ABSTRACT
The landslide victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar’s November 2015 elections and subsequent transfer of power to the country’s first fairly elected government in more than half a century in April 2016 punctuated one of the most promising democratic breakthroughs anywhere in the world in recent decades. Myanmar, however, remains a limited democracy and establishing genuinely democratic institutions (procedural democracy) that protect human rights under the rule of law (substantive democracy) presents a difficult challenge. This chapter places recent political developments in a historical context, assesses the state of democracy and human rights in the country as the new NLD government approaches its one year anniversary, and considers the prospects for further democratisation. The analysis necessarily paints with broad strokes, but hopefully provides a useful framework for more detailed inquiry. 1
