ABSTRACT
The quintessential orientation of foreign policy since independence has been neutralism. Originally driven by the Cold War and the Sino-Soviet rivalry in the context of the geo-strategic position of Burma, it was also a product of its fissiparous internal political spectrum. Socialism has since been discredited in Myanmar by inept management, if dirigiste tendencies have not. But if such balance in international relations has been perceived by much of the outside world to have been lost in the past half century, it is likely to once again resume its salience in Myanmar's foreign policy in the near future. Myanmar's traditional neutralism was compromised by the West, led by the US, which had as its unstated, but quite obvious, policy 'regime change' - rule by the National League for Democracy following the May 1990 elections swept by that opposition group.
