Opposing the rule of law : how Myanmar's courts make law and order / Nick Cheesman, Australian National University.

By:

Cheesman, Nick [author.]

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Cambridge studies in law and societyDescription: pages cmISBN:

9781107083189 (hardback)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

347.591 23 CHE.O

Online resources:

Cover image

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. How law and order opposes the rule of law; 2. Ordering law in the colony; 3. Reordering law in the postcolony; 4. Subsuming law to order; 5. Embodying the law and order ideal; 6. Performing order, making money; 7. Through disorder, law and order; 8. Speaking up for the rule of law; 9. Against quietude; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

Summary: "The rule of law is a political ideal today endorsed and promoted worldwide. Or is it? In a significant contribution to the field, Nick Cheesman argues that Myanmar is a country in which the rule of law is 'lexically present but semantically absent'. Charting ideas and practices from British colonial rule through military dictatorship to the present day, Cheesman calls upon political and legal theory to explain how and why institutions animated by a concern for law and order oppose the rule of law. Empirically grounded in both Burmese and English sources, including criminal trial records and wide ranging official documents, Opposing the Rule of Law offers the first significant study of courts in contemporary Myanmar. It sheds new light on the politics of courts during dark times and sharply illuminates the tension between the demand for law and the imperatives of order"--Summary: "This book began in 2003. I had been working with the Asian Legal Resource Centre in Hong Kong for over a year, and had gone to Thailand to renew old acquaintances, and make new ones. In Mae Sot, I met Min Lwin Oo. We sat and talked on the veranda of the Burma Lawyers' Council office. Leafing through the records of criminal cases brought across the border from Myanmar, we selected one. A court had wrongly convicted a teenage boy for allegedly throwing rocks at policemen. Back in Hong Kong, I wrote up the case, and publicised it. Radio stations picked it up, and contacted the boy's family. His mother spoke out fearlessly. People in Myanmar and abroad expressed their support. Something happened that I had not expected. Within days, a government minister ordered the boy's release. It got me thinking"--

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Home library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	Campus Library Kariavattom Processing Center	Campus Library Kariavattom	347.591 CHE.O (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		UCL24740
Book	Dept. of Political Science	Dept. of Political Science	347.591 CHE.O (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Binding		POL2202

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The rule of law is a political ideal today endorsed and promoted worldwide. Or is it? In a significant contribution to the field, Nick Cheesman argues that Myanmar is a country in which the rule of law is 'lexically present but semantically absent'. Charting ideas and practices from British colonial rule through military dictatorship to the present day, Cheesman calls upon political and legal theory to explain how and why institutions animated by a concern for law and order oppose the rule of law. Empirically grounded in both Burmese and English sources, including criminal trial records and wide ranging official documents, Opposing the Rule of Law offers the first significant study of courts in contemporary Myanmar. It sheds new light on the politics of courts during dark times and sharply illuminates the tension between the demand for law and the imperatives of order"--

"This book began in 2003. I had been working with the Asian Legal Resource Centre in Hong Kong for over a year, and had gone to Thailand to renew old acquaintances, and make new ones. In Mae Sot, I met Min Lwin Oo. We sat and talked on the veranda of the Burma Lawyers' Council office. Leafing through the records of criminal cases brought across the border from Myanmar, we selected one. A court had wrongly convicted a teenage boy for allegedly throwing rocks at policemen. Back in Hong Kong, I wrote up the case, and publicised it. Radio stations picked it up, and contacted the boy's family. His mother spoke out fearlessly. People in Myanmar and abroad expressed their support. Something happened that I had not expected. Within days, a government minister ordered the boy's release. It got me thinking"--

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