Myanmar’s Generals Aren’t Going Anywhere
As sanctions are reimposed, the country’s old business elite is slowly clawing back the ground lost during a decade of reform.
By
May 03, 2021
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Even with swelling protests and mounting international pressure, Myanmar’s new military junta isn’t going anywhere. The generals that seized power on February 1 are from the same group that ruled Myanmar between 1962 and 2010 and as the screws tighten, they are re-visiting the system that kept them in power under their prior incarnation, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) junta.
Myanmar’s economy is expected to contract by over 20 percent because of the coup, but Myanmar has been here before. Under the SPDC, Myanmar appeared from the outside crippled by sanctions and wracked by ethnic civil war. Store shelves were often bare and the streets free from cars. For many observers, SPDC Myanmar was a failed state.