More on Burma

Good piece in Far Eastern Economic Review on Burma:

http://www.feer.com/international-relations/20098/august53/Seven-Steps-to-Freedom

I disagree with some of this piece. Principally in Step 7:

"And step seven would be to allow all political prisoners and former political prisoners to freely participate in the country's democratization process, without restrictions. This should include participation in a review of the 2008 constitution; dialogue for national reconciliation; and the right to stand in independently-monitored free and fair elections.

Only with the practical implementation of a concrete time-frame for the rapid release of all of Burma’s political prisoners can the regime prove that it is truly committed to the democratization process."

Firstly the regime is not committed to democratization, at least not western style liberal-democracy. Instead they see their democratization process as leading to the kind of 'democracy' that existed in Indonesia before Suharto fell from power. In other words a ruling party dominated by the military that holds frequent elections that serve to provide a veneer of respectability to the international community and a means of diffusing the political opposition. In such electoral authoritarian regimes the dilemma for opposition parties is whether to participate and have some voice and role, but in doing so legitimise the regime, or to stay outside exerting very limited influence on the political system.

Secondly, and in light of the above, there will not be any reveiw of the 2008 constitution, the Junta do not need to grant this, they hold all the cards and the opposition NLD now has to decide whether to participate in a flawed process or not. Nevertheless if the junta does want to begin a process of reconciliation with the West and its internal opponents the steps outlined in this article are one way in which this could be achieved.