The Problem of Democracy in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar: Neither Nation-State Nor State-Nation?

Summary

The issue of the resolution of the ethnic problems of a quintessential multicultural state like Myanmar is the most important, continuing, and contentious issue facing the “Union” of the Republic of Myanmar — a “union” more in name than actuality since independence. Over the past two decades, however, international attention has generally concentrated on negative political issues and human rights abuses. Continuation of authoritarian direct and indirect military rule has been evident since 1962, causing considerable international indignation since the suppression of the people's revolution and the subsequent coup of 1988, the junta's neglect of the results of the 1990 elections, the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi's entourage at Depayin in 2003, the “Saffron Revolution” of 2007, and government procrastination on Cyclone Nargis relief efforts in 2008. The political incarnation of that state under an elected government in 2011, based upon the constitution of 2008 that was approved through a manipulated referendum, ensures that essential power still remains in military hands in what the Burmese leadership has called a “discipline-flourishing democracy”.

Although political rights are obviously important and human rights abuses abhorrent, the more basic issue concerns questions of the distribution of power and authority in a highly culturally diverse state in which the minority groups are generally on, or close to, the frontiers of the state — frontiers that are unrelated to ethnicity or cultural homogeneity. These ethnically arbitrary borders fragment peoples with shared ethno-linguistic traditions but ostensible loyalties to other states. As a consequence, even cultural diversity, let alone an absence of quiescence or ethnic oriented or fomented rebellions at home, have international repercussions within the region and beyond. If violence is its ultimate form, smuggling, illegal migration, trafficking, unauthorized investments, and the narcotics trade are possible or actual implications. Irredentism in western Myanmar on the Indian frontier among the Naga has been evident. If Western states are more concerned about human and political rights, Myanmar's neighbours (China, India, Thailand, and Bangladesh) are preoccupied with border tranquility and the adverse potential for refugees into their states — the potential external effects of internal Myanmar ethnic nationalism, rancour, rebellion, or disputed identity.