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Burma and Japan Since 1940: From 'Co-Prosperity' to 'Quiet Dialogue'.

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Burma and Japan Since 1940: From 'Co-Prosperity' to 'Quiet Dialogue'. By Donald M. Seekins. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2007. Softcover: 181pp.

This book examines the bilateral relationship between Burma/ Myanmar and Japan since 1940, or rather, the onset of World War II. The book itself is divided into three major sections that chronologically fit the three main periods that Seekins thinks marks major policy shifts in the relationship. The first period spans from 1941 to 1945 and takes into account World War II and the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia; the second period from 1954 to 1988 when the bilateral relationship was primarily economic in nature, underpinned by Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA); and finally, from 1988 onwards. Readers familiar with political developments in Myanmar will realize the importance of 1988 in the country's political calendar. That year marked the collapse of the Burma Socialist Party Programme (BSPP) government that came into power in 1962 following the military coup led by General Ne Win. It should be noted at the outset that Seekins makes it...

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