This study examines the complex relationship between nationalism, violence and Buddhism in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Burma, bringing us to present-day Burma and the struggle by Aung San Suu Kyi for a new Burmese identity.

This book explains how Burma's booming drug production, insurgency, and counter-insurgency interrelate—and why the country has been unable to shake off thirty years of military rule and build a modern, democratic society.

Using previously unexplored archives from colonial institutions and individuals, and primary materials produced by the Burmese Chinese, this comprehensive study investigates over a century of history of the Burmese Chinese under British colonial rule. Due to the peculiar position of Burma in the British imperial world and the Southeast Asian Chinese network, the Chinese community had a unique experience in a Southeast Asian colony governed by Europeans with an India-based system. This book reveals, through everyday life experience, prominent community figures, and milestone events, the internal rivalry and integration among different regional groups within the community, and the general impressions it left in contemporary observations and communal memories. The book also traces historical roots of some unsolved ethnic issues in present-day Myanmar.

Ever since Myanmar regained her independence in January 1948, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) has been crucial in restoring and maintaining law and order. It is one of the most important institutions in Myanmar politics. Various aspects of the Tatmadaw have been studied. The most notable area of study has been the political role of the military. This study looks at the organizational development of the Myanmar armed forces. It analyses four different aspects of the Tatmadaw: military doctrine and strategy, organization and force structure, armament and force modernization, and military training and officer education. It sets out security perceptions and policies, charting developments in each phase against the situation at the time, and also notes the contributions of the leading actors in the process. Since early 1990s, the Tatmadaw has implemented a force modernization programme. This work studies rationales and strategy behind the force modernization programme and examines the military capabilities of the Tatmadaw. Drawing extensively from archival sources and existing literature, this empirically grounded research argues that, while the internal armed security threat to the state continues to play an important role, it is the external security threat that gives more weight to the expansion and modernization of the Tatmadaw since 1988. It also argues that, despite its imperfections, the Tatmadaw has transformed from a force essentially for counter-insurgency operations into a force capable of fighting in limited conventional warfare.

Most international attention on Myanmar has focused on the political situation, where the military, in power since 1962, continues to refuse to acknowledge the results of democratic elections, and on related human rights issues. This book, by focusing on education, health and environment, and on the institutions which formulate and deliver policy in these fields, shows how the international community can make a significant difference to strengthening Myanmar's civil society and to supporting a future democratic form of government, by encouraging institutional developments in these fields. Such developments in turn, the author argues, will re-skill the younger generation, promote economic development and poverty alleviation, and, through a participatory approach to policy-making, nurture the conditions from which democracy will grow.

Explores the life of Dr. Maung Maung (1925-94), scholar, soldier, nationalist, internationalist, parliamentarian, public servant, and pioneer amongst post-colonial journalists in Southeast Asia. His life spanned seven decades of political, economic and social turbulence in the country he loved and served, Myanmar.

Burma is currently ruled by a harsh dictatorship unmoved by Western activists and sanctions. It is also the sight of the longest-running conflict in the world. Drawing both on his own family's stories and his years of hands-on political experience working with the United Nations, Thant Myint-U has written an illuminating account of how Burma's rich past informs its violent present, and of how the world might transform the country's future. In The River of Lost Footsteps, Thant Myint-U tells the story of modern Burma, in part through a telling of his own family's history, in an interwoven narrative that is by turns lyrical, dramatic, and appalling. His maternal grandfather, U Thant, rose from being the schoolmaster of a small town in the Irrawaddy Delta to become the UN secretary-general in the 1960s. And on his father's side, the author is descended from a long line of courtiers who served at Burma's Court of Ava for nearly two centuries. Through their stories and others, he portrays Burma's rise and decline in the modern world, from the time of Portuguese pirates and renegade Mughal princes through the decades of British colonialism, the devastation of World War II, a sixty-year civil war that continues today, military repression and the immergence of Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.The River of Lost Footsteps is a work both personal and global, a distinctive contribution that makes Burma accessible and enthralling. Thant Myint-U is the author of Where China Meets India and has written articles for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the New Statesman.

A selection of the best in travel writing, with both fiction and non-fiction presented together, this companion is for all those who like travelling, like to think about travelling, and who take an interest in their destination. It covers guidebooks as well as books about food, history, art and architecture, religion, outdoor activities, illustrated books, autobiographies, biographies and fiction and lists books both in and out of print. Anderson's Travel Companion is arranged first by continent, then alphabetically by country and then by subject, cross-referenced where necessary. There is a separate section for guidebooks and comprehensive indexes. Sarah Anderson founded the Travel Bookshop in 1979 and is also a journalist and writer on travel subjects. She is known by well-known travel writers such as Michael Palin and Colin Thubron. Michael Palin chose her bookshop as his favourite shop and Colin Thubron and Geoffrey Moorhouse, among others, made suggestions for titles to include in the Travel Companion.