Looking Inside the Burmese Military
This is a revision of the article that appeared in Asian Survey (November/December 2008). The author would like to thank Christina Fink, two anonymous reviewers from Asian Survey, and participants at the workshop on “Political Development in Burma/Myanmar”, organized by the Asian Political and International Studies Association and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in 2007, for their comments and assistance.
This article examines the internal dynamics of the Burmese military, focusing on struggles at the top level. It will explore the nature of and reasons for the struggles and assess the implications, especially for the current political impasse and possible changes in the future.