Description
Why has Myanmar (Burma), a country rich in resources - rice, timber, minerals - descended to 'least developed country' status? Is the explanation to be found inside Burma or beyond? Is the failure of development due to political authoritarianism and conflict? Or perhaps the drugs trade is partly to blame? This book contends that all these factors have contributed. But it also maintains that the mismanagement of the country's resources is of equal, or even greater, importance. A clear answer to the question of Burma's developmental failure is sought by focussing upon the misuse of resources in concert with those factors that are more usually emphasized.
Table of Contents
Contents: Preface; Looking at Ne Win's Burma: why and how; Looking at Ne Win's Burma: sources and evidence; Ne Win's Burma and its contexts: socialist and military; Ne Win's Burma and its contexts: isolationism, authoritarianism, Buddhism and the popular response; Rice: the failing driving force; Rice: sustained failure and unsustainable success; Teak and timber: primacy by default; Minerals: new profits and old; Distributional crisis: socialism, shopkeepers, and service providers; Distributional crisis: the alternatives; Insurgencies and drugs; What happened next; What now? Afterwords and afterwards; Bibliography; Index.
