Myanmar, China and the decline of Europe

 

Lynn Ockersz...

As heartening as the recent election of Myanmar’s democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi to the country’s Parliament and her re-engagement with democratic politics, was the call of the Myanmarese President Thein Sein to the country’s exiles to return to their motherland for the purpose of rejuvenating it. The President called on his exiled countrymen to return to engage vigorously in nation-building and make Myanmar a robust state which would take on the all-important undertaking of sustained development.

Angela Merkel	Francois Hollande
Thein Sein	Aung San Suu Kyi

Hopefully, Myanmar would make progressive strides towards economic and social vitality and what better circumstances to effect this transformation than when increasing political liberalization is the order of the day? Suu Kyi marked herself out as a politician cum intellectual of no mean repute when she said that: ‘It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear corrupts and absolute fear corrupts absolutely.’ This is something mankind needs to ponder on as it takes on the challenge of creating the necessary institutions and processes that could bring about the betterment of polities and societies. Certainly, Suu Kyi has proved that it is unyielding fearlessness in the face of odds that could enable democratic governance to thrive.

Economic liberalization

However, it is quite some time since Myanmar came out of the relative international isolation which was characteristic of her and engaged with South East Asia in particular with a view to opening her doors to the forces of economic liberalization. So encouraging was Myanmar’s engagement with ASEAN that it was not before long that the West thought it appropriate to engage with her too.
While Myanmar’s abundant natural resources could be a principal reason why the West is seeking closer engagement with her, Myanmar herself proves the point that there could be no trade-off between democracy and development or growth. If a country seeks a closer economic engagement with the world, coupled with economic liberalization, then, political liberalization in the form of increasing democratic freedoms is inevitable and the release of Suu Kyi and her subsequent successful running for election to Parliament seems to prove the point.
Meanwhile, as often pointed out by observers, the centre of gravity of the world economy has shifted to East Asia, and China is well recognized as one of the economic heavyweights of the robust region. It would not be long before the total growth of the region outstrips that of the US, and Australia for one, it seems, has no hesitation in recognizing this shift in global economic and political power.

Political power

It needs to be recognized that it is some time since China saw the importance of economic liberalization and undertook the measures to speed-up the process, but one of Australia’s recent pronouncements indicates that China is being looked upon by the West as pivotal to the growth of the world economy. Says Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr: ‘Established realities are being challenged as the economies of China and other nations grow. Bigger economies naturally seek military strength commensurate with their economic power.’

G8 Summit

The Australian Foreign Minister’s comment is a veritable restatement of what has come to be recognized as the principal current global power shift. East Asia is the foremost economic power bloc of the world system and its rise to power coincides with the gradual eclipse of Europe as the foremost economic and political power wielder. The ready proof that one has of this is the crippling Eurozone crisis which marks off much of the Western world now as being ‘the sick man’ of the current international economic and political order.
Greece is a glaring example of the chronic political instability that could assail the West as a result of state-driven austerity measures that the public cannot stomach. The Greek case proves that global financial institutions’ prescriptions for economic recovery could push an economy to the wall. The task before the current G8 Summit is to put in place growth strategies that could generate a measure of equity. In fact, equity is the principal issue facing Western economies currently, because it is all too clear from the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and like popular protest movements sweeping the ‘Free World’, that economic equity and a measure of personal and collective empowerment is the most essential need of the Western hemisphere.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/05/21/fea06.asp
Not surprisingly, a swing to the centre-left is becoming increasingly pronounced among Western polities, if the triumph of Francois Hollande in France is anything to go by. Besides, in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s power is on the wane. These are eye-opening trends in world politics which remind one that he is on the threshold of some remarkable changes.