Misunderstood Myanmar - A Review of Dr Koh Kim Seng's Book

You are invited to the ICERM Radio Book Review Program.  

Date: Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 8:00 pm in EST, New York. 

Host: Chavie Brumer.

Guest and Author: Dr Koh Kim Seng.

We are happy to announce the review of "Misunderstood Myanmar – An Introspective Study Of A Southeast Asian State In Transition".

Join us to listen to the untold stories about Myanmar as Dr. Koh Seng talks about his extensive field work in Myanmar, and reports on his close encounters with the military Junta, and with business and bureaucratic elites.

“This book argues that to understand the vicissitudes of Myanmar’s recent history and the behavior of its generals one has to grasp the dynamic interaction (struggle even) between, on one hand, its external environment (milieu exterieur), including the disgruntled diaspora alongside the U.S. led international community, and on the other, the internal environment (milieu interieur) consisting of the generals’ ideological orientation in politics and economics which , the author argues, exceptionally , still draws from a well of adverse colonial experiences and betrayals, as well as from religion and culture. ‘Exceptionally’ because unlike other developing states Myanmar has been isolated from the international world for so long that those same internal factors have crystallized and come to take on a significance which, arguably,  exceeds the role played by history, culture and religion in other parts of the world."

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