The Naypyidaw Rationale: Cultures of Power and Constructions of Legitimacy in the Republic of Myanmar
Social Sciences
Politics 195A, 195B
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar has undergone four complete political transformations in the past century alone. Although different regimes and their respective leaders have maintained their own dynamic of governance throughout the years, the centrality of the state in all aspects of daily life remains an enduring aspect of Burmese cultures of power. Now at a precipice of political change, this nation at the crossroads of China, India, and Southeast Asia is on the brink of a potential conflict between stalwart regime strongmen and now-vocal proponents of sociopolitical reform. In this paper I analyze four modes of political legitimacy that the Burmese state continues to uphold despite decades of regime change and social upheaval: the consolidation of state power over Myanmar's religious affairs, using military mobilization as a means of geopolitical control, the disenfranchisement of Burmese ethnic minorities to limit the agency of potential political discontents, and the complete supremacy of the authoritarian state in arbitrating the limits of the nation's budding democracy. My aim in this paper is to analyze the extent to which Myanmar, since the dissolution of the junta in 2011, has really "opened up" to alternative ideologies and subaltern political actors. Ultimately I argue that, while the state remains a dynamic entity that engages with contemporary issues of politics and society, we can expect government actors, despite language of regime change, to rely on junta-era modes of political authority to restrain civic engagement within an arena of military violence and state control.
