WI: Burma pulls a Taiwan

What if the Burmese government adopted good economic policies after independence and followed the development patterns of other Asian "tiger economies" like Taiwan and South Korea? So basically decades of capitalist dictatorship followed by liberalization in the 1990s with a GDP comparable to South Korea.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
For one thing, the weather reports might actually get to the people in time to warn them if a massive cyclone is bearing down on them.
 
What if the Burmese government adopted good economic policies after independence and followed the development patterns of other Asian "tiger economies" like Taiwan and South Korea? So basically decades of capitalist dictatorship followed by liberalization in the 1990s with a GDP comparable to South Korea.

One way to do it might have been more infrastructure from colonial times. Burma was sort off ignored by Britain, partly because of difficult terrain.
 
One way to do it might have been more infrastructure from colonial times. Burma was sort off ignored by Britain, partly because of difficult terrain.

Plus, instead of being administered on it's own, it was just an ancillary of British India.

One way in which it might be possible is if the US is warier of India. If they feel India is being a bit too socialist, Burma might be able to benefit from US aid in the interests of pumping up a capitalist economy. Burma could develop much like S. Korea- a succession of civilian dictators, slowly shading into more liberal forms of government as the Cold War winds down.
 

Thande

Donor
Plus, instead of being administered on it's own, it was just an ancillary of British India.

One way in which it might be possible is if the US is warier of India. If they feel India is being a bit too socialist, Burma might be able to benefit from US aid in the interests of pumping up a capitalist economy. Burma could develop much like S. Korea- a succession of civilian dictators, slowly shading into more liberal forms of government as the Cold War winds down.

The problem is all the ethnic groups. I know you're going to point out the example of India showing they can work, but the trouble with Burma is that it seems to be a case of the Burmans (Bamar) vs. everyone else rather than no-one being dominant as in India. That leads me to have reservations of your South Korean analogy.
 
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