A Bird in the Hand - The Federal Pattern of Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution

This paper provides a broad overview of the constitutional structure of government of Myanmar, which the author argues can best be described as ‘quasi-federal’, based on the fact that there are significant federal features in the Constitution (although the term ‘federal’ itself is carefully avoided). There are, however, a number of anomalies in the constitutional system of Myanmar that prevent an outright classification of Myanmar as a federal system. Moreover, there is a significant gap between the legal framework laid out by the constitution and what appears to be prevailing practice.