1 - Introduction

Summary

This book is an attempt to cumulatively increase scholarly interest and research on Myanmar. We are mindful that the scholarly community on Myanmar is intensely polarized and there are scholars who would not even refer to the country by its new name, preferring the older Burma. Yet, the truth of the matter is that Myanmar had closed itself off from international interactions for a very long time after the installation of the Burma Socialist Party Programme (BSPP) government in 1962. The initial reason for this closure was fighting by external powers on its soil, a situation precipitated by the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang detachment trapped in the Shan states and the involvement of China and the United States in the ensuing conflict. Already wrecked by internal problems that included the failure of a civilian parliamentary government and ethnic insurgencies, Burma decided to pursue a policy of neutrality through self-imposed isolationism. The collapse of the BSPP government in 1988, the subsequent suppression of the democracy movement in the country and the holding of nationwide election in 1990 opened up the country to international scrutiny once again. External events that included the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the fragility of the Soviet Union that eventually imploded in 1991 appeared to have provided external causes for optimism. Aung San Suu Kyi's presence in Myanmar in 1988 and her subsequent leadership of the National League for Democracy (NLD) also appeared to portend changes. However, it needs to be noted that Suu Kyi herself never stood in the elections despite serving as leader of the NLD.

With the hindsight of history, we now know that the pressures for internal change bore no fruit. Subsequent developments led to political violence, the displacement of a large number of pro-democracy activists and the periodic detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. The international pressure piled on by the United States and the European Union in particular must have left the Myanmar military junta bewildered. After all, it was responding to a series of seemingly domestic developments and had indicated its express desire to isolate itself from the world.