| Political Transition in Myanmar: A New Model for Democratisation (2004) | |||||||||||||||
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| This article examines social and political transition in Myanmar (Burma).Strategies for transition in Myanmar have tended to focus on elite-levelpolitics, rather than grass-roots democratisation and social mobilisation.However, both approaches are necessary - although neither is sufficient initself. While change at the national/elite level is urgently required, sustaineddemocratic transition can only be achieved if accompanied by localparticipation.¶The tentative re-emergence of civil society networks within and between ethnicnationality/ minority communities over the past decade is one of the mostsignificant - but under-examined - aspects of the social and political situationin Myanmar. ‘Development from below’, and efforts to build local democracy fromthe ‘bottom-up’, using local capacities and social capital, are underway ingovernment-controlled areas, and in some ethnic nationality-populated ceasefireand war zones (including insurgent-controlled areas), as well as in neighbouringcountries. However, the sector is still under-developed, and changes coming fromcivil society will be gradual, and need to be supported.¶This article examines the strategic challenges facing ethnic nationalist leadersand communities at this key period in Myanmar’s history. It also addresses theroles that foreign aid can play in supporting the re-emergence of civil societyin Myanmar, and advocates a policy of selective (or targeted) engagement’. | |||||||||||||||
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