Following the end of the Second World War in 1945, British colonial resources in Southeast Asia were exhausted and the Burmese movement for independence gained momentum. After negotiations in London, British Prime Minister Attlee finally conceded that the British would grant Burma independence in 1948. The AFPFL convincingly won general elections in 1947 – to determine the composition of the future government of Burma – and Aung San was thrust into national leadership. Ironically though, while resisting British colonial rule, the formal institutions adopted in the new 1947 Constitution were largely structured around the British Westminster ‘prototype’ (Maung Maung Gyi 1983: 87).

This chapter examines the period from Burma's independence until the first political and economic liberalisations under the Thein Sein government from 2011. I first focus on the AFPFL leadership after independence and the ways in which, during the parliamentary period, meanings of democracy took a moral turn, focussing on the value of unity amidst the chaos of multiple civil wars and party division. I then examine the lurch to the military leadership under General Ne Win and the reaction against the perceived immaturity of parliamentary government. Finally, I highlight the emergence of democracy movement leaders, particularly Aung San Suu Kyi, and their reaction against the military assumptions of ‘disciplined democracy’ and a guardian role for the Tatmadaw. Overall, this chapter is not an attempt to construct a unitary history of Myanmar but rather to locate and uncover struggles over the meaning of democracy during these different periods and how they shape contemporary political uses of the word ‘democracy’.