ABSTRACT
After independence the army and the Buddhist order became the two decisive institutions and opposite poles in developments. In the beginning the army and the Sangha were partners in the bulwark against communism, foreign influence and ethnic divisiveness. They thus became synonymous with nation, state and national identity for the Burmans; however, this interlinking did not create unity, rather the opposite. The two different models and strategies that were dominant after independence can now be compared in an attempt to show how the above contradictions were played out.
