1,723,261 research outputs found
Explaining Myanmar in Flux and Transition
No full textThis introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins by considering the fundamentals of Myanmar life that provide the context for the analysis of contemporary Myanmar: the state, the defence services, democracy, and ethnicity and identity. It looks at the variety of autonomous areas, special regions, special economic zones and other exceptions to the ordinary patterns of spatial governance. The book discusses changes to Myanmar's education system. It explains a complex regional dimension to Myanmar's international entanglements, including its status within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The book presents a feminist perspective on the reform required of Myanmar society if its people are ever going to achieve their collective goals. It suggests that while the recent trajectory of economic, political, social and cultural development is promising, the blunt fact is that Myanmar continues to face some potentially grim scenarios.No Full Tex
Natural resource governance and the environment: unconstrained exploitation under authoritarianism
No full textAs with so many aspects of Myanmar, the 2021 military coup sounded the death knell for any serious attempts at transparency and governance in the management of the country’s natural resources and environment. The decade of reforms between 2011 and 2021 introduced, for the first time, an element of democratic accountability in natural resources policy, including embryonic attempts to protect Myanmar’s natural heritage. But the coup returned Myanmar to its authoritarian past, resuming its spot as a poor laggard in environmental protection within Southeast Asia. Agriculture and natural resources are the most significant sectors of Myanmar’s economy. Natural resources dominate exports and provide the vast majority of its foreign exchange, whether official or unofficial. However, its diverse cultures, religions and ethnicities; a lack of governance capacity; and competing political economy imperatives have provided significant challenges to effective and, more importantly, equitable natural resource governance throughout the country. These challenges are exacerbated by endemic corruption, particularly in the natural resources sector.
Although complemented by a surge in destructive development activities, the reformist government led by President Thein Sein introduced a range of new governance tools for natural resources, such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which provided more access and engagement for civil society. Other reforms continued under the Aung San Suu Kyi government, but the coup undid much of this regulatory oversight, resulting in a return to the inept natural resource governance of the earlier military era. This chapter traces these significant natural resource governance shifts, including the role of civil society actors
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Analysing a disaster, wrapped in a catastrophe, inside a tragedy
No full textThe history of independent Myanmar is replete with authoritarian and illiberal political regimes that have repressed the prospects of representative governance and limited the opportunities for economic development. A period of political and economic reform between 2011 and 2021 – which can now be considered an interregnum – ushered in hope and opportunity across much of Myanmar society for the first time in generations, although for some marginalised groups, such as the Muslim Rohingya, these opportunities never arrived. Any semblance of improved governance and economic opportunities for Myanmar’s general population evaporated, however, on the morning of 1 February 2021 following a military coup. This volume examines the consequences of this coup on Myanmar’s politics, economy and society, and this chapter provides an overview of some key elements of the volume, including the types of texts and sources employed, a brief historical analysis of Myanmar since colonial times and the chapter and volume structures
Déjà vu all over again: the 2021 coup in historical perspective
No full textThis chapter provides the historical context for the February 2021 coup, including the previous period of military rule and the period of reform between 2011 and 2021 under President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi. The last section examines the February 2021 coup, which ended the military’s democratic experiment, and its consequences. As the country adjusted to the imposition of a refashioned military dictatorship under Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the coup-makers faced relentless opposition from a wide range of political and social forces. With the rupture of the previous compromise between democratic and autocratic interests, Myanmar has no easy path back to an electoral framework that readily includes its most successful political parties. In this context, the ongoing struggle to accommodate a wide range of conflicted economic, religious, ethnic and strategic interests has led many anti-coup activists to call for a revolution in Myanmar’s governance. This chapter considers the longer-term consequences of a resurgent coup culture and the challenges facing those seeking to build a more resilient electoral system
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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