In the last decade they’ve had a lot of elections but were they valid elections? Are the democracy parties truly in charge or does the military still run things either openly or behind the scenes?
Under the reforms in Egypt after the Arab spring it sounded like Egypt had reform, but the military powers still ran the show. Is that what is happening in Myanmar?
Pretty much, as I understand it. Things are a bit better than when the country was under direct military rule, but it’s no paradise, by any means.
For more:
Emerging.
Too early to say, it takes time, after such a long period without free government.
(Planning a visit there, by years end, hopefully!)
I think it’s legitimately a “limited/flawed” democracy, with trends in the right direction. Things are better than they have been in a long time, but there’s still lots of serious troubles in Myanmar (just today there are accusations of ethnic cleansing directed at Muslim minorities in the front page news); and history has shown lots of countries in this sort of status don’t inevitably go on to become more democratic. They could stay in such a state indefinitely or fall back into direct military rule, that sort of happened in Thailand for example. China too has largely been in stasis for a long time, it’s much freer than it was in the 70s/80s, but arguably not much more than it was in the 90s.
I’d say this is pretty much trues except for the very last part. It’s freer than it was in the 1990s. Give it time.
I was living near the Myanmar border in northern Thailand during the widespread massacres in Myanmar in August and September 1988, the 8888 Uprising. My home was in the provincial capital of Mae Hong Son, and there were a lot of refugees coming over the border. But Thailand didn’t want to repeat the headache of the Cambodian refugees from the Khmer Rouge regime and, at that time at least, would not permit any refugees to stay. So pretty much all the Burmese I saw who came over pretended to be “visiting.” The province of Mae Hong Son is majority ethnic Shan, Thais are actually a minority, and across the border in Myanmar is Shan State, so there were a lot of local families who would take in Shan from across the border. There’s a chance that I may have passed into Myanmar once or twice myself during my two years up there, but it was inadvertent if I did.
During my years in Bangkok, I was barred from visiting Myanmar due to my press connections, having worked for one or the other of Thailand’s English-language dailies at one time or another. Reporters could not get visas. I think journalists can enter now except for ones like Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner, who I believe may still be blacklisted.
I wouldn’t mind visiting. The wife was there last June for a brief trip with friends in Mandalay. She liked it. And before I returned to Hawaii last year, I had an opportunity to do some work on a paper in I think it was Bagan, but I didn’t pursue it. Dental problems meant I had to stay close to Bangkok.
I think the place is probably on the right track. Time will tell.
Genocidal maniacs.