Democratisation of Myanmar

This second edition traces the political transition of Myanmar from a military rule of nearly five decades to a short-lived democratic experiment.

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On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military coup abruptly ended a decade of a civilian-military hybrid regime – a massive setback for the democratisation process. Citizens from all walks of life took to the streets and protests erupted over the following weeks, and Myanmar became the centre of global attention. This book brings up to date how the story of Myanmar’s experiment with democracy unravelled over the last few years.

This second edition:

● Traces the political transition of Myanmar from a military rule of nearly five decades to a short-lived democratic experiment;

● Outlines the factors that contributed to this transition and the circumstances in which it took place;

● Shows how political groups – especially Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) – and the military worked together and paved the way for democratisation and what led to the failure of the NLD government;

● Examines the 2020 general election and the declaration of national emergency following the NLD landslide electoral win.

Bringing together a balance of primary ethnographic fieldwork and nuanced analysis, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Asian and Southeast Asian Studies, politics and political processes, democratisation process and democratic transitions, international relations and peace and conflict studies, especially those concerned with Myanmar.