Buddhism, Politics and Political Thought in Myanmar

A senior research fellow at Oxford University's St Antony's College, Matthew Walton has been at the forefront of academic writing on contemporary Myanmar nationalism, Burmese Buddhist identity, and the Buddhist-Muslim conflict for years. Buddhism, Politics and Political Thought in Myanmar is a stimulating and highly readable book for scholars and students alike. It is based on Walton's more explicitly titled 2012 PhD thesis, “Politics in the Moral Universe: Burmese Buddhist Political Thought.” It emphasizes the concept of the “moral universe,” which frames political thinking in Myanmar. To comprehend contemporary Burmese politics, says Walton, requires “understanding a set of Buddhist concepts and their various interpretations that together make up a view of the universe as a place that functions according to a particular moral-causal logic” (p. 198). While political action is commonly viewed in Myanmar as a “quintessential moral practice,” it must negotiate the latent tension between the “skepticism about the...