PUBLICATIONS Current GR Issue Recent GR Issues Subscribe to the GR July 1995 Issue Instructions for Authors Contact the GR Editor About the Geographical Review Search the GR Index FOCUS on Geography Magazine Ubique Maps, Atlases, and Books

Geographical Review July 1995, 85(3), pp. 269-285. Political Stability and Minority Groups in Burma Curtis N. Thomson ABSTRACT Political stability is elusive in many countries and is especially difficult to achieve in ones like Burma, in which people lack long-term attachment or loyalty to a political entity larger than the clan, tribe, or chiefdom. The absence of necessary factors that aid the creation of an independent, or perhaps even autonomous, state in Burma also decreases the chances of minority-group success. Furthermore, the unitarist policy of the central government is not conducive to integration, because it focuses on assimilation to an identity that has never been an important component in the territories controlled by the minority groups. Keywords: assimilation, Burma, minority groups, Myanmar. DR. THOMSON is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Idaho. To contact the author: Mail: Prof. Curtis Thomson Department of Geography University of Idaho Moscow, ID 83844-3021 U.S.A. Phone: (208) 885-6216 (office) (208) 885-5724 (fax) Electronic mail: cthomson@uidaho.edu   Back to July 1995 Table of Contents