Rule of Law Inside Out in Myanmar

Abstract

Opposing the Rule of Law is an exemplary ethnographic and historical study of rule of law in Myanmar from the “inside out”. Employing historical documents, court records, extensive observation and interviews, this research examines jurisprudence at the core of the Myanmar junta’s governance. Authoritarian governance has rules and a logic of its own, presenting itself at times as a rule of law but one thoroughly conflated with law and order, demonstrating, Cheesman reminds us that contemporary studies of legal development have too often focused on elements of the West’s ideal rule of law that are missing, rather than on understanding the systems that actually animate governance. Several important lines of inquiry for future research in Myanmar and elsewhere are suggested by this study, and a profound tension is apparent between Western rule of law ideals and actual practices of governance in Myanmar, with global implications—for governance in the West as well as in emerging societies of the developing world.