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.
Introduction 1. Political Developments since Independence 2. Role of Civil Society 3. Power of Elites 4. Influence of External Agencies 5. Institutional Effects Conclusion Afterword
Biography
Nehginpao Kipgen was a Political Scientist, Professor and Executive Director of Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. His latest book, titled The Politics of South China Sea Disputes, was published in 2020. His other books include Myanmar: A Political History (2016), Democratization of Myanmar (2016) and Democracy Movement in Myanmar: Problems and Challenges (2015). He published several peer-reviewed academic articles in Asian Journal of Social Science, Social Research, International Studies, World Affairs, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Ethnopolitics, Strategic Analysis, South Asia Research, Indian Journal of Political Science, Economic and Political Weekly, Asian Profile, Asian Affairs, International Journal on World Peace, and India Review. He also published over 230 articles in various leading international newspapers and magazines in five continents – Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America. He presented papers and served as chair and discussant in several international academic conferences, including International Political Science Association (IPSA) and International Studies Association (ISA). He was a Board Member (RC18 – Asian and Pacific Studies) of IPSA.
