Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of supporters of the National League of Democracy. (Credit: Ye Naung/Jazz Editions/ABACA/PA)One year ago, a new chapter opened in Myanmar’s history. In April 2016, Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) took office following its sweeping election victory the previous November. This peaceful transition to democratic government was the culmination of a remarkable and largely unpredicted opening-up by the entrenched military regime that had ruled the country for five decades.
The NLD has begun tackling the hard challenges of reforming one of the poorest countries in the world. Inevitably, the miracle narrative of Daw Suu’s ascent from political prisoner to State Counsellor (a bespoke position that makes her de facto President) has come under strain. These challenges are uniquely complex. We can understand why by comparing Myanmar with the distilled experience of the fifty or so countries that have made their own democratic transition over the past forty years. While each country is different, all transitions resemble one another. By studying them we can draw wider conclusions about their characteristic paths, dynamics and outcomes, and the ways that specific national experiences vary.
This casts light on the nature and scale of the challenges facing a new democracy. Transitions are not completed until a democracy is consolidated. This requires a broad consensus among all significant political forces that democracy is the only legitimate way to resolve disagreements, however severe they are. Meeting major early challenges successfully is critical: this provides wide reassurance that the new regime is resilient and effective.democratisations are careful and complex negotiations involving pressure, inducement and compromise
