In this paper the author describes the reason why the Myanmar government undertook the task of drafting a new constitution and the process of preparing it. He examines the principles which the government claims underlie the constitution (mainly as set out in the introductory parts of the constitution) and show the falsity of the claims. He demonstrate what he considers are the reasons for the constitution—the principal one being the perpetuation of the dominance of the military. He begins the paper by exploring the purposes of constitutions and the possible roles of constitution making processes, in order to establish a framework to analyse the new Myanmar constitution.

• English