Constitutionalism Before Constitutions: Burma's Struggle to Build a New Order

A vast quantity of constitutional literature has been written on the social integrity that can be achieved from a well-planned constitutional regime.  However, though the beneficial ends of a constitutional regime are well-documented, very few scholars have written at length on the tangible results that can be achieved from the constitutional means.  This is exactly what Professor David Williams sets out to address in this Article.  In this article, Professor Williams chronicles the war-torn history of Burma, retells the story of the current military regime’s take-over of power, and reviews the constitutional chaos that has ensued since 2000.  While some scholars argue that societies must achieve some critical mass of social cohesion before the drafting process begins, Professor Williams, using Burma as a case study, ultimately concludes that the constitutional-drafting process itself is a valuable means for building social unity and laying the groundwork for a successful democratic regime.

As the director of Indiana University’s Center for Constitutional Democracy, Professor Williams is uniquely positioned to comment on Burma’s “Democracy Movement”—the joint, collaborative efforts of various state and ethnic groups to create a draft, union constitution that encapsulates their common vision for a federal, democratic Burma. At the epicenter of the effort, Professor Williams freely admits that the efforts of the Democracy Movement are largely symbolic, but he argues that the constitutional drafting process itself serves a valuable role in the reconciliation and healing that must take place before more substantive constitutional dialogue.  Professor William’s story of constitution drafting is a process that allows for the development of relationships across ethnic and regional lines—a process allowing for consensus building and facilitating the discovery of uncontroversial common ground.  He views the constitutional-drafting process as a forum for minority stakeholder participation and as an educational tool for all participants so that an effective settlement can eventually be negotiated.   Finally, Professor Williams’s story of Burma's Democracy Movement reveals how the constitutional-drafting process can help lay the groundwork for democratic structures and practices that can ensure accountability and trust and ultimately help heal a deeply divided nation-state.