The importance of economic development in
democratization in Myanmar
Final Exam Paper (KEYSTONE 4400)
Professor: Adam Mayer
Course Title : Democratic Process
THIN MYAT THU
(4105930)
30.11.2015
The importance of economic development in democratization in Myanmar
Introduction
Why is economic development important? Because it not only upgrades the living
standards of people but also provides more job opportunities for the people and show the ways of
their living. Development is meaningful to everyone who tries to get more freedom in their
economy. Freedom is also needed for everyone because it is the main element for human beings.
In economic freedom, the government and its people must rely on each other in order to success
better economic growth potential. In that case, the human capabilities are very essential when we
proceed to the development of the country, the productivity of the country and unemployment
are also supportive parts of the economy.
The growth of economy also deals with other social, political and institutional
mechanisms such as poverty, the levels of living standards and the political situation of the
country. All are connected to each other. In developing countries, people are promoting their own
nations directly or indirectly to achieve the development in every sectors such as health,
economic, education, society, transportation, communication and so on. For example, when we
look at the situation and economic welfare of the poor rural areas and families in Southeast Asian
countries, there are more discrimination cases like no equality at work which is no workers’
rights, no freedom in trade and other problems as well than other developed countries like United
States and Europe. The economic development is extremely important in Myanmar’s
democratization process because 70% population in Myanmar lives in poverty without economic
1
development, the people of Myanmar will not get out of poverty and enjoy the fruits of
democracy.
As we know, wealthier societies or families or organizations are more likely to have
successful development because they have more resources and strong foundation to improve
their nations. Anyhow, the government is also placed as a fundamental part of development
scheme when they build the structural and institutional transformation during democratization
period. Better education, health and income, clean environment and equality of opportunities and
individual freedom can bring about the better economic development and any other
developments as well. To reach the democracy system, the government and their people have to
adopt and follow the development strategies which can provide employment, economic
opportunities and other benefits.
The relationship between the democracy and economic development
What is democracy? “Democracy is the rule of the people[ CITATION Far97 \l 1033 ].
However, there are people who don’t know about the meaning of democracy. Some are taking
advantages from it and abusing the rights of the less privileged people. For example, when you
have same right to collect the food as the others from the provisions, you should take only the
portion that depend on your family’s size and you cannot take a lot because the other families
also have to survive their lives. You cannot look only to your family and you have to be fair and
square in food distribution.
To achieve the democracy, the government also should provide fair elections, the rights
for economic, religion, minority groups, politics, civil, property and free speech. The relationship
between the democracy and economic development is always correlated. Once the people have
2
the freedom and the rights in politics, they also can have the economic rights which benefit to the
economic development. For example, they can get more investment from foreign countries and
international trade benefits.
As previously mentioned, property right is needed in every nation because it prevents
from the ruler from using his power to steal the nation’s wealth and take over the property from
his people without consideration. Since the economic development is important, the government
should provide the security which is the rule of law to attract foreign investors. If not, nobody
wants to invest and stay in that country. Therefore, the government has the responsibility to
provide stability for legal, ownership and society. Then, the country can carry on for the
development of the country.
Case Study (Myanmar)
Myanmar is the country that has rich natural resources and great potential for the
economic growth in coming years. It is also currently famous among its regional counterparts
Southeast Asian countries because of the 2015 general election, getting more attention from all
over the world such as media, world organizations and so on.
As we know, Myanmar has been controlled by military government which deployed
authoritarian rule since 1948[ CITATION Syd12 \l 1033 ].In those times; there are a lot of human
