ABSTRACT
This chapter presents two dimensions of Aung San Suu Kyi. The first is the Burmese background: the Buddhist political thought, the Ashokan model, the religious background (personification of power, unity as the ultimate value), the Burmese political thought (two paradigms of Myanmar's political thought) and Aung San as the ultimate political model. This part concludes with a description of the pattern of Southeast Asian ‘external’ modernization. The second part describes the international influences that shaped Suu Kyi: Christian elements, her Indian postcolonial upbringing, Gandhian non-violence, British elitist socialization, her marriage to an academic, and American, Bhutanese and Japanese experiences. The final part of the chapter presents Suu Kyi just before she entered politics.
