The Constitutional Future of Myanmar in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Since July 1988, when, in the midst of unprecedented political unrest, U Ne Win opened the subject of the constitutional future of Burma at an extraordinary congress of the now defunct Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), every prominent public figure, with the immediate exception of the majority of the congress members, has indicated a desire to see Myanmar/Burma1 develop in the direction of a multi-party democracy. But what multi-party democracy means, how it is to be achieved, and which individuals, interests and groups are to have significant power and influence after any transition from the current military rule takes place, remain issues of serious political conflict, not to say bitterness and frustration, on all sides.