ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that sustainable development in Myanmar is a code for freedom from fear of the state apparatus of repression through application of policies of empowerment and participatory practices as advocated by the global institutions of good governance, the World Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Asian Development Bank etc. It argues that public policies supporting opportunity, empowerment and participatory practices are the capstone of both human and state/regime security, leading to a redefinition of the concept of security as holistic security. The book includes detailed assessments of human rights issues; the drug trade, relations with the minority peoples and programmes for their inclusion in a multi-ethnic state; political reforms and economic and social issues. It provides an analysis of Burma/Myanmar’s external as well as internal relations in the context of both the new regional and international security discourses.
