The U.S. Economic Sanctions Against Myanmar from 1996-2012

• Main Authors: Sasinan Kruaechaipinit, 林美霞
• Other Authors: Wen-cheng Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/50637351822854557732

博士 === 國立中山大學 === 中國與亞太區域研究所 === 102 === Economic sanctions are generally seen as a viable foreign policy option. Such policies find that sanctions can positively influence others without taking military actions or using power that could increase dangerous and costly conflict. Furthermore, the effectiveness of economic sanctions tends to be measured by the imposing country. For example, how are economic sanctions able to produce policy changes in the target polity? How is the efficacy of economic sanctions able to produce economic change in the target country without damaging protectionist trade policies such as tariff and quotas? Typically, economic and social suffering of the target country can be neglected issues, especially from the perspective of the imposing country. It seems that in a worst case scenario economic sanctions can stand as a political evil from the perspective of the targeted country, while the sending country may find it to be a political good. The United States imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar since 1990. During these sanctions the desired results were not produced. Many politicians including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were placed under house arrest for several years, furthering political conflict and reaction by the Myanmar government against its citizens. Economic sanctions seem to have largely failed to bring about positive political changes in Myanmar. This is evidenced by several factors. First, the country had military rather than democratic ruling until late of year 2010. Second, Myanmar has experienced a long term of economic stagnation – 26 years of an isolated “social economy” and 22 years of “command economy” (since 1962). Many scholars have revealed that the importance of initial material and socio-political conditions for economic take-off, growth and further industrialization. These conditions have depended on Myanmar’s internal factors such as a stable Myanmar’s political environment, an ongoing ethnic minority’s tension, the open market, the exchange rate reform, the prompt of skilled labor, and the development of infrastructure within Myanmar. It is my view that external factors such as international economic sanctions can be an obstacle to national reconciliation, and in the case of U.S. economic sanctions against Myanmar, those sanctions have largely not been successful. It is surely the case that the U.S. economic sanctions would affect Myanmar’s economic development, politics, and society more or less in both direct and indirect ways. In this thesis, an analysis of the case of U.S. economic sanctions against Myanmar will be examined in light of these direct and indirect factors making explicit the indirect factors and bring into clearer focus those factors presumed as direct.