Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma: Understanding The Foreign Relations Of The Burmese Praetorian State

Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma: Understanding The Foreign Relations Of The Burmese Praetorian State
ISBN-10
9971696738
ISBN-13
9789971696733
Category
Political Science
Pages
562
Language
English
Published
2013-06-10
Publisher
NUS Press
Authors
Renaud Egreteau, Larry Jagan

Description

Soldiers and Diplomacy addresses the key question of the ongoing role of the military in BurmaÍs foreign policy. The authors, a political scientist and a former top Asia editor for the BBC, provide a fresh perspective on BurmaÍs foreign and security policies, which have shifted between pro-active diplomacies of neutralism and non-alignment, and autarkical policies of isolation and xenophobic nationalism. They argue that important elements of continuity underlie BurmaÍs striking postcolonial policy changes and contrasting diplomatic practices. Among the defining factors here are the formidable dominance of the Burmese armed forces over state structure, the enduring domestic political conundrum and the peculiar geography of a country located at the crossroads of India, China and Southeast Asia. Egreteau and Jagan argue that the Burmese military still has the tools needed to retain their praetorian influence over the countryÍs foreign policy in the post-junta context of the 2010s. For international policymakers, potential foreign investors and BurmaÍs immediate neighbors, this will have strong implications in terms of the countryÍs foreign policy approach.

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