What sanctions do in Myanmar/Burma? A view from different perspectives

 

ASIA FORUM with Winston Set Aung

Director of Research of the Asia Development Research Institute and Executive Director of the Asia Language and Business Academy in Myanmar/Burma

Thursday, November 13, 2009, 11:00–12:30

 

Long-term isolation from the international environment, over-a-decade-long sanctions, lack of information/data and highlights of some media have driven many people to see only the single story about Myanmar/Burma. The danger of the single story is that it makes stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete and they make one story become the only story. In order to avoid the single story, it is necessary to see things from different perspectives (not necessarily seeing through rose-colored spectacles).

This presentation is one of the kinds that provide information from a different aspect that is usually overlooked due to the lack of primary data/information. It is a product of extensive researches and surveys conducted at various places/borders within Myanmar/Burma during 2008~09. The dynamism of cross-border activities and people, informal mobility of goods and persons that can never be effectively controlled in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, huge difference in social perception on illegal Vs illicit activities, intermingling and overlapping of various legal and illegal flows; all together inspired cross-border studies and implications of existing economic sanctions on them in Myanmar/Burma leading to this presentation. It provides empirical evidences both from positive and negative aspects.

Winston Set Aung is a Founder and the Director of Research of the Asia Development Research Institute and also a Founder and Executive Director of the Asia Language and Business Academy in Myanmar/Burma. He also serves as a Faculty Member of the MBA Programme of Yangon Institute of Economics. He has been involved in many international/regional research projects in cooperation with various international/regional academic and research institutes. He has written numerous research papers on cross-border trade, migration and human smuggling, transboundary natural resource connections, informal economy, etc. During fall 2009, Mr. Set Aung is a guest researcher at ISDP. His stay is funded with a grant awarded by the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT).

ISDP’s premises are within easy reach from central Stockholm at Henriksdal, near Danvikstull. Bus 53 from Centralen (Vasagatan) towards Henriksberget, goes to Old Town, Slussen, get off bus stop ‘Danviken’, just outside the road from our red building. From Slussen, either Saltsjöbanan or any bus heading to Nacka and Värmdö stops within 100 meters from the Institute. Get off at the “Henriksdal” stop.

Location: ISDP, Västra Finnbodavägen 2, Stockholm-Nacka. For a map and directions, please go here.

To attend: RSVP to Ms. Martina Klimesova at mklimesova@isdp.eu