The University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute is delighted to be inviting Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President at the University of Hong Kong, to deliver a talk entitled 'Liberalism and Democracy in Myanmar', for this instalment of their Seminar Series. This event is free and all are welcome to attend. Abstract and biography below.
Abstract
In Myanmar, historic elections in 2015 and the installation of a National League for Democracy government effectively led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2016 contrast with ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in 2017. One critical question that now confronts the 50 million people of this Southeast Asian nation is whether the push for greater democracy is strong enough to prevail over a powerful military machine and spreading undercurrents of intolerance. What are the prospects for liberal democracy? The talk addresses this question by examining historical conditions, constitutionalism, democracy, major political actors, ethnic conflict, and transitional justice. It draws on a rich array of evidence focused on 88 in-depth interviews and three waves of surveys and survey experiments conducted in 2014-18. It presents the concept of limited liberalism, reflecting a blend of liberal and illiberal attitudes, and concludes by casting doubt on the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar.
Biography
Ian Holliday is Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Hong Kong. Previously he was Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at City University of Hong Kong. He was educated at New College, Oxford and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. His recent books are Liberalism and Democracy in Myanmar (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-authored with Roman David, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar (Routledge, 2018), co-edited with Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly, and Burma Redux: Global Justice and the Quest for Political Reform in Myanmar (Columbia University Press, 2011). His collection of contemporary Myanmar paintings can be viewed at http://thukhuma.org/.