{"id":983,"date":"2016-03-28T07:21:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T07:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/?p=983"},"modified":"2019-11-13T05:24:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T05:24:30","slug":"democratization-of-myanmar-new-book-examines-myanmars-historic-transition-from-military-rule-to-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/2016\/03\/28\/democratization-of-myanmar-new-book-examines-myanmars-historic-transition-from-military-rule-to-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Democratization of Myanmar\u2019: New Book Examines Myanmar\u2019s Historic Transition from Military Rule to Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Congress leader &amp; Chairman\n     Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs Dr Shashi Tharoor\n     says principles of democracy need to be extended to the most vulnerable\n     people and minorities in Myanmar<\/li><li>Vice Chancellor Kumar Announces 50 %\n     scholarships for Burmese, Kuki and Naga communities.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New Delhi,&nbsp;March 28, 2016:<\/strong>&nbsp;Congress\nleader&nbsp;Shashi Tharoor today unveiled \u2018Democratisation of Myanmar\u2019,&nbsp;a\nnew book authored by a Southeast Asian Studies scholar Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen\nthat pieces together the historical and political factors that have led to a\nsuccessful democratic transition in Myanmar&nbsp;after&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;five\ndecades of&nbsp;military rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen\nis&nbsp;Assistant Professor and&nbsp;Executive&nbsp;Director of Centre for\nSoutheast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O. P. Jindal\nGlobal University.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Shashi\nTharoor<\/strong>\nwho graced the occasion as Chief Guest said the book has touched important ground\nand will help readers understand how Myanmar may evolve post the ending of the\nmilitary rule. Himself an acclaimed author with a rich ensemble of books to his\ncredit, he congratulated <strong>Dr<\/strong> <strong>Kipgen\n<\/strong>for writing on a subject on which not much academic material is available\nas of now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the democratic process now\nneeds to be legitimized and regularized in Myanmar. Referring to the plight of\nthe Rohingya Muslims, Dr Tharoor said over 810,000 people were still stateless in Myanmar and the principles of democracy\nwill ring hollow if they are not extended to the most vulnerable and minority\nsections of the country. He also said that the people of Myanmar had voted\noverwhelmingly for Aung San Suu Kyi but the inability of the NLD leader to hold\nthe highest office is unfortunate and does not offer true representation of\npeople\u2019s will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>H.E. Mr.\nRizali Wilmar Indrakesuma, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia<\/strong> to India said that Myanmar\nis in early stages of change, and it is yet to be seen what can be expected from\nthe democratic transition. He cautioned that a number of aspects need to be\naddressed before Myanmar can be hailed as a complete democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Professor (Dr.)\nC Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor 91̽»¨ <\/strong>congratulated Professor\nKipgen for the book and said that the book is a reflection of the ideas of\nknowledge creation and research on which the university has been established. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Announcing 50 % scholarships for\nBurmese, Kuki &amp; Naga communities at the university Professor Kumar said that\nthe university would like to invest in the future of these communities. He\nnoted that and there is nothing more democratizing than institutions\ncontributing to knowledge sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published by&nbsp;<em>Routledge&nbsp;(Taylor\n&amp; Francis)<\/em>, the book comes at a time when the process of government\nformation is on, with observers keen to follow the institutionalization of\ndemocracy in the country where military still\nholds&nbsp;significant&nbsp;influence and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is a very interesting time\nin&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;where the country\u2019s first elected government is taking\nshape. There have been a lot of questions among observers and analysts\nregarding the transition in the country: Was the election free and fair? Will\nthe transition last? Is the military serious towards bringing about a democratic\nchange? While&nbsp;some&nbsp;questions were answered with the landslide victory\nof Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi&#8217;s party,&nbsp;other questions will be\nanswered only with time. In my book, I have tried to look at the process and\nexamine how&nbsp;multiple sections of society including civil society,\nreformers, activists,&nbsp;the democratic opposition groups, particularly the\nNLD,&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;military succeeded in striking a chord and working\ntogether in unison to bring about this historic change. Given his rich\nexperience as an international bureaucrat, I am highly grateful to Dr. Shashi\nTharoor for enriching us with his presence and views on the subject,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>said<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Dr.\nNehginpao Kipgen.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The topical book studies the process\nof democratic transition in&nbsp;Myanmar. It outlines the factors that\ncontributed to the political transition in the country and the circumstances in\nwhich the transition from military rule of nearly five decades to democracy\ntook place. The author shows how political groups &#8211; especially Aung San Suu\nKyi&#8217;s National League for Democracy&nbsp;(NLD)&nbsp;&#8211; and the military that had\nbeen hostile to the idea and practice of democracy came to work together,\npaving the way for the political change after protracted struggle. In doing so,\nthe volume&nbsp;examines the role of&nbsp;civil society, elites, external\nagencies, and institutions in the process of democratic change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Kipgen&nbsp;is a Political\nScientist whose concentration is in Comparative Politics and International\nRelations. His general research interests include democratization, democratic\ntransition, global\/world politics, human rights, ethnic conflict, identity\npolitics, and foreign policy. His academic research focuses on South Asia\nand&nbsp;Southeast&nbsp;Asia, with specialization on Burma\/Myanmar. Since\n2013,&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Kipgen has served as a \u201ccountry expert\u201d\non&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), a collaborative\nacademic research project of the Department of Political Science, University of\nGothenburg (Sweden), and the Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame (USA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nbook launch was followed by a panel discussion participated by H.E. Mr. Rizali\nWilmar Indrakesuma, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to\nIndia;&nbsp;Preet Malik, India&#8217;s Former Ambassador to Myanmar; Dr. Sonu\nTrivedi, Assistant Professor, Delhi University; Dr. Khriezo Yhome, Research\nFellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. The session was moderated by\nProfessor (Dr.) Sreeram Chaulia, Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress leader &amp; Chairman Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs Dr Shashi Tharoor says principles of democracy need to be extended to the most vulnerable people and minorities in Myanmar Vice Chancellor Kumar Announces 50 % scholarships for Burmese, Kuki and Naga communities. New Delhi,&nbsp;March 28, 2016:&nbsp;Congress leader&nbsp;Shashi Tharoor today <a href=\"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/2016\/03\/28\/democratization-of-myanmar-new-book-examines-myanmars-historic-transition-from-military-rule-to-democracy\/\" class=\"btn btn-link continue-link\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":985,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}