Military regimes have ruled between Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) for over 100 years. In this article I will examine the role of colonialism in deepening and strengthening the political system of military regimes in Burma. To demonstrate this, I will first examine the context before exploring the causal factors that help prove my point. I chose to compare Burma to Thailand because, despite having many precolonial similarities, Thailand was never colonized, and consequently many of the effects of colonialism that we see in Burma would not be expected to exist to the same extent in Thailand. To define political systems, I will use Siaroff's definition which covers the mechanisms of political representation, the patterns of repression used by a regime, and how the leader is selected (Siaroff 61-63). Before colonialism, the two countries were similar in size, both had long coastal areas, had similar populations of about 9 million people who primarily followed Theravada Buddhism, and each established a monarchy within 100 years of the other. This shows that the two countries were very similar in fundamental aspects before their divergence during the colonial era. European colonizers first began trading in Burma in the late 18th century (Nibset 413) due to the close proximity to India and the death of King Mindôn led to the violent annexation of lands starting in 1826 and the entire Burma was under colonial rule in 1886 (Nibset 5-7). Due to primary resistance from some Burmese, British rule was also an occupation rule with resentment of British forces caused by cultural intolerance. The colonization of Burma was therefore carried out by violent means and was supported in the same way. Likewise, the Japanese invaded during the se......middle of paper......es A. Robinson. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. London: Profile, 2012. Print.Baker, Christopher J and Phongpaichit Pasuk. A history of Thailand. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.Handelman, Howard. "The challenge of developing the Third World". Trans. Vector. 7th edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2013. Chapter 8. Print.Nisbet, John. Burma under British rule and before. Westminster: A. Constable, 1901. Print.Siaroff, Alan. Comparing Political Regimes: A Thematic Introduction to Comparative Politics, Chapter 3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Print.Taylor, Robert H, and Robert H. Taylor. The State in Myanmar. London: C. Hurst, 2008. Print. Zakaria, bin H. A and Harold A. Crouch. Military-civilian relations in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1985. Print.