The Pro-democracy Movement in Burma 1945–2010

The Pro-democracy Movement in Burma 1945–2010 is one of six Change in the Modern World options in Section IV. Unlike the essay sections (II and III), this section has one question in three or four parts (no choice of alternatives), and one part is worth 10–15 marks. Smaller parts usually ask you to outline, describe or explain, often using a source; the big part asks for a judgement. The syllabus key features are the early experience of democracy, the rise of the military, ethnic tensions, the growth of the pro-democracy movement, the visions of its leaders, and the military's response.

• Survey: Burma's geography and its ethnic, social and political make-up; the end of Japanese occupation (1945).
• Independence and democracy: Aung San; the challenges facing the democratic governments 1948–1962; civil war.
• The rise of the military: Ne Win; the Burmese Way to Socialism; the Tatmadaw (armed forces); ethnic tensions.
• The 1988 uprising and the 1990 election: Ne Win's resignation; the SLORC; the NLD; Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.
• Military government 1990–2010: Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt; ethnic conflict; the role of religion; international responses.

Names

The military government changed the country's English name to Myanmar in 1989 (and Rangoon to Yangon). The democracy movement and many Western governments kept using ‘Burma’; the syllabus uses ‘Burma’. Either is acceptable if you are consistent. The majority ethnic group is the Bamar (Burmans); ‘Burmese’ can mean either the Bamar or all citizens.

• About two-thirds of the population are Bamar, living mainly in the central plains and the Irrawaddy valley. Many minorities — Shan, Karen (Kayin), Kachin, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, Karenni (Kayah) and others — live mostly in the hills and borderlands, and many have their own languages and armed organisations.
• Most people are Theravada Buddhists; there are Christian (many Karen, Kachin and Chin), Muslim (including the Rohingya of northern Rakhine State) and Hindu minorities.
• Under British rule (from 1886 a province of British India, separated in 1937), Burma proper was ruled directly and the hill areas indirectly, which deepened divisions. Indian migration and Chinese business also shaped the economy.
• Japan occupied Burma from 1942 to 1945. Aung San's army fought first with Japan, then against it (March 1945).

• Aung San led the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL). The Aung San–Attlee Agreement (January 1947) agreed on independence; at Panglong (February 1947) Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders agreed to join a union with internal autonomy promised. Aung San was assassinated on 19 July 1947.
• Independence: 4 January 1948. U Nu became Prime Minister; Burma left the Commonwealth.
• Civil war: the Communist Party of Burma (from March 1948); the Karen National Union (from 1949, reaching Insein near Rangoon); Chinese Nationalist (KMT) troops in Shan State in the 1950s.
• Politics: the AFPFL split in 1958; Ne Win's caretaker government (1958–60); U Nu won the 1960 election and made Buddhism the state religion (1961), alienating non-Buddhist minorities.
• The federal movement: Shan and other leaders sought a more federal union (1961–62).
• Coup: 2 March 1962. Ne Win's Revolutionary Council claimed it was preventing the break-up of the Union. In July 1962 troops fired on students and blew up the Rangoon University Students' Union building.

• The Burmese Way to Socialism: nationalisation of trade, banks and industry; many Indian and Chinese residents left; isolation from foreign investment and tourism.
• One-party state: the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP); the 1974 constitution.
• The Tatmadaw became the dominant institution, with officers in all key posts.
• Ethnic war: the ‘Four Cuts’ strategy (cutting insurgents off from food, funds, intelligence and recruits) caused great civilian suffering.
• Protests crushed: 1974 (workers; the funeral of U Thant).
• Economic collapse: in 1987 the UN classed Burma as a Least Developed Country; the demonetisation of September 1987 wiped out savings.

An estimated 3,000 people were killed in the crackdown of 1988; many students fled to the borderlands and some joined armed groups.

• Leaders: General Than Shwe (head of the junta from 1992); General Khin Nyunt (Military Intelligence chief; Prime Minister 2003; purged in 2004). The SLORC was renamed the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997.
• Repression: political prisoners (more than 2,000 by the late 2000s); Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest 1989–95, 2000–02 and 2003–10; the Depayin attack on her convoy (May 2003), widely blamed on pro-regime forces.
• Controlled transition: the National Convention (1993–96, 2004–07); Khin Nyunt's seven-step ‘roadmap to democracy’ (2003); a new capital, Naypyidaw (2005–06).
• The Saffron Revolution (August–September 2007): fuel price rises → protests led by monks, who refused alms from the military → violent crackdown.
• Cyclone Nargis (2 May 2008): about 138,000 dead or missing; the regime at first blocked foreign aid workers.
• The 2008 Constitution: approved in a referendum days after Nargis (claimed 92% approval); 25% of seats reserved for the military; the commander-in-chief controls defence, home and border affairs; a clause excluding Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency.
• The 2010 election (7 November): boycotted by the NLD; won by the military-backed USDP. Aung San Suu Kyi was released on 13 November 2010.

Ethnic conflict

• Ceasefires from 1989 (after the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma), for example with the United Wa State Army and, in 1994, the Kachin Independence Organisation — peace without a political settlement.
• War continued with the Karen (their headquarters at Manerplaw fell in 1995) and others; refugees in camps in Thailand.
• The Rohingya were made largely stateless by the 1982 Citizenship Law; large numbers fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991–92. The name ‘Rohingya’ is contested within Myanmar, where officials often call them ‘Bengalis’; the syllabus and most scholars use ‘Rohingya’.

Religion

Monks (the sangha) have great moral authority. The generals used Buddhism for legitimacy (funding pagodas, controlling the sangha), which is why the monks' protests in 1988 and 2007 were so damaging. Religion also divided Burma: Christian and Muslim minorities often felt excluded by Buddhist nationalism.

International responses

• The West: US sanctions (investment ban 1997; import ban 2003); EU sanctions; support for Aung San Suu Kyi.
• ASEAN: membership 1997; ‘constructive engagement’.
• China: arms, trade, investment; with Russia, vetoed a UN Security Council resolution (January 2007). India also engaged for strategic reasons.
• The result: divided pressure, so the regime survived sanctions.

Beyond 2010 (not examined)

The option ends in 2010. Later events — the reforms from 2011, the NLD's election win in 2015, the 2017 violence against the Rohingya and the military coup of 1 February 2021 — are outside the syllabus, but they show that the 2008 constitution left the military with great power.

Worked example (not a bank question).

• _(a) Outline the role of the student movement in Burmese politics before 1962. (4 marks)_ — Students in the Thakin movement and the 1936 and 1938 strikes, Aung San as a student leader, students as a political force after independence. Four clear points with detail.
• _(b) Using a source, explain the impact of Cyclone Nargis on Burma in 2008. (6 marks)_ — Use the source's details; add own knowledge (deaths, the regime's restrictions on aid, the referendum held regardless, ASEAN's role); explain the impact.
• _(c) To what extent did the pro-democracy movement achieve its aims by 2010? (15 marks)_ — A thesis; paragraphs on achievements (1990 election, international support, survival of the NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi's release) and failures (no transfer of power, the 2008 constitution, prisoners, the 2010 election); a conclusion.

The three parts total 25 marks, the value of Section IV. Spend your time in proportion to the marks: the paper gives 180 minutes for 100 marks, so roughly 1.8 minutes per mark (about 45 minutes for this section).

• Confusing Aung San (died 1947) with his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi.
• Confusing the 1958 caretaker government with the 1962 coup.
• Mixing up 1988 (uprising, SLORC), 1990 (election) and 2007 (Saffron Revolution).
• Treating ‘ethnic minorities’ as one group, or leaving them out of an answer about democracy.
• Writing about events after 2010 as if they were in the syllabus.

• Use precise terms: Tatmadaw, junta, SLORC/SPDC, federalism, ceasefire, sangha, disciplined democracy, sanctions, constructive engagement.
• Show change and continuity: military rule changed its form (Revolutionary Council → BSPP → SLORC/SPDC → the 2008 constitution) but not its core.
• In source parts, quote briefly, explain, and add your own knowledge.
• In the 10–15 mark part, make a judgement in your first sentence and return to it at the end of every paragraph.

• Conflict in the Pacific 1937–1951 covers the Japanese occupation that shaped Aung San's army.
• Indonesia 1945–2005 offers a comparison: another army that dominated a diverse post-colonial state, and a transition to democracy after 1998.
• The Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square 1966–1989 shows another regime crushing a democracy movement in 1989.