Nation-building In Lens Of State-building In Modern Myanmar

Since Myanmar got independent in 1948, the nation has been entangled by ethnic conflicts for over 60 years, which has been drawing global attentions continuously. Based on the previous studies on this issue, the article discusses the development of evolution of ethnic issues over the history of Myanmar.The thesis then examines the theory of nationalism and some basic concepts such as ethnicity,nation states.etc., in it. The following section is extended upon dual aspects of political national-building and cultural nation-building, along with arguments of approaches and policies adopted by the governments in different periods The thesis pay attentions to issues of Rohingya,extreme nationalism and so forth.The authors eventually contends that in order to seek better paths for nation-building,the government of Myanmar in future should discard its ill-legitimatized "Policy of Myanmarfication" and make the policy politically more inclusive, culturally more diverse and stay alert to the nascent threats from extreme nationalism.In details, the first chapter of the thesis discusses how capitalism and democratic movements prompted emergence and evolution of nationalism throughout retrospect to the history of its development in lens of political & cultural nationalism, all of which constitute institutional facet of nation-building in Myanmar. Meanwhile, the chapter explores the cultural and psychological facet of nation-building on basis of pre-modern concepts such as ties of blood, language and religion,etc.The second chapter examines how Myanmar government’s policies have been waving within the confine of inclusiveness versus restrictiveness in terms of minority ethnic groups’ rights, and unitarianism versus pluralism in terms of nation-building practices over different periods in the two central angles of political nationalism and cultural nationalism, which paved the unique path of nation-building. In the third chapter, the author emphasizes that with the consistent efforts made by Myanmar’s central government, it’s a general trend to reduce conflicts and build stronger recognition toward the state. However, basic citizen rights among different ethnic groups are still uneven, along with the government’s "Myanmarfication" policy which has long been reprimanded. All of these have been hindering minority groups to trust the state and the nation.