The rule of law is today considered a political ideal; one which is endorsed and promoted worldwide. Or is it? In a major contribution to the field, Nick Cheesman argues that Myanmar is a country in which the rule of law is 'lexically present but semantically absent'. Charting ideas and practices from British colonial rule through military dictatorship to the present day, Cheesman calls upon legal and political theory to explain how and why institutions animated by a concern for law and order oppose the rule of law.
Empirically grounded in both Burmese and English sources, including annual law reports and criminal trial records, Opposing the Rule of Law offers the first major study of the contemporary court system in Myanmar. It sheds new light on the politics of courts during dark times and sharply illuminates the tension between the demand for law and the imperatives of order.
