Democratic Constitutionalism in Burma
Burma suffers under one of the most oppressive military dictatorships in the world.
One of the central challenges facing that nation in its search for freedom is the need
to develop a constitutional framework that will allow Burma's many different ethnic
groups to live together in harmony.
The CCDPS is uniquely positioned to assist the Burmese democracy movement in its efforts to address this challenge. The Center has established broad and deep connections within the Burmese democracy movement and has earned the trust of its leaders through years of close cooperation with them on a variety of projects. In addition, the Center offers the movement its expertise on constitutional design and its long experience in teaching these issues.
Project Vision
This project, a partnership with a wide range of organizations in the Burmese democracy movement, seeks to move Burma closer to democracy by developing state and federal constitutions that address the needs of the country, by teaching democratic constitutionalism to a critical mass of leaders and people, and by translating texts in order to facilitate the wider dissemination of these ideas. With adequate support, this project will hasten the day when the 50 million people of Burma will finally enjoy freedom and democracy.
The project is the result of several years of close cooperation with Burmese democracy group, developed in consultation with them.
The Center's Burma Project is four-pronged:
- At the state level, Center members work with the constitutional drafting groups to develop state constitutions that are carefully crafted, workable, and translated into accurate legal English.
- The CCDPS serves as primary advisory board for the federal constitutional drafting process in collaboration with drafters of the proposed Constitution for the Federal Union of Burma.
- The Center offers training in constitutionalism, democracy, and the rule of law to participants in the Burmese democracy movement.
- Translation of key texts on democratic constitutionalism from English into Burmese continues, so that texts will be available and useful to democracy activists both outside and inside Burma.
The CCPDS in Burma
The Center has been involved with building the foundations for democratic constitutionalism in Burma for several years and at every level.
The Center has worked individually with the state constitution drafting committees
for Chin, Shan, Karen, Kachin, Mon, and Karenni states to refine their draft constitutions.
Center personnel have taught seminars on constitutionalism to the members of all of the state
constitution drafting committees and the Center is the permanent constitutional advisor to the
Ethnic Nationalities Council, which is the umbrella organization for all of the minority ethnic
groups. Members of the Center have also been involved in grassroots work to involve Burmese people
both inside and outside Burma in the constitutional process.
At the federal level, the constitutional process has recently taken an enormous step forward. In February 2005, the leaders of almost every major group in the Burmese democracy movement met and committed themselves to a shared process for creating a federal constitution. This meeting is of genuine historical significance because it is the first time that Burmese from every major resistance group—including, crucially, every ethnic group—have agreed to draft a constitution together. These organizations agreed to eight guiding principles for a federal constitution and then created the Federal Constitution Drafting and Consulting Committee (FCDCC) to produce the draft.
The FCDCC invited members of the Center to serve on their technical advisory team. In August 2005, members of the drafting committee met in Bloomington with constitutional reformers from Liberia and Azerbaijan to discuss common concerns and share knowledge. Center personnel then traveled to Thailand in December of 2006 to meet with the drafting committee. The draft constitution was produced and was approved by a vote of the participating organizations in the Spring of 2006. The drafters met again in Bloomington in October of 2006 to consult with the Center and will meet in June of 2008 to revise and polish the draft and to produce a definitive English translation.
Goals and Motivation
For decades, Burma has suffered under an oppressive military regime, one of the worst governments on earth. Burma has also had an active democratic resistance from the start. However, the nation has often been divided upon itself along ethnic, ideological, and other lines; this fragmentation weighs negatively on Burma's prospects for democracy. The democracy movement has been less effective in resisting the regime and working for change. To some outside Burma, the democracy organizations have not seemed a viable alternative to the military government, because those outside fear that democracy will bring disorder in its wake. Even after Burma achieves democracy, fragmentation will make it all the more difficult to keep democracy.
Agreement on a single, future constitution can serve as a potent unifying impulse within the movement as it works for change. Groups with differing agendas will be better able to trust and cooperate with each other in the knowledge that they share the same basic vision for Burma. An alternative constitutional proposal is evidence to the rest of the world that the blueprint for a future democratic Burma is a viable alternative to the military government. And ex ante agreement on a constitutional framework will make it far more likely that, once the transition to democracy occurs, Burma will not relapse into civil war and/or military domination.
The constitution must and will address the underlying problem of ethnic division that has generated Burma's instability all these decades. To this end, a constitutional process must accomplish several tasks: first, help all groups, majority and minority, to discern what they want from a democratic constitution and what would induce them to feel committed to the system; second, develop a well-crafted constitutional draft on this basis; third, ensure that the minority groups in particular are among the genuine authors of the constitution so that they will remain committed to it even during turbulent times; and fourth, constantly educate, consult, and build support among the grass roots for the constitutional settlement.