1. Asian Studies Amongst area studies scholars, a number of books examine the axis of struggle between authoritarian governments and citizen movements in Asia, including Ma and Cheng's (2017) work in the Global Asia series. And in Myanmar contests between Burmese military elites, ethnic minorities, and the democracy movement in Myanmar have also been closely examined (Roman and Holliday 2019, Lintner 2012, Callahan, 2003, Steinberg 1990, 2001, Rotberg 1998, Fink 2001, Thawnghmung 2004, Houtman 1999, Sadan 2013). Yet the distinct contribution of this book is in addressing other axes of democratic struggles in Myanmar, those within the democracy movement, and between the movement and its international allies. Walton's 2016 work Buddhism, Politics and Political Thought in Myanmar provides the account most relevant to the contribution of the book, through examining the role of Buddhism in the country's politics and political thinking. Yet this book does not explicitly engage with contemporary activists and political leaders and how meanings of democracy are used as political tools to forward the agenda of particular coalitions of actors. In this sense, Myanmar's other struggles for democracy provides a fresh and unique account of the country's transitions, which will be of interest to readers both theoretically and empirically. 2. Democratization Myanmar's Other Struggles for Democracy engages widely with works from the democratization literature and engages with these volumes theoretically, through extending attention to the role of narrative in meanings of democracy, and empirically, through deeply informed, long-term inquiry into the case of Myanmar. The book draws upon the theoretical works of Whitehead (2002) Democratization, and Kurki (2005) Democratic Futures: Revisioning democracy promotion. The book also sits within an emerging stream of interpretive studies of meanings of democracy that are grounded in in-depth contextual analysis (Frechette 2007, Michelutti 2008, Browers 2006, Bell 2009, Baaz and Lilja 2014, Sadiki 2009, Paley 2001). Of most note is the way that this book extends Schaffer's seminal work Democracy in Translation (1997) by introducing narrative theory into the task of examining meanings of democracy and their contests. 3. Interpretive methodology In illuminating other these struggles for democracy, the book makes innovative use of narrative theory. Narrative theory has been widely drawn on within the social sciences and yet, surprisingly, has not been systematically applied in interpretive studies of meanings of democracy. Myanmar's Other Struggles for Democracy argues that narrative theory can reveal new dimensions to the way democracy is given meaning by political actors. The book uncovers diverging constructions of plot and characters, situates these narratives in the cultural and historical context of Myanmar, and exposes the often-covert conceptual contests between political actors over the meaning of democracy. The book provides a model for the way interpretive scholars in other contexts might use a narrative approach to elucidate contrasting meanings of democracy.

Historic Myanmar elections in 2015 and the installation of an NLD government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2016 contrast with ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in 2017. One critical question that now confronts the 50 million people of this Southeast Asian nation is whether the push for greater democracy is strong enough to prevail over a powerful military machine and undercurrents of intolerance. What are the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar? This bookaddresses this question by examining historical conditions, constitutionalism, democracy, major political actors, ethnic conflict, and transitional justice. It presents a rich array of evidence focusedon 88 in-depth interviews and three waves of surveys and experiments conducted in 2014-18. The analysis culminates in the concept of limited liberalism, which reflects a blend of liberal and illiberal attitudes. The book concludes that a weakening of liberal commitments among politicians and citizens alike, allied with spreading limited liberal attitudes, casts doubt on the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar.

When a military junta took power in Myanmar in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi - the daughter of General Aung San, who negotiated Burma's independence from Britain in 1947 - entered Burmese politics to work for democratization. This biography tells about this woman who, despite being faced with odds, continues to work toward democratic reforms in Myanmar.

This book offers the assessment of Myanmar’s societal changes, development aspects, and political situation over the course of the nation’s short lived democratic transition disrupted by the coup d’état on 1 February 2021. A multitude of authors with different expertise add new dimensions of analysis to provide a foundation for any future international cooperation in Myanmar’s center and peripheries. The military’s institutionalization of its influence and control in political, economic and social affairs has negatively affected the safety, security and peace of people and their communities at the periphery. This in turn has led the people to undertake local grassroots initiatives towards securing a genuine democratic transition at the local and national level. The chapters probe into Myanmar’s transition and political crisis through in-depth discussion on the issues such as, but not limited to, state fragility, community resilience, political leadership, ethnic women’s organizations, human security, education equality, IDPs and non-state actors, ethnic community-based health organizations, the 2020 election, peace process, development issues, the coup’s destruction, and a new-born unity. The book covers an important collection of inputs from young and prominent scholars alike, offering a valuable resource for general readers, students, and practitioners. The editors present this volume as a vital collection to literature at a time of heated political crisis and societal responses on her current course since the contributors highlight the state of Myanmar by also focusing on the margins, the grassroots, and the recent coup.

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.

What's happening after the 2021 military coup attempt in Myanmar? Since the coup, people have been deeply shocked by how the Tatmadaw (army) has savagely undermined the pillars of democracy.Regarding the 2021 coup, there are two perspectives; while, on the one hand, Myanmar people have known all along that their struggles for the road to democracy (1988-2020) have not yet made nowhere near to the finishing line, on the other hand, in the international community's perspective, the 2021 coup attempt has been considered as a shocking threat to democracy that has founded successfully in Myanmar since 2011, and as a complete U-turn to the military regime era. This book highlights that the decade-long quasi-civilian administration period (2011-2020) didn't bring Myanmar to reach its way toward democracy, getting the country lost in a tortuous maze crafted by the military leaders. This book consists of three different categorized titles: The Walls, The Corners, and The Passages of the amazing Maze (A-maze). This book explains how the 2008 Constitution, some significant past political incidents and maneuvers and deeply rooted social and structural obstacles were like walls of the complex maze which made Myanmar people get lost. It also explains why they couldn't reach anywhere near the destination of democracy though they have been walking miles after miles, hills after hills, and pits after pits. This book also explains how the 2021 Myanmar Spring Revolution is moving fast forward with its strenuous efforts, how it is trying to tear down those walls of maze, and why some old and new complicated corners still exist and have appeared. In short, this book attempts to answer these questions: How has the Spring Revolution gained its aimful momentum and maintained positivity so far? What are those hard-to-get-rid- of walls? Who created those corners? How are the majority of people of/from Myanmar trying to keep their march on current passages to reach back on the road to democracy? - Ma Thida REVIEW QUOTES: "Physician, novelist, publisher, activist, Ma Thida has a unique eye, insight, and lyrical voice. Read this for a deep, pleasurable understanding of the amazing democratic revolution in Burma and the vicious repressive Junta trying to destroy it. Ma Thida captures both the exhilaration and tragedy of this dramatic moment." - James C. Scott (Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University, Co-founder of the Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship) "As one of Myanmar's leading activists and intellectuals, Ma Thida's observations on the 'maze' of her country's political trajectory leading up to and beyond the 2021 coup count as crucial reportage and required reading at a time when our war-torn world often overlooks Myanmar, a nation more continuously war-torn than most." - Wendy Law-Yone (author of Golden Parasol; A Daughter's Memoir of Burma) "The book gives a gripping account of the days after the 2021 coup, and chronicles what went on in the minds of the citizens fighting for democracy. Ma Thida walks us through the Maze in which Myanmar has trapped itself since before the 2021 coup. Readers will find that this book is not a record of events. Ma Thida is urging us to find the way out of the Maze." - Aiko Doden (Journalist, NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia: Between Entanglement and Contention in Post High Growth focuses on the new and diversifying interactions between civil society and the state in contemporary East Asia by including cases of entanglement and contention in the three fully consolidated democracies in the area: Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The contributions to this book argue that all three countries have reached a new era of post high growth and mature democracy, leading to new social anxieties and increasing normative diversity, which have direct repercussions on the relationship between the state and civil society. It introduces a comparative perspective in identifying and discussing similarities and differences in East Asia based on in-depth case studies in the fields of environmental issues, national identities as well as neoliberalism and social inclusion that go beyond the classic dichotomy of state vs 'liberal' civil society.