Seminar Series: Abstract

Is the rule of law relevant to Burma?
Nicholas Cheesman Ph.D. Candidate - Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

Rule-of-law rhetoric reached Burma more than a century ago, when the British regime imported wholesale a body of codes and courts from India. Consecutive governments have, as in many other former colonies, largely retained this apparatus and its language. The current one too claims to adhere to some sort of rule of law, usually conflated with law and order, although its management of the state is for the most part antithetical to both. In this seminar I will briefly trace the rule-of-law discourse and its mechanics from Burma to Myanmar and consider how it might be of relevance to the country today. A nuanced and situated rule-of-law approach recommends itself even where the rule of law is absent, because it can reveal features of state and society that are not usually uncovered through typical studies of human rights and politics. These in turn can contribute to better comparative research and improved debate on the rule of law and human rights globally.