BOOK
ANNOUNCEMENT
The
Disorder in Order: the Army-State in Burma
since 1962 by Donald M. Seekins (Bangkok:
White Lotus, 2002). 403 pp. US$25.00.*
The
Disorder in Order examines Burma’s
history of “regime entropy” following the March 1962 coup d’etat
that ended the country’s brief experiment with parliamentary government.
Implementing socialist economic policies in central Burma
and a hard line against ethnic minority and communist insurgents in the Border
Areas, Ne Win’s Army-State presided over the country’s fall from prosperity to
Least Developed Nation status by 1987. The following year, a new martial law
regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), brutally
suppressed a nationwide movement for democracy that drew on the country’s colonial-era
traditions of revolutionary nationalism. Although SLORC promoted an open
economy, including foreign private investment, the second Army-State operates
on the same assumptions as its predecessor: that government is synonymous with
pacification, unquestioned central control and cultural homogenization.
The author
argues that while the post-1988 junta, renamed the State Peace and Development
Council in 1997, claims a unique mission in defending national unity and social
order, its policies generate political disunity and socio-economic disorder.
Tragically, genuine order, the key to Burma’s
development, remains out of reach as the 21st century dawns.
Contents:
Introduction:
the Buddha from Arakan
Chapter
One: the Historical Roots of Military Rule
Chapter
Two: Regime Entropy – the First Army-State, 1962-74
Chapter
Three: Regime Entropy – the Socialist
Republic of the
Union of Burma,
1974-88
Chapter
Four: the State and Nation at War, 1988
Chapter
Five: SLORC in Power - the 1990 Election
Chapter
Six: SLORC in Power - Building a New Army-State
Chapter
Seven: the Disorder in Order
*
Order from: White Lotus Press, <http://thailine.com/lotus>
e-mail:
<[email protected]>
Dr. Seekins is Professor of Southeast Asia Studies at Meio University
in Okinawa, Japan.
Having followed developments in Burma
closely since 1988, he has visited the country numerous times and has written
extensively on Burma
and Burma-Japan relations.