Publication

After decades of enforced self-isolation under a dictatorship, this paper casts a critical glance at Myanmar’s democratic transition and its apparent shortcomings. The author reflects on the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) overwhelming victory in the 2015 national elections, arguing that the party has struggled to balance public interests against the various challenges induced by Myanmar’s multi-ethnic social landscape. He additionally traces NLD chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to the position of ‘State Counselor’ and what this means for Myanmar’s domestic and foreign policy agenda.