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Analyzing the Struggles of Aung San Suu Kyi by Tehreem Saifey A

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Analyzing the Struggles of Aung San Suu Kyi by Tehreem Saifey A Saifey - 1 A Framework for Leadership: Analyzing the Struggles of Aung San Suu Kyi By Tehreem Saifey A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of The Graduate School of Political Management of The George Washington University in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Professional Studies November 11, 2011 Thesis Directed by Dr. David Ettinger and Dr. Dennis W. Johnson Saifey - 2 CONTENTS Chapter 1 – Introduction 3 Chapter 2 – A Theoretical Framework 24 Chapter 3 – A Case Study of Aung San Suu Kyi 53 Chapter 4 – Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Study 87 Appendix – Tables and figures 102 Bibliography 105 1 Saifey - 3 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The story of Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi is no less than an epic. Like the novel Anna and the King of Siam, it would not be far-fetched to call this one Suu and the King(s) of Burma. Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi are, figuratively speaking, two yet one; Burma will never be viewed the same as a result of its relation to this one woman. They are inseparable. Both are striving for the same cause: their vision of freedom for Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has sacrificed her life and freedom for Burma’s sovereignty and future. It would be unfair to call her anything less than a political prophet of Burma. It is amazing to see how her spiritual connection to Buddhism has helped her rise to the pinnacle of political activism, marrying politics and her spiritual convictions together, making her the most influential figure on the political spectrum of Burma. The political destiny of this country has changed due to her free heart and iron will. She continues to lead a non-violent revolution against Burma’s military junta to bring valuable and long-term social, political and economic change to the country. This thesis emanates from the study and observation of women leaders in the developing nations of the East who must struggle to achieve a respectable and powerful status in their respective countries. These extraordinary women are breaking the social norms and are fighting the prevalent “androcentric power structures” that have dominated their societies. 1 Each story is inspirational, not to mention being both liberating and extremely dangerous, pragmatically speaking. There is a strange paradox in the stories of all these powerful yet submissive women of the East. They exhibit an amazing ability to live in the contradiction between their sense of 1 Bruce O. Solheim, On Top of the World: Women’s Political Leadership in Scandinavia and Beyond (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), x. 23 Saifey - 4 traditional duty and social unconventionalities. Any one of them could easily be imagined saying the following line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “Think you I am no stronger than my sex, being so fathered and so husbanded?”2 Quite impressively, these women have wrestled with hostile and challenging circumstances and have fought with dedication and perseverance for the recognition and appreciation of their unique talents. In her dissertation, Extraordinary Women All: The Influence of Madame de Stael on Margaret Fuller and Lydia Maria Child, Susan Toth Lord delineates the foremost obstacles faced and overcome by exceptional women. First, the extraordinary woman has had to overcome or otherwise deal with the stereotypical views of women in general, views that have often restricted them to the home and located the sphere of their influence only within its walls. Second, she has had to distinguish herself from those women who conformed to societal expectations, thus separating herself from others of her gender just as surely as her gender separated her from men. In the course of this resistance, she has had to combat age-old ideas about women’s intellectual inferiority, their irrationality, their dangerous sexuality, and their flawed moral integrity.3 To understand the central theme of this paper, it is essential to ask: what does it mean to be a woman leader in today’s world? This leads to another logical question: what does it mean to be a leader in today’s world? By answering these two questions and finding the connection between the answers, it is possible to find some answer for our basic question in this thesis. That 2 Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, II, i, 296-297, accessed October 9, 2011, http://www.shakespeare- online.com/quotes/juliusquotes.html. 3 Susan Toth Lord, “Extraordinary Women All: The Influence of Madame de Stael on Margaret Fuller and Lydia Maria Child” (PhD diss. Kent State University, 2004), 16-17. 4 Saifey - 5 is, what are those unique forces that drive and sustain Aung San Suu Kyi, and likely other women in leadership roles in developing countries of the East? Before delving into our question of what makes women leaders successful in today’s world, let us first explore the pivotal qualities in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi that have directed and sustained her in her present leadership role as Burma’s political hero. The third chapter of this thesis will show that these qualities include courage, fearlessness, forgiveness, an ability to live in the paradox between her sense of traditional duty and social nonconformities, and a constant and uninterrupted connection with both her own region’s non-violent traditions and a wider perspective of political possibilities than the Burmese have yet to experience. Now the questions remain: who identifies these characteristics and attaches a positive value to them? Does this come from the outside, from within the Burmese perspective, or from both? West vs. East: Two Different Worlds The Glory of Creation is in its infinite diversity and in the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.4 This thesis applies primarily Western frameworks to a primarily Eastern woman, and there is nuance and conflict inherent in such work. What do the above qualities mean to Suu Kyi in her context? How can we as outsiders understand the Burmese context? The first question will be briefly explored through Suu Kyi’s own words regarding her fearlessness, and the second will be addressed later by making a comparison of between women’s political situations in Burma and Norway. 4 The Star Trek character Spock quoted in Solheim, On Top of The World, ix. 65 Saifey - 6 This thesis finds that one of Suu Kyi’s greatest attributes is her fearlessness. While talking to Alan Clements, author of The Voice of Hope, she not only identified but also defined some of the core qualities that can make Burma’s revolution successful. 5 Speaking about courage, she said: It takes courage to lift one’s eyes up from their own needs and to see the truth of the world around them, a truth, such as Burma, where there are no human rights. It takes courage to feel the truth, to feel one’s conscience. You can’t just expect to sit idly by and have freedom handed to you. In this regard, courage is threefold: The courage to see. The courage to feel. And the courage to act.6 One question that serves as an inspiration for writing this paper is how these great leaders face and control their inner fears. It is a very humanistic notion. Even leaders are humans; they are not gods or mythological figures, though they are endowed with certain superior qualities or maybe they cultivate them. Based on the research and reviews from historical biographies, there are commonalities that have come to surface such as everyone fear of failure, loneliness by isolation, sorrow and pain at the death of loved ones, and suffering from one’s own sense of losses in life. How did Aung San Suu Kyi, after having seen such great losses in her life, such as the early deaths of her father and brother, and later her husband, not only deal with these feelings but also patiently bear the painful separation from her family and a happy marital life? What drove her to make that choice, and with such cheerful alacrity? On top of it, her consistent willingness to have a genuine dialogue and discussion with an overtly tyrannical and non- engaging military regime is awe inspiring. 5 Alan Clements, The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi Conversations with Alan Clements (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2008). 6 Suu Kyi quoted in Ibid., 11. Saifey - 7 Talking about the root cause of fear and the strength that one draws from courage, she shared the following with Clements during one of her interviews: Fear is rooted in insecurity and insecurity is rooted in lack of metta [loving-kindness]. If there is lack of metta, it may be a lack in yourself, or in those around you, so you feel insecure. And insecurity leads to fear.7 She added: Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions.8 While showing complete astonishment at the interviewer’s assumption of her fearlessness she mentioned to Alan Clements that the interviewer did not believe that she was not frightened all those years under house arrest. On the contrary the interviewer thought that she would have been petrified. Emphasizing Buddhism, the manifold force from which she draws her strength, she said: I’m not sure a Buddhist would have asked this question. Buddhists in general would have understood that isolation is not something to be frightened of. People ask me why I was not frightened of them. Was it because I was not aware that they could do whatever they wanted to me? I was fully aware of that.
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