Asia

A democratic Myanmar would still need armed forces

In a recent piece for the Review of Democracy, “It’s time to imagine a future for Burma without armed forces,” Thiha Wint Aung and Htet Min Lwin argue that the current military forces in Myanmar are flawed to the point that they must be abolished. I concur with their criticism of Myanmar’s security establishment. I cannot, however, see a future for the Myanmar political union that could stand without a capable national military.

11.02.2023

Interviews

A Path to Democracy Without Destabilization: Joseph Wong Explains the Types of Development and the Patterns of Uneven Democratization in Modern Asia

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Joseph Wong – co-author with Dan Slater of the new monograph "From Development to Democracy. The Transformations of Modern Asia" – discusses when and why regimes have chosen to democratize in modern Asia; how come types rather than levels of development have shaped countries' democratic prospects; why Singapore and China remain significantly less democratic than one might expect; and how studying the patterns of modern Asia can help us rethink democracy promotion today.

4.10.2022