ABSTRACT
The process of building democracy in Myanmar is long and convoluted. Launched in the late 1940s during Burmese independence from Britain, democracy was first suspended for 18 months from 1958 to 1960, and then overthrown by General Ne Win’s military coup in 1962. In 1988, mass street protests returned the concept firmly to the political agenda, and prompted leaders of the military machine that ultimately crushed the popular uprising to issue a promise of free and fair elections. In 1990, however, the landslide electoral triumph registered by the major opposition party was ignored, and the military junta that had seized power in 1988 continued to rule as before. Only in 2010 were elections again held, though both at home and abroad they were seen as deeply flawed. Nevertheless, they enabled a transition to constitutional rule to take place in 2011, with former members of the junta assuming power under President Thein Sein. Five years later, in 2015, fresh elections were held. Broadly free and fair, they generated a similar result to 1990 and led to the formation in 2016 of a more fully civilian government notionally under President Htin Kyaw, but in fact dominated by Aung San Suu Kyi in the role of state counsellor. In this chapter, we examine the career of democracy in Burma/Myanmar by focusing on context reaching back to the nineteenth century, initial experience from 1948 to 1962, military years from 1962 to 2011, and attempts since 2011 to make a sustainable transition.
