Burma in the post-colonial world economy in the 1950S.
Issued Date
2007
Resource Type
Language
eng
Rights
Mahidol University
Suggested Citation
Heikkila-Horn, Marja-Leena. (2007). Burma in the post-colonial world economy in the 1950S.. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/35004
Title
Burma in the post-colonial world economy in the 1950S.
Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
This research project aims to look into the political and economic questions that
newly independent Burma faced in the 1950s. The impact of the various
insurrections and the later KMT intrusion had a devastating impact on Burma’s
foreign relations and trade. The decline and gradual deterioration of Burma’s
rice industry started in these years.
This paper is a part of the larger project and starts with a review of the British
colonial legacy in Burma. The colonial period had arbitrarily divided Burma
into different political and economic zones, which needed to be united in order
to create an economically and politically viable state. The economy remained to
be dominated by the foreigners – particularly the British. The new leaders of
independent Burma were deeply factionalised in competing elite groups and
totally incapable in presenting a coherent strategy to tackle the multifaceted
problems many of the newly independent countries in Southeast Asia faced in
the Cold War period.
The later parts of the project will deal with the KMT intrusion, rice politics,
foreign trade, foreign policy and ideological discourses in the late 1940s and
1950s in Burma.
Description
The 2nd International APRU Conference Independence and After in Southeast Asia : Old and New Interpretations, Malaysia. August 7-8, 2007