2007 年 6 巻 2 号 p. 396-413
This article examines the transformation of bureaucracy under the Ne Win regime (1962-1988) in Burma, in an attempt to demonstrate the process of the military intervention into the civilian bureaucracy.
The modern bureaucracy in Burma was constructed under the British Empire, and the Indian Civil Service (or Burma Civil Service) was the powerful cadre of the colonial bureaucracy. The commanding position of the ICS or BCS did not change significantly with the coming of independence in 1948, since the centralized colonial hierarchy and promotion system were retained. However, General Ne Win tried to “destroy” the cadre and its network of civilian bureaucracy when the military took over the state in 1962. He believed that the bureaucracy was a by-product of colonial rule and it must be destroyed to realize “the Burmese Way to Socialism.” Ne Win transformed the civilian bureaucracy by the administrative reformation in the mid-1970s under the name of “Socialistic Democracy.” Consequently the transfer of military officers to the bureaucracy through “election” was institutionalized. This enabled the military to intervene deeply in the civilian bureaucracy and contributed to the maintenance of Ne Win’s dictatorship. This change of the relationship between the civilian bureaucracy and the military deffered greatly from the developmental states which appeared in (South) East Asia in the 1950s and the 1960s.