Politics of State-Business Relations
Dissertation Abstract of:
Kyaw Yin Hlaing (2001) The Politics of State-Business Relations in Post-Colonial Burma, Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University, in SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004, ISSN 1479-8484)
Got to give this PhD dissertation a read. Chiangmai University has a copy in the dissertations room. The abstract doesn't say what sources he uses to get: "Business Firms in District Towns by Line of Business and Nationality of Ownership (in Percentage)."
What are the characteristics of a good abstract for a historical article? It would have to cover:
1. chronological focus
2. geographical focus
3. nature of primary and secondary sources used
4. nature of historical interpretation,
5. whatever in general makes for a good abstract.
Quoting from above abstract:
"Focusing primarily on the problems prevailing between the state and various societal groups, scholars and journalists have depicted the interactions between the state and society in post-colonial Burma as a series of zero-sum games."
["Zero-sum" must mean no cooperation.]
"...state society relations in Burma cannot simply be reduced to a collection of zero-sum games"
[So there was cooperation]
"...crony capitalism has always thrived and continues to serve as the bedrock of state-business relations throughout the postcolonial period."
[How was it similar or different from the regime in the Phillipines under Marcos that gave rise to the phrase "crony captialism"]
"...all post-colonial Burmese governments depended on the business sector to finance and support their efforts at governance. In a similar vein, business people had to foster and maintain good connections with state elites in order to successfully run their businesses."
"The business sector was never strong enough to capture the state apparatus and make it serve its interests. Rather, a weak state and a weak business sector exchanged favors through the mechanism of informal patron-client relations in order to ensure their mutual survival."
[Does he document concrete instances, i.e. microhistory of businesses ?]
"...the underlying factors that led to the persistence of cronyism as the basic pattern of state-business relations throughout Burma's entire post-colonial period Business Firms in District Towns by Line of Business and Nationality of Ownership (in Percentage)"
"I argue that the persistence of cronyism as the basis of Burma's post-colonial state-business relations can be attributed, on the one hand, to a lack of sufficient technical and fiscal capacities and the problems prevailing in the 'legitimacy renewal mechanisms' of the post-colonial regimes and, on the other, to the wider socio-political and economic environment which did not favor the emergence of the business class as an independent political actor."
[Comparison would be good here to define what is meant by 'crony capitalism' which is even being applied to the current (2005) economic regime of Thaksin in Thailand, very advanced economically]
Kyaw Yin Hlaing (2001) The Politics of State-Business Relations in Post-Colonial Burma, Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University, in SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004, ISSN 1479-8484)
Got to give this PhD dissertation a read. Chiangmai University has a copy in the dissertations room. The abstract doesn't say what sources he uses to get: "Business Firms in District Towns by Line of Business and Nationality of Ownership (in Percentage)."
What are the characteristics of a good abstract for a historical article? It would have to cover:
1. chronological focus
2. geographical focus
3. nature of primary and secondary sources used
4. nature of historical interpretation,
5. whatever in general makes for a good abstract.
Quoting from above abstract:
"Focusing primarily on the problems prevailing between the state and various societal groups, scholars and journalists have depicted the interactions between the state and society in post-colonial Burma as a series of zero-sum games."
["Zero-sum" must mean no cooperation.]
"...state society relations in Burma cannot simply be reduced to a collection of zero-sum games"
[So there was cooperation]
"...crony capitalism has always thrived and continues to serve as the bedrock of state-business relations throughout the postcolonial period."
[How was it similar or different from the regime in the Phillipines under Marcos that gave rise to the phrase "crony captialism"]
"...all post-colonial Burmese governments depended on the business sector to finance and support their efforts at governance. In a similar vein, business people had to foster and maintain good connections with state elites in order to successfully run their businesses."
"The business sector was never strong enough to capture the state apparatus and make it serve its interests. Rather, a weak state and a weak business sector exchanged favors through the mechanism of informal patron-client relations in order to ensure their mutual survival."
[Does he document concrete instances, i.e. microhistory of businesses ?]
"...the underlying factors that led to the persistence of cronyism as the basic pattern of state-business relations throughout Burma's entire post-colonial period Business Firms in District Towns by Line of Business and Nationality of Ownership (in Percentage)"
"I argue that the persistence of cronyism as the basis of Burma's post-colonial state-business relations can be attributed, on the one hand, to a lack of sufficient technical and fiscal capacities and the problems prevailing in the 'legitimacy renewal mechanisms' of the post-colonial regimes and, on the other, to the wider socio-political and economic environment which did not favor the emergence of the business class as an independent political actor."
[Comparison would be good here to define what is meant by 'crony capitalism' which is even being applied to the current (2005) economic regime of Thaksin in Thailand, very advanced economically]
posted by Jon Fernquest at 7:32 PM
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