Khan and Cheesman (2023), “Law, Lawyers and Legal Institutions”
For attorneys in backsliding democracies, this chapter offers a sobering reflection on the limits of legalism and the complex relationship between law, legitimacy, and power.
For attorneys in backsliding democracies, this chapter offers a sobering reflection on the limits of legalism and the complex relationship between law, legitimacy, and power.
This chapter explores how land law in Myanmar functions as a tool of governance, dispossession, and contestation, particularly during the semi-civilian government of the 2010s and in the wake of the 2021 military coup.
Nick Cheesman, “How an Authoritarian Regime in Burma Used Special Courts to Defeat Judicial Independence.” Law & Society Review, vol. 45, no. 4 (2011): 801–30. Summary: Why do authoritarian rulers establish special courts? One view is that they do so to insulate the judiciary from politically oriented cases and allow it continued, albeit limited, independence. …
Cause lawyers in Myanmar use legal formality to promote justice and public accountability, challenging state power, but persistent impunity undermines trust in the law’s effectiveness.