Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma
Union of Burma (1962–1974) ပြည်ထောင်စု မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် Pyidaunzu Myăma Nainngandaw Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1974–1988) ပြည်ထောင်စု ဆိုရှယ်လစ်သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် Pyidaunzu Soshallhaitsammat Myăma Nainngandaw | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962–1988 | |||||||||
| Anthem: ကမ္ဘာမကျေ Kaba Ma Kyei " | |||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1962–1981 (first) | Ne Win[a] | ||||||||
• 1988 (last) | Maung Maung | ||||||||
| Prime minister | |||||||||
• 1962–1974 (first) | Ne Win | ||||||||
• 1988 (last) | Tun Tin | ||||||||
| Legislature | 1988 coup d'etat | 18 September 1988 | |||||||
Calling code | 95 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | MM | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Myanmar | ||||||||
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| History of Myanmar |
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 Myanmar portal |
Ne Win's governance of Burma was characterised by totalitarianism, isolationism, superstition, xenophobia, and a rejection of Cold War politics. Ne Win ruled Burma as a dictator, serving as both Chairman of the Revolutionary Council (later President of Burma) and Prime Minister of Burma, the country's head of state and the head of government, respectively. The nationalisation of major industries and rejection of foreign investment led to catastrophic declines in economic growth and living standards.
In 1988, mass protests known as the
Background
Burma under Prime Minister
On 28 October 1958, Ne Win staged an internal
History
1962 Burmese coup d'état
The elected
The coup succeeded with little bloodshed and its instigators established the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma to replace the Union Parliament as Burma's supreme governing body. In April 1962, the Revolutionary Council declared Burma a socialist state and announced the "Burmese Way to Socialism" as a blueprint for economic development, decreasing foreign influence in Burma to zero per cent, and increasing the role of the military in politics.[6][page needed] The Revolutionary Council also founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) on 4 July 1962 to nominally separate the powers of the military from the government.[7] However, the BSPP's leadership was dominated by military officials for all of its history, although the party did make attempts to transition into a mass party, such as the replacement of the Revolutionary Council with the People's Assembly in 1974.[8]
Failure of the Burmese Way to Socialism
The implementation of the Burmese Way to Socialism negatively affected the economy, educational standards, and living standards of the Burmese people. Foreign aid organisations, like the American-based
Furthermore,
The impact on the
The oil industry, which was previously controlled by American and British companies, such as the General Exploration Company and East Asiatic Burma Oil, were forced to end operations. In its place was the government-owned
The Enterprise Nationalization Law directly affected foreigners in Burma, particularly
The black market became a major feature of Burmese society, representing about 80% of the national economy during the Burmese Way period.[3][page needed] Moreover, income disparity became a major socioeconomic issue.[3][page needed] Throughout the 1960s, Burma's foreign exchange reserves declined from $214 million in 1964 to $50 million in 1971, while inflation skyrocketed.[11] Rice exports also declined, from 1,840,000 tons in 1961-62 to 350,000 tons in 1967-68, the result of the inability of rice production to satisfy demand caused by high population growth rates.
In the 1st Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) Congress in 1971, several minor economic reforms were made, in light of the failures of the economic policy pursued throughout the 1960s. The Burmese government asked to rejoin the World Bank, joined the Asian Development Bank, and sought more foreign aid and assistance.[9] The "Twenty-year plan", an economic plan divided into five increments of implementation, was introduced, in order to develop the country's natural resources, including agriculture, forestry, oil and natural gas, through state development.[9] These reforms brought living standards back to pre-World War II levels and stimulated economic growth.[9] However, by 1988, foreign debt had ballooned to $4.9 billion, about three-fourths of the national GDP, and Ne Win's later attempt to make the kyat based in denominations divisible by 9, a number he considered to be auspicious, led to the wiping of millions of savings of the Burmese people, resulting in the 8888 Uprising.[9][12]
The Burmese Way to Socialism has largely been described by scholars as an "abject failure" which turned one of the most prosperous countries in
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ "Human Development Report 2014" (PDF). hdr.undp.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ Po, Myo Min (6 December 2019). "The Day Myanmar Started Driving on the Right". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Aung-Thwin & Thant 1992.
- ^ a b c d e f Smith 1991.
- ISBN 0-521-35505-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Holmes 1967.
- ^ Yoshihiro 2003, p. 330.
- ^ Yoshihiro 2003, p. 342.
- ^ a b c d e Steinberg, David I. (1997). "Myanmar: The Anomalies of Politics and Economics" (PDF). The Asia Foundation Working Paper Series (5). Asia Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2011.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- JSTOR 2643067.
- ^ "Obituary: Ne Win". BBC. 5 December 2002. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- JSTOR 40209305.
- ISBN 9789812302113. Retrieved 16 January 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Collignon, Stefan (13 August 2011). "The Burmese Economy and the Withdrawal of European Trade Preferences" (PDF). Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ISBN 9789188836168. Retrieved 16 January 2018 – via Google Books.)
{{cite book}}:|first2=has generic name (help - ^ "World Development Indicators, GDP per capita for Myanmar, East Asia & Pacific region". World Bank. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019 – via Google.
Sources
Books
- Smith, Martin (1991). Burma: Insurgency and the politics of ethnicity (1st ed.). London and New Jersey: Zed Books. ISBN 0862328683.
Journal articles
- Aung-Thwin, Maureen; Thant, Myint-U (1992). "The Burmese Ways to Socialism". Third World Quarterly. 13 (1). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 67–75. JSTOR 3992410.
- Holmes, Robert A. (1967). "Burmese Domestic Policy: The Politics of Burmanization". Asian Survey. 7 (3). University of California Press: 188–197. JSTOR 2642237.
- Yoshihiro, Nakanishi (2003). "Party-State Manqué: Ne Win and the Burma Socialist Programme Party". Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (in Japanese). 41 (3): 330–360. from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
Other
- Burma—Growing Ever Darker Foreign Policy in Focus, 11 September 2007.
- "The Burmese Way to Socialism". Union Revolutionary Council. Information Department for the Revolutionary Council. 28 April 1962. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
