Labour Formalisation as Selective Hegemony in Reform-era Myanmar

With the general elections of November 2010, state rule in Myanmar entered a process widely seen as a transition—if stalled—to democracy and rule of law. Such transition narratives have posited normative rule of law and arbitrary rule outside law as opposing logics, and opposing practices. A similar dichotomy is found in studies of labour informalisation in the global South, where informal labour is understood as antithetical to legally protected employment. Arguing otherwise, this article employs interview and ethnographic data to pursue an anthropology of state formation as a means of reading formality and informality as complementary, rather than conflicting, logics of state practice. Drawing on Gavin Smith's notion of selective hegemony, I hold that state actors in Myanmar have pursued varied projects of rule over a heterogeneous landscape of labour relations. In this respect, rule of law is always selective, and informality exhibits not so much an absence of state rule as an indirect modality of rule.     

油气资源:缅甸多边外交的新手段

缅甸独立后的外交政策先后经历了冷战时期的中立主义外交,1989～1992年的对华友好外交,1993年后的多边外交。进入21世纪后,缅甸把油气资源作为其多边外交的新手段,对中国、印度、泰国等邻国,以及区域外的俄罗斯等国推行以油气资源为重要内容的多边外交,并利用各国相互制衡,以保持其内政外交的独立自主。缅甸的油气资源外交较大程度地维护了国家利益,增强了缅甸在国际政治舞台的博弈能力,并对相关国家的对缅政策产生了复杂的影响。2011年上台的民选政府势必会继续利用这一外交新手段在对外关系中追求平衡,完善多边外交。     

平衡于两国之间的自我角色：赫德与中英缅甸事务

1885年10月英国侵占缅甸,中英就缅甸事务展开交涉。在此过程中,赫德先后通过意图获取谈判权、提供解决建议以及对方法进行完善等步骤对交涉进行私人承包,赫德的举措一方面为了维护其在华海关的优势地位,另一方面也是为了维护其在英国政府眼中的能人形象。     

NARRATIVES AND THE CONSTITUTION OF A COMMON IDENTITY: THE KAREN IN BURMA

This research was conducted in an informal school located in Thailand at the border with Myanmar (Burma) and supervised by the Karen National Union (KNU). The KNU has claimed and fought for political autonomy and independence from the Burmese government for more than a half century. The authors examine how, in their narratives about what it means to be Karen, future Karen leaders try to deal with challenges to a sense of Karen unity and “groupness,” and to the legitimacy of the Karen struggle. One important challenge is the substantial cultural, religious, linguistic, and geographical internal diversity. Establishing a coherent Karen identity among the different subgroups is a continuing struggle for Karen leaders. Another is the negative labeling of the KNU as stubborn people and violent terrorists. These labels endanger the political project, the international reputation, and the local attractiveness of the KNU.     

殖民时期缅甸教育发展研究

在1826年以前,缅甸的教育为传统的寺院教育。1826年以后,随着英国的殖民统治在缅甸的逐步确立,近代教育体系逐步在缅甸建立。在近代教育体系建立和发展的同时,寺院教育也还在发挥一定作用。1920年以后建立的国民学校也是殖民时期缅甸教育的一个组成部分。殖民政府推行的教育体系虽然饱受缅甸各界批评。但是相对于寺院教育和国民教育而言,它还是比较科学和系统的,它对近代缅甸社会和文化发展还是有一定贡献的。由于殖民政府对缅甸的教育重视程度不够、投入过低,导致整个殖民时期缅甸的教育畸形落后,这对缅甸的发展造成了很大负面影响,这种影响至今犹存。     

缅甸石油天然气产业发展与外资对缅甸油气资源的开发

随着世界能源消耗量的日益增加,缅甸丰富的油气资源吸引了各国的关注,加上其特殊的地理位置,亚太地区主要国家都在围绕缅甸能源展开激烈的博弈。当前,缅甸新政府实施了一系列引资新政策,鼓励外国企业在缅甸投资发展,缅甸能源开发有加速的趋势。