Federal Design in Myanmar
Description
This book explores federalism as a pathway for unity, stability, and inclusivity in Myanmar, a nation marked by ethnic diversity and historical struggles for autonomy. Bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and civil society actors, it offers practical contributions to Myanmar's evolving federal constitutional design and draws lessons applicable to other conflict-affected and divided societies. Through comparative analysis and ground case studies, the book explores competing visions of federalism, emerging bottom-up governance models, and the political contestations shaping Myanmar's future. It provides fresh insights into legitimacy, representation, institutional design, ethnic autonomy, and the prospects for sustainable peace in a fractured state.
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Persons
Michael G Breen is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Soe Htet is a researcher in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Content
1.- Introduction: Federalism and Myanmar.- 2.- Genealogy of Federal Discourse in Myanmar.- 3.- Representation and legitimacy in Myanmar's quest for a federal democratic constitution.- 4.- Bottom-up Federalism - the "post-Myanmar turn"?- 5.- Building federalism "from below" through health work in Myanmar's political and humanitarian crisis.- 6.- Living Laboratories of Federal Practice: Language, Governance and Education in Myanmar.- 7.- Hybridity in federalism: Ethnoterritorial federalism and mixed electoral systems.- 8.- A Federal Electoral Management Body for Burma.- 9.- Formation of a Bamar unit in future federal democracy in Myanmar.- 10.- Multicultural federalism in Myanmar: Complementing federalism with non-territorial autonomy for an inclusive society.- 11.- Reimagined: Designing Equal Parliamentary Representation in Post-Coup Myanmar.- 12.- Coming Home: Federalism's Odyssey.