In 1988, the military government in Myanmar abandoned the socialist ideology and isolationism that had shaped the state since independence, embarking on a transition to an open economy and engagement of the international community.
¶
Where socialism had failed, economic development and partnerships with former insurgent groups became the new strategy to advance the militarys security agenda. The primary goal of the security agenda is to promote state consolidation based on a unitary state structure, and according to military values and interests. However, the militarys goals are antagonistic to much of the countrys population, especially its ethnic minority groups. Consequently, the military lacks moral authority, and is preoccupied with maintaining its power and seeking legitimacy. The state is oriented to regime maintenance rather than policy implementation, leaving the regime without autonomy to pursue policy goals outside of its security agenda.
¶
The changing nature of the state, and state-society relations during the period of transition is revealed by trends in social development. Specifically, this thesis explores these issues through a case study of the health system. One impact of the economic transition and the militarys new nation-building strategy has been the abandonment of social equity as an ideological goal of the state. Even under socialism, state capacity to promote health was weak. In the transitional state, weak state capacity is now combined with a political incapacity of the regime to make public health a priority. In the quest for performance legitimacy, the military government is pursuing a narrow conception of development that values economic growth. Putting the states scarce resources into social development does not fit into this development strategy. Government expenditure on health has declined steadily since 1988, and health bureaucrats struggle to implement government policy. Standards in the public health system are very low, and most people seek health care in the private and informal health sectors.
¶
Therefore, the military regimes inability to achieve state consolidation, which leaves it preoccupied with its own legitimacy crisis, is a significant factor in the inability of the Myanmar state to promote social development. The process of economic transition from a socialist economy has exacerbated this through the withdrawal of the state from financing and delivery of social services, resulting in increasing inequity of access to these services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216852 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Rudland, Emily, emily.rudland@netspeed.com.au |
| Publisher | The Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/copyrit.html), Copyright Emily Rudland |
Page generated in 0.0015 seconds