State-Society Relations in Burma and the Philippines

摘要

Politics is about state-society relations. This observation is obvious with the two books under review. Contributors to the volume edited by Monique Skidmore assess the nature of state-society relations under all three regimes in post-colonial Burma - the parliamentary, the socialist or Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) and the State Law and Order Restoration (SLORC) (later renamed as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)) regimes. Through the probing of underground lottery businesses, animistic and Buddhist religious practices, hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses produced by the state and societal actors, rigid rules issued by Burmese military governments, and the way some societal groups coped with the problems they encountered. An assessment of contemporary Burma is offered. Patricio Abinales' and Donna Amoroso's book explains the problems with state—society relations in the Philippines by examining the history of state and social formation processes.