Junta dreams or nightmares? Observations of Burma's military since 1988

Abstract

More than a decade after taking power in a bloody crackdown on a nationwide pro-democracy movement, the Burmese military junta appears unencumbered by intemational and domestic reprobation of its authoritarian practices. The junta has barely flinched in the face of the suspension of economic aid, the imposition of an arms embargo, the ban on U.S. visas for senior junta leaders and the 1997 ban on new investment in Burma by U.S. citizens. Throughout the last decade of junta rule, rumors of military factions, elite in-fighting (“hard-liners vs. soft-liners”), army mutinies, desertions of foot soldiers, a Chinese takeover, and the outright demise of the regime have been notable for their frequency, optimism, and inaccuracy. All around them, Burma's military rulers watch authoritarian regimes crumble. And nothing seems to change in Burma. © 1999, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.