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Colonial democracy
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Between Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) military regimes have ruled for over 100 years. In this paper I shall investigate the role of colonialism in deepening and further entrenching the political system of military regimes in Burma. To show this, I will first look at the background before exploring the causal factors which help prove my thesis. I have chosen to compare Burma to Thailand because despite holding many pre-colonial similarities Thailand was never colonised, consequently many of the effects of colonialism we see in Burma, we would expect to not exist to the same extent in Thailand. To define political systems, I will use Siaroff's definition which is the mechanisms of political representation, patterns of repression used by a regime, and how the leader is selected (Siaroff 61-63).
Before colonialism, the two countries were a similar size, both had long costal areas, had a similar population of an estimated 9 million who mainly followed Theravada Buddhism, with each establishing a monarchy within 100 years of the other. This shows that the two countries were very similar in key ways before their divergence during the colonial era.
European colonisers first began trade in Burma towards the end of the 18th century (Nibset 413) due to the close proximity to India and the death of King Mindôn lead to the violent annexation of land starting 1826 and the whole of Burma was under colonial rule by 1886 (Nibset 5-7). Due to the primary resistance of some Burmese, the British rule was also a rule of occupation with resentment for the British forces caused by the culture intolerance. The colonisation of Burma was thus achieved through violent means and was sustained in the same way. Similarly, the Japanese in invaded during the se...
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...es A. Robinson. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. London: Profile, 2012. Print.
Baker, Christopher J, and Phongpaichit Pasuk. A History of Thailand. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.
Handelman, Howard. "The Challenge of Third World Developemnt ." Trans. Array. 7th
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Nisbet, John. Burma Under British Rule-and Before. Westminster: A. Constable, 1901. Print.
Siaroff, Alan. Comparing Political Regimes: A Thematic Introduction to Comparative Politic, Chaper 3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Print.
Taylor, Robert H, and Robert H. Taylor. The State in Myanmar. London: C. Hurst, 2008. Print.
Zakaria, bin H. A, and Harold A. Crouch. Military-civilian Relations in South-East Asia. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1985. Print.
Ung (2000) mentions that the Cambodian genocide is a product of a perfect agrarian vision that can be built by eliminating Western influence. More specifically, the Angkar perceives peasants and farmers as “model citizens” because many have not left the village and were not subjected to Western influence (Ung 2000:57). Moreover, the Khmer Rouge emphasized the ethnic cleansing of individuals from other races who were not considered “true Khmer” and represented a “source of evil, corruption, [and] poison” (Ung 2000:92). Lastly, the ideology centered on obtaining lost territory was based on a “time when Kampuchea was a large empire with territories” (Ung 2000:78). In essence, Ung successfully demonstrates that multiple causes encouraged the Cambodian
This bold sentence serves as an attention grabber as it challenges a common dogma once stated by John Dalberg, “ Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” By making this brief but, powerful statement, Aung Sang Suu Kyi surprises her audience by blaming them for the corruption of the government making her audience more keen to understand her point of view. Aung Sang Suu Kyi then directs her words towards her Burmese people as she alludes to specific words such as “ Chanda- gati”, “Dosa-gati”, “Bhaya-gati” and “ Chanda-gati” (Kyi, 1) to explain the corruption of her land in the words of her people. This builds ethos as she can connect to her people and clearly explain how “chanda-gati” or the corruption built by fear is the most dangerous form of corruption. She can then further explain how the only way to root out the corruption of the Burmese Army and gain freedom is to first eradicate the people's fear of the government and instill confidence in the basic human rights of the Burmese
"Myanmar National Gun Acts of 1984." The Assembly of the Union. http://www.amyothahluttaw.gov.mm/ (accessed April 18, 2014).
The Age of Western Imperialism. Modern East Asia From 1600. Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009. 295-367.
Lipman, Jonathan Neaman., Barbara Molony, and Michael Edson. Robinson. Modern East Asia: An Integrated History. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Through this we see that the author’s point of view is someone who understands that the events that took place that morning in Burma, were not humane and degrading.
Violence marks much of human history. Within the sociopolitical sphere, violence has continually served as a tool used by various actors to influence and/or to control territory, people, institutions and other resources of society. The twentieth century witnessed an evolution of political violence in form and in scope. Continuing into the twenty-first, advances in technology and social organization dramatically increase the potential destructiveness of violent tools. Western colonialism left a world filled with many heterogeneous nation-states. In virtually all these countries nationalist ideologies have combined with ethnic, religious, and/or class conflicts resulting in secessionist movements or other kinds of demands. Such conflicts present opportunities for various actors in struggles for wealth, power, and prestige on both national and local levels. This is particularly evident in Indonesia, a region of the world that has experienced many forms of political violence. The state mass killings of 1965-66 mark the most dramatic of such events within this region. My goal is to understand the killings within a framework of collec...
As many people know, Imperialism has shaped the culture and customs all over the world. Imperialism is the dominance of one country over another politically, economically or socially. Western culture can be seen in all parts of the world; from Asia to Africa, to the Indies and the Americans. The downside of having the bits of western culture all over the world, is how it got there. Western influence was forced upon places in Asia, specifically India, Indonesia with a hellacious price; lives and poverty.
Ebery, Patricia – Walthall, Anne – Palais, James. East Asia, a Cultural, Social, and Political History. Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston. 2009.
...nese control, a southern Vietnamese state, called Funan, spread out over much of Indochina and the Malay Peninsula—providing a trading and cultural circle for Indian merchants, Brahman priests, and Buddhist monks. This Indian influence continued even after the decline of Funan, as did Indian influence in the independent state of Tai and the Khmer Empire of Cambodia. Also drawing on Indian tradition and Sanskrit writing was the maritime empire of Srivijaya based on the island of Sumatra, and dominating the waters in that area and extending up to the Malay Peninsula. After 800 it was the early Indian form of Buddhism (called Theravada Buddhism) that dominated in Southeast Asia. Finally, it was not direct Indian control that was the key to the expansion of Indian culture, but an extension of trade and religious networks.
My research on the Rohingya Muslim experience in Myanmar shows that this pattern of persecution goes back to 1948 – the year when the country achieved independence from their British colonizers.
The relationship and cooperation in handling the issue in Southern Thailand between Malaysia and Thailand government since a long time ago, has become disappointed, frustration and unsatisfied. This is might be best description that has been looked up since the working relations between past Thai governments and their Malaysian counterparts was comes to Southern Thailand (Thanet, 2013). For the Thailand government, cooperation with the Malaysian authorities is really needed while in dealing with the separatist insurgents that often to the slip across the porous border from Thailand. Meanwhile, for the Malaysian side, through the sharing of same ethnicity and Islamic religion in the Southern Thai Muslims, was means that their politicians ought to have a key role to play in understanding and resolving insurgency issues in Southern Thailand. Therefore, it might can be seem in logically think that, without the help by the Malaysian government, the issues that regards to Muslim separatist moments in the Deep South would be difficul...
Though Burma became independent in 1948, a military junta took over in 1962. This military junta was initially a single-party socialist system. General Ne Win was the dictator at this time. He didn’t
In Buddhism’s most basic principles, it is understood that all beings have a right to live, life should respected and people should refrain from taking all life. Yet, currently in the country of Myanmar, extreme Buddhist monks are preaching religious superiority and leading a genocide on Myanmar’s minority religious people, especially Muslims, down to the women and children. To make matters worse Myanmar’s governing officials (exclusively Buddhist) have passed laws that assist in the persecution of minorities. There are some local reports that government authorities are tracking down and arresting religious minorities without reason. Then those who are arrested haven’t been seen or heard from since. With the known death toll of Myanmar Muslims and other minority groups increasing and the Myanmar government publicly admitting to “misplacing” huge numbers of people who fall into the religious minority, suspicions that the Myanmar government is assisting in this religious genocide have justifiably
Nemoto, K. (n.d) 'The Rohingya Issue: A Thorny Obstacle between Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh.', p. 5.