Workshop: Towards Constitutional Democracy in Burma

In the next month, people at Indiana University will have a rare opportunity to witness and support a country's struggle for freedom. Although Burma is ruled by a military despotism, the Burma democracy movement is seeking an alternative to tyranny. At risk to its members' lives and liberty but with broad-based participation, the movement has developed a proposed constitution that provides for democracy, federalism, and individual rights. From October 30 to November 10, the Center for Constitutional Democracy in Plural Societies (CCDPS) and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) will host members of the constitution-drafting commission for the Burma Democracy Movement. The workshop will have three components. First, the Burmese drafters and members of the CCDPS will work on sharpening and translating the movement's current constitutional draft. Second, the participants will offer public sessions on gender in Burmese constitutionalism, a comparison of the movement's constitutional process with the military government's constitutional process, and lawyering under military rule in Burma. Third, the IAS will host lunches with the drafters for those interested in more informal, open-ended discussions.

The present moment is an especially good time to examine Burmese constitutionalism because Burma is witnessing two rival constitutional processes. On the one hand, the military government has been promising constitutional reform for a long time. On October 10, it has finally reconvened its constitutional convention. Yet many doubt whether the military will ever turn power over to a freely elected government. In 1990, after losing Burma's last election by a landslide, the military refused to convene and transfer power to the newly elected parliament. There is reason to believe, therefore, that the military may be using the constitutional process as window-dressing for its resolution to stay in power, whatever the cost.

In opposition to the government, Burma has a broad-based democracy movement, which has recently initiated its own constitutional process with grass-roots participation from every significant association and ethnic group. Last April, that process yielded preliminary approval for a draft constitution for Burma. The CCDPS has served as consultant to that process for several years, in Bloomington and in Asia, and this workshop will further that collaboration. The workshop also forms part of the IAS' exploration of the theme of "chaos" through a year-long schedule of discussions and events. This meeting is the second time that the IAS and CCDPS have collaborated on bringing members of the Burma democracy movement to campus; last August, the two organizations co-hosted a workshop on constitutionalism with participants from Burma, Liberia, and Azerbaijan.

The workshop will offer the Burmese commission members and the CCDPS an extended period to examine the draft constitution together, in the belief that reform leaders and academic constitutionalists can help and learn from one another.

The Workshop will also include four public events co-hosted by the IAS and the CCDPS: