The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century

by Thant Myint-U

The peace process that began in 2011 attempted to stop all fighting. So far, it hasn’t worked. If anything, this period of attempted talks has led to more violent conflict and the emergence of more armed factions than ever before. Part of the problem is that the situation is seen as a “war” requiring “peace,” as if a previously orderly society had fragmented into civil conflict and needed only to be repaired. But Burma was never whole. And it’s not a coincidence that nearly all the fighting since the 1950s has been in what the British termed the “Frontier Areas”: rugged hills and distant valleys that had always been a patchwork of authority and had never before come under the sway of a single state. The core strategy of the state since independence—of seeing Burma as a collection of peoples with the Burmese language and culture at the core—has failed, and will continue to fail. The government and army may well agree on a formula for constitutional devolution, one that might even be acceptable to many Ethnic Armed Organizations. But to think that was ever the main issue would be a tragic mistake. Race and identity have been at the heart of Burmese politics since the start of modern Burmese politics a hundred years ago. Colonialism and the immigration of millions of people from India brought on an identity crisis that has not yet been resolved. Any brighter future will depend on Burma crafting a new and more inclusive identity, one not tied to race and one not based on a not...