About this episode

Henning Glaser discusses the complexities of Myanmar's constitutional issues and the need for unity in governance.

Episode #532: “Constitutions need power,” says Henning Glaser, a Bangkok-based lawyer working on constitutional politics in Asia. In his second appearance on the podcast, he argues that Myanmar’s constitutional problem is less about drafting the perfect text than about whether any text can bind the actors who hold force, and whether there is enough unity to sustain a shared political community. He describes the early post-independence settlement as broken at its origin, saying the promised autonomy that predated the first constitution “was never really done so from the beginning,” leaving what he calls “the original sin of constitutionalism and statehood” that still shapes mistrust. Later military-era constitutions, in his view, often functioned as cover for power rather than restraint, with the 2008 charter operating as “insurance” that preserved military vetoes and control. Glaser insists a viable constitutional state “needs a certain degree of unity,” and that unity cannot be manufactured by constitutional language alone. Federalism and peace-making become inseparable challenges, because the constitutional design question sits on top of armed realities, competing visions of…

People in this episode

Guest: Henning Glaser

Topics covered

• constitutional politics
• Myanmar
• federalism
• peace-making
• rule of law
• military control

Keywords

• constitution
• Myanmar
• federalism
• military
• rule of law
• political community
• autonomy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Insight Myanmar Podcast

Places: Myanmar, Bangkok

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