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In the past two decades, Burma/Myanmar has become a front-page topic in newspapers across the world. This former British colony has one of the most secretive, corrupt, and repressive regimes on the planet, yet it houses a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is and in and out of house arrest. It has an ancient civilization that is mostly unknown to Westerners, yet it was an important--and legendary--theater in World War II. A picturesque land with mountain jungles and monsoon plains, it is one of the world's largest producers of heroin. It has a restive Buddhist monk population that has captured the attention of the west when it faced off against the regime. And it recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in modern times, one effect of which was to lay bare the manifold injustices and cruelties of the regime. Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know� offers a concise synthesis of this forbidding yet fascinating country. David Steinberg, one of the world's eminent authorities on the region, explains the current situation in detail yet contextualizes it in a wide-ranging survey of Burmese history and culture. Authoritative and balanced, it will be standard work on Burma for the general reading public. 'What Everyone Needs to Know' is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.… (más)
The longest rebellion in the modern world still operates there. In his opening statement Steinberg admits that: "It is sad and also embarrassing to admit honestly that one cannot offer an early way out of the present set of crises [in Myanmar]"
David Steinberg has one very convincing argument that Myanmar is yet another civil war that the USA has no need to be involved with. A radical change of US foreign policy is called for, if it is not to continue the failed strategy of the past with regard ex-colonial countries that have moved toward nationalism.
Steinberg's excellent book fully covers Myanmar's crises, their causes, and solutions applied by civilian and military governments. It covers internal insurgencies as well as external foreign policy manipulation. Most Americans will be shocked to learn that the government and many people in Myanmar truly believe the US Government intends to invade their county! Steinberg says: "Fear of consipiracies (even invasions) by foreign powers or elements against the leadership have made Burmese leaders both wary and skeptical about the motivations of foreign governments toward the state and its leaders. This is reinforced by previous foreign attempts to destabilize governments and rulers and support of dissident ethnic/political groups. These nationalistic tendencies are only magnified by derogatory foreign comments about the regime, its goals and its leaders. Fear of foreign domination may contribute to the suspicions about Aung San Suu Kyi, who is supported by the Western foreign community".
Even considering Steinberg's impartial and fair handling of all parties to the crises of Myanmar, it is difficult to see lasting solutions to the issues. His final statement offers little if any consolation or hope for the future: "As the political stalemate continues, as foreign pressures for reform seem ineffective, and as the internal conditions of the peoples in the country deteriorate, those outside of that benighted country can only hope that in some Burmese manner the people will win through."
For an understanding of Myanmar, this book, Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know is on a par with Thant Myint U's book The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma. Both books are highly recommended reading. ( )
Información procedente del Conocimiento Común Griego.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
To my family Ann Myongsook Lee Alexander Lee Steinberg Eric David Steinberg
who sustained me
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del Conocimiento Común Griego.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
With gratitude, I would like to acknowledge three groups of people who contributed to the production of this volume.
Citas
Información procedente del Conocimiento Común Griego.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
On September1, 1987, the state announced the greatest economic liberalization since 1962: farmers could sell their grains, most importantly rice, on the open market as they wished. This was greeted as a major reform. However, less than a week later (September 5) the goverment announced the most stringent demonetarization (not a devaluation of the currency but the declaration that certain bank notes were no longer legal tender and could not be redeemed) in modern history. ..... Page 77
Rent-seeking and corruption are endemic in society where wages are low and inflation is high, and a system of patron-client rlationships is critical in such a politikal culture. Yet the established patron of today may bocome the outcast of tomorrow. Furthermore, law is essentialy irrelevant-whereas"policy" is importan: today's policies may also be tomorrow's crimes. .. Page 101-102
Civil society organization, those nonprofit groups variously distanced from goverment and providing space between it and the family, might be the basis for a degree of pluralism in a unitary state. ...Page128
There is a persistent (however erroneous) believe that Burmese (i.e. Burman) Culture is under attack from foreigners, and only the military can save both the state and its (Burman) culture.
In the past two decades, Burma/Myanmar has become a front-page topic in newspapers across the world. This former British colony has one of the most secretive, corrupt, and repressive regimes on the planet, yet it houses a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is and in and out of house arrest. It has an ancient civilization that is mostly unknown to Westerners, yet it was an important--and legendary--theater in World War II. A picturesque land with mountain jungles and monsoon plains, it is one of the world's largest producers of heroin. It has a restive Buddhist monk population that has captured the attention of the west when it faced off against the regime. And it recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in modern times, one effect of which was to lay bare the manifold injustices and cruelties of the regime. Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know� offers a concise synthesis of this forbidding yet fascinating country. David Steinberg, one of the world's eminent authorities on the region, explains the current situation in detail yet contextualizes it in a wide-ranging survey of Burmese history and culture. Authoritative and balanced, it will be standard work on Burma for the general reading public. 'What Everyone Needs to Know' is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
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David Steinberg has one very convincing argument that Myanmar is yet another civil war that the USA has no need to be involved with. A radical change of US foreign policy is called for, if it is not to continue the failed strategy of the past with regard ex-colonial countries that have moved toward nationalism.
Steinberg's excellent book fully covers Myanmar's crises, their causes, and solutions applied by civilian and military governments. It covers internal insurgencies as well as external foreign policy manipulation. Most Americans will be shocked to learn that the government and many people in Myanmar truly believe the US Government intends to invade their county! Steinberg says: "Fear of consipiracies (even invasions) by foreign powers or elements against the leadership have made Burmese leaders both wary and skeptical about the motivations of foreign governments toward the state and its leaders. This is reinforced by previous foreign attempts to destabilize governments and rulers and support of dissident ethnic/political groups. These nationalistic tendencies are only magnified by derogatory foreign comments about the regime, its goals and its leaders. Fear of foreign domination may contribute to the suspicions about Aung San Suu Kyi, who is supported by the Western foreign community".
Even considering Steinberg's impartial and fair handling of all parties to the crises of Myanmar, it is difficult to see lasting solutions to the issues. His final statement offers little if any consolation or hope for the future: "As the political stalemate continues, as foreign pressures for reform seem ineffective, and as the internal conditions of the peoples in the country deteriorate, those outside of that benighted country can only hope that in some Burmese manner the people will win through."
For an understanding of Myanmar, this book, Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know is on a par with Thant Myint U's book The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma. Both books are highly recommended reading. (