To start pageThe transformation process in Myanmar towards a participatory democracy can only be successful if the government, together with the opposition and a historically-strong civil society, succeed in permanently overcoming and improving the disastrous socio-economic conditions of the country. Myanmar has to ensure that it does not sell its wealth of resources, or the fortune of its outstanding strategic location (between India and China) below value, so avoiding the same neoliberal transformative mistakes made by the countries of southern and eastern Europe after 1990. It is important not to rush through the reform process but to wisely adjust its course within the specific Burmese context, following the inception of its decades-long delayed process of modernisation.
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Manuel Palz studied political science, history of the Middle Ages as well as contemporary history. Since December 2012, he has been working for the Rosa Luxemburg regional office for Southeast Asia in Hanoi, Vietnam.