Rural perceptions of state legitimacy in Burma/Myanmar

This article examines four different agricultural policies that have been implemented under the Burmese military regime, with particular reference to the varying reactions by rice farmers to the ways in which these agricultural programmes were implemented. The purpose is to challenge conventional studies of Burma/ Myanmar that focus on the behaviour and practices of the military elite in Rangoon, and treat the military regime as a unitary actor. By contrast, the state is disaggregated analytically into different levels (local, national), the object being how the varying interactions between the Burmese rice farmers and agricultural policy implementers result in correspondingly distinct farmer perceptions of the government. Existing scholarly debates on political legitimacy are considered, with particular regard to Third World authoritarian countries. This is followed by a brief analysis of four different agricultural policies that have been implemented under the military regime, together with Burmese farmers’ attitudes towards each of them. The way these policies are implemented is linked in turn to the popularity or unpopularity of the military elite in the capital and/or the local authorities in the provincial areas. Finally, the broader implications of the Burmese case study regarding the more complicated basis and status of political legitimacy are extended to other authoritarian regimes.

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