Democratic rule ended in Burma in 1962 when a coup d'état led by General Ne Win overthrew the democratically-elected government and installed a ruling council in its place. Ne Win and the other members of the ruling council later resigned their commissions and, in 1974, established a Socialist system known as the Burmese Way to Socialism in which the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) was the sole permitted political party. In accordance with Marxist principles, all means of production were nationalised and a centrally-planned economy was established which subsisted until Ne Win lost power in 1988.
The End of Burmese Socialism and the Return of Military Rule
The final year of Ne Win's rule was marked by widespread unrest and pro-democracy demonstrations. The country had suffered years of economic mismanagement and, despite vast mineral wealth, had become one of the world's poorest nations. A coup d'état led by General Saw Maung removed Ne Win from power, but did little to deter those protestors calling for greater political freedom and economic liberalisation.
Under intense pressure the new ruling junta, which named itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), promised to hold free and fair democratic elections within two years of taking power.
The 'Victory' of Aun San Suu Kyi and the Annulled 1990 Elections
In May 1990, the junta duly held the first free elections in thirty years. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi claimed a landslide victory, winning almost 392 of the 489 contested contested seats. However General Saw Maung refused to acknowledge the victory and the results of the election were annulled.
In spite of an international outcry and protests within Burma, the ruling clique refused to recognise the NLD's victory and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest later that year. Ms. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest, which was most recently extended in August 2009 for another 18 months following the unauthorised visit of American protestor John Yettaw who had reached her house by swimming across a lake.
General Than Shwe, the Head of the Ruling Junta
Since 1992, Burma's ruling junta - which has been known since 1997 as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - has been headed by General Than Shwe. He is regarded as even more hard-line than his predecessors and his treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi demonstrates this, for she has been held under a continual and increasingly unlawful (even under Burmese law) house arrest since 2003.
Although the junta has promised that elections will take place in 2010, a date has still not been set, and it is already clear that Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to take part following the extension of her house arrest. Not much is known about the other members of the SPDC, of which there are nine or possibly 10, but they are all career soldiers and it is difficult to envisage a scenario where they would allow free elections to take place which would almost certainly oust them from power.
Both General Shwe and his number two Maung Aye are vehemently opposed to any future political career for Ms. Suu Kyi and her party, although it is not clear what form the election will take (should it in fact ever take place) and what measures the junta will take to ensure that the NLD is excluded from the political process.
Burma, or Myanmar, the Pariah State
Burma, despite its membership of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a virtual pariah state which routinely attracts international condemnation for the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, as well as its citizens in general. In September 2007 the junta violently suppressed protests led by thousands of Buddhist monks - which was dubbed the 'Saffron Revolution - in response to the SPDC's decision to remove state fuel subsidies which caused prices to rise to unacceptable levels.
The SPDC received further criticism for its response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008 which claimed an estimated 150,000 lives, when it initially refused all offers of international aid, only relenting 10 days after the disaster struck.
Whatever the immediate future may hold for Burma, the ruling junta have become prone to ever more bizarre actions, the most visible of which was the decision taken in 2006 by the increasingly superstitious Than Shwe to move the administrative capital from Rangoon to the jungle town of Naypyidaw allegedly on the advice of his personal astrologer. General Shwe is now in his mid-70's and rumoured to be in ill-health, it is unclear what plans there are for a succession, or whether Burma will see power transferred through yet another coup d'état.
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