The Burmese army took political power in Burma in 1962 and has
ruled the country ever since. The persistence of this
government-even in the face of long-term nonviolent opposition led
by activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1991-has puzzled scholars. In a book relevant to current debates
about democratization, Mary P. Callahan seeks to explain the
extraordinary durability of the Burmese military regime. In her
view, the origins of army rule are to be found in the relationship
between war and state formation.Burma's colonial past had seen a
large imbalance between the military and civil sectors. That
imbalance was accentuated soon after formal independence by one of
the earliest and most persistent covert Cold War conflicts,
involving CIA-funded Kuomintang incursions across the Burmese
border into the People's Republic of China. Because this raised
concerns in Rangoon about the possibility of a showdown with
Communist China, the Burmese Army received even more autonomy and
funding to protect the integrity of the new nation-state.The
military transformed itself during the late 1940s and the 1950s
from a group of anticolonial guerrilla bands into the professional
force that seized power in 1962. The army edged out all other state
and social institutions in the competition for national power.
Making Enemies draws upon Callahan's interviews with former
military officers and her archival work in Burmese libraries and
halls of power. Callahan's unparalleled access allows her to
correct existing explanations of Burmese authoritarianism and to
supply new information about the coups of 1958 and 1962.
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