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Sanctions for Regime Change: Time for a Rethink
By M. McAteer The USA and the EU have both invoked sanctions against Burma. These relate to principally to investment, arms and the travel privileges of senior Burmese Government Officials. As a policy instrument evidence suggests that sanctions rarely work. This has proved to be the case in Burma. Do sanctions therefore have a role to play in the international community’s campaign for peace, democracy and justice in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The End of the "Buffer Zone": Thailand Security Policies towards Burma's Armed Opposition Groups
By Saw BJ Kawhtoo Thai national security policies towards Burma’s armed opposition groups have changed drastically since the end of the 1980s. Twenty years ago, the Thai government adopted the so-called “Buffer Zone” policy, which considered the military strength and capacity of the ethnic armed groups based along the Thai-Burma border to be used to safeguard its border with Burma. However, Thai policy makers operated a major shift in strategy in the early 1990s due to the geo-political evolution of external and internal threats.
National Reconciliation: The Right to Forgive without the Wish to Forget
By C. Guinard When working on political democratization of Burma, “National Reconciliation” are words always fluttering close to your ears and repeated over and over by every actor involved in the conflict: government officials, ethnic leaders, democrats and activists. This concept is clearly attractive to all as well as fundamental if one day the Burmese want to move forward in re-building a flourishing country. But how do you restart this dialogue and re-establish confidence between different factions of a society who have suffered from decades of civil war and dictatorship?
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