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The Role of the Military in Myanmar's Political Economy

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The Role of the Military in Myanmar's Political Economy View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis and Dissertation Collection 2016-03 The role of the military in Myanmar's political economy Stein, Pamela T. Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/48478 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN MYANMAR’S POLITICAL ECONOMY by Pamela T. Stein March 2016 Thesis Advisor: Naazneen Barma Second Reader: Zachary Shore Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704–0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED (Leave blank) March 2016 Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN MYANMAR’S POLITICAL ECONOMY 6. AUTHOR(S) Pamela T. Stein 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING Naval Postgraduate School ORGANIZATION REPORT Monterey, CA 93943-5000 NUMBER 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND 10. SPONSORING / ADDRESS(ES) MONITORING AGENCY N/A REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. IRB Protocol number ____N/A____. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) This thesis examines the role of Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, in the country’s political economy. Using a hybrid of the New Institutional Economics and the developmental state model as the analytical framework, a historical comparative analysis of Myanmar’s political economic institutions during its socialist period (1962–1988) and market liberalization period (1988–2010) reveals that the Tatmadaw was a major actor with a dominant role in shaping Myanmar’s political economic institutions. Myanmar’s socialist trajectory was enabled by the Tatmadaw’s monopoly of force and motivated largely by national security and the Tatmadaw leaders’ colonial experiences. Under the Tatmadaw’s leadership, socialist and militaristic institutions became ingrained in Myanmar’s political economy while the development of market-oriented institutions became significantly restrained. Although distorted political economic institutions caused the decline of Myanmar’s economy, the Tatmadaw’s desire to maintain political power was the key motivator for the regime to abandon socialism and embrace capitalism. Granted that Myanmar’s private sector has grown since market liberalization, lingering socialist-era norms continue to negatively influence the development of Myanmar’s economic policy and misshape emerging economic institutions. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF Myanmar, Burma, political, economy, Tatmadaw, socialism, market liberalization, capitalism, PAGES developmental state, New Institutional Economics, State Law and Order Restoration Council, 141 growth, military, authoritarian, policy, model, government, bureaucracy, relationships, norms, 16. PRICE CODE bureaucracy, state intervention, private, public, sector, policy, import substitution, export oriented, industrialization, prices, macroeconomic, monopoly, force 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE OF ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540–01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2–89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239–18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN MYANMAR’S POLITICAL ECONOMY Pamela T. Stein B.S., University of California, Los Angeles, 2003 M.S., University of Maryland University College, 2007 M.S., University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (FAR EAST, SOUTHEAST ASIA, THE PACIFIC) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL March 2016 Approved by: Naazneen Barma, Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Zachary Shore, Ph.D. Second Reader Mohammed Hafez, Ph.D. Chair, Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT This thesis examines the role of Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, in the country’s political economy. Using a hybrid of the new institutional economics and the developmental state model as the analytical framework, a historical comparative analysis of Myanmar’s political economic institutions during its socialist period (1962–1988) and market liberalization period (1988–2010) reveals that the Tatmadaw was a major actor with a dominant role in shaping Myanmar’s political economic institutions. Myanmar’s socialist trajectory was enabled by the Tatmadaw’s monopoly of force and motivated largely by national security and the Tatmadaw leaders’ colonial experience. Under the Tatmadaw’s leadership, socialist and militaristic institutions became ingrained in Myanmar’s political economy while the development of market-oriented institutions became significantly restrained. Although distorted political economic institutions caused the decline of Myanmar’s economy, the Tatmadaw’s desire to maintain political power was the key motivator for the regime to abandon socialism and embrace capitalism. Granted that Myanmar’s private sector has grown since market liberalization, lingering socialist-era norms continue to negatively influence the development of Myanmar’s economic policy and misshape emerging economic institutions. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1 A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTION..........................................................1 B. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION ...........................1 C. A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY ...............................................................2 D. HISTORICAL CONTEXT .......................................................................3 1. Precolonial Myanmar ....................................................................3 2. Colonial Myanmar under the British ...........................................4 3. The Independence Movement and the Formation of the Tatmadaw .......................................................................................6 4. The Myanmar Political Economy 1948–1962 ..............................9 5. The Tatmadaw 1948–1962 ..........................................................12 E. RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................16 F. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS ................................................................17 G. THE STRUCTURE OF THIS THESIS .................................................18 II. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................19 A. THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS .....................................19 B. THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE MODEL .......................................25 C. THE FRAMEWORK OF THIS THESIS ..............................................27 III. SOCIALIST PERIOD (1962–1990)....................................................................31 A. THE ROOTS OF SOCIALISM IN THE COLONIAL AND INDEPENDENT EXPERIENCE ...........................................................31 B. MYANMAR AS A SOCIALIST STATE: THE TATMADAW TAKE OVER ............................................................................................33 1. Organization and Link with the Burma Socialist Programme Party.........................................................................35 2. Political Suppression and Ethnic Insurgency ............................38 C. THE DECLINE OF LIBERAL MARKET INSTITUTIONS .............39 1. Myanmar’s Economic Policies and Institutions after the Coup ..............................................................................................39 2. Myanmar’s Economic Policies and Institutions in the 1970s ..............................................................................................40 3. Myanmar’s Economic Policies and Institutions in the 1980s ..............................................................................................43 D. MYANMAR AND THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE MODEL ......47 1. State Intervention.........................................................................47 2. Technocrats and Economic Bureaucracy ..................................50 vii 3. Getting the Fundamentals Right ................................................51 E. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................53
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