| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
President Obama's post-election visit to Asia last November was a vivid reminder that America is in the process of making a strategic pivot east. That Burma was one of his destinations was good for many reasons, one of which was to remind the development community that this country is once again full of potential, as it was half a century ago. Indeed, in the 1960s Burma, along with the Philippines and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), was seen as one of the most likely candidates in Asia to follow Japan into sustained economic growth. The fact that neither Burma nor Ceylon nor the Philippines ever quite made it-indeed, for different reasons, each became an also-ran in terms of development-is an interesting story in its own right, but a topical one too. After years of frustrated hopes and dashed expectations, each of these countries, surprisingly, has another chance to fulfill its long-stalled potential. Development delayed, it seems, is not necessarily development lost.
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