Building the 'Happy Land'
TRACER, FRANK N.
Building the 'Happy Land' ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN BURMA 1951-1960 By Louis J. Walinsky Twentieth Century Fund. 680 pp. $10.00. Reviewed by FRANK N. TRAGER Professor of International...
...No one engaged in the post-World War II tasks of U.S...
...Obviously other students of Burma, including those who—like myself—have lived and worked in and revisited that country, will not always agree with Walinsky...
...The first offers a descriptive analysis of the various plans, programs and sector projects—their preparation, their verbal acceptance by the Government, their execution...
...Appropriately, the author has dedicated the volume to the late economic and social analyst of Burma, J. S. Furnivall, as well as to U Nu...
...It is a highly informed account of what went into the planning for and execution of economic development programs at the top reaches of the successive Burmese governments during the 1950s...
...aid mission to Burma, 1951-53...
...I do not think he succeeds, however...
...Whatever the verdict of history will be on this important debate, Walinsky's study does not rest on its outcome...
...He left Burma in early 1959 when General Ne Win's first "caretaker' Government (October 1958-April 1960) decided against continuation of the firm's contract—by no means an isolated decision, since it also affected other foreign experts and government advisers...
...His organization, and more particularly the dominant group of engineers associated with his firm in preparing the original Eight-Year Plan, must be held responsible for the conceptualization and actual planning which went into what was called Pyidawtha (Happy Land—or Planning for a Welfare State...
...In the nature of the case, it is probable that given the situation in Burma no one, including the Burmese, could have then succeeded in transforming the war-torn, devastated, insurrection-riddled country into Pyidawtha, the Happy Land...
...The critics charged the planners with excessive optimism based (1) on insufficient appreciation of the bottlenecks in Burma's Government and Burmese society...
...author, "Building a Welfare State in Burma" This is a big book about Burma in every way—and will remain so for many years...
...Louis J. Walinsky, general manager and chief economist for the Robert R. Nathan Associates in Burma, held that position in Rangoon from 1953-59...
...and (2) highly speculative projections of foreign exchange earnings from Burma's major primary export product, rice...
...Economic Development in Burma begins with a 78-page "Background" section which might have been severely shortened, since all of its material has been amply covered by earlier publications...
...That transformation is still to come...
...Reviewed by FRANK N. TRAGER Professor of International Affairs, New York University...
...It is a major contribution because its author and his associates remained in Burma and in fact grappled with the difficulties which the Burmese, no less than the various plans, provided...
...The Twentieth Century Fund, in keeping with its profound interest in economic development problems (Gunnar Myrdal should soon be completing a larger Fund study on India and South Asia), made it possible for Walinsky to carry out his study...
...They said this as far back as 1952, when the plan was first made available, and they renewed the charge after it was officially published in 1953...
...Not surprisingly, it is also colored by the unique position held by the author, who was both friend and economic counselor to former premier U Nu and several of his close political and civil service supporters...
...director, U.S...
...And the remaining parts are (with some repetition) given over to analyzing the problems encountered in the Government and in the society, as well as to a normative conclusion on the significance of the Burmese experience and the possible applicability of its lessons to other developing nations...
...and other aid programs can fail to find something of value in Walinsky's painstaking and practical account...
...On the way Burma and the Burmese have acquired many sincere friends and well-wishers who, if called upon, would help...
...Walinsky numbers high among them...
...But then the author plunges into his own period and work in several fully documented parts...
...Walinsky is aware of this challenge and at one point attempts to answer the critics...
Vol. 46 • January 1963 • No. 2
