and the nationalist reaction it provoked. The final section examines Burma in flux in the 1940s, tracing Japanese command from 1942 to 1945 and the dying embers of British Burma from 1945 to 1948. The twin themes, inspired above all by the work of Furnivall, are the political dependence to which Burma was subjected, and the social disintegration that resulted.