An Exploration of the Causes of the 2021 Military Coup in Myanmar

Abstract

On February 1, 2021, the Burmese military suddenly staged a military coup, detaining some key officials of the democratic government, including Senior Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and overthrowing the National League for Democracy (NLD) government elected in the 2020 election. Since the coup occurred only a few months after the election, its sudden occurrence shocked the world and caused extensive discussions among scholars. Focusing on the reasons for this military coup in Myanmar, this paper analyzes it from multiple perspectives. By observing the economic situation and social conflicts in Myanmar before the coup and studying the relevant measures under the NLD government, this paper argues that the NLD failed to solve the problem of being restricted by the military regime and that the military still manipulated the actual power of the country behind the scenes. Some of the political moves by the NLD even complicated the conflict between the democratic government and the military, which caused the military to have a sense of crisis, thus directly leading to the coup in 2021. Other reasons for the coup were the failure of the NLD to solve social problems, such as ethnic and religious issues in the country, and to improve the economic downturn, which allowed the military to stage a coup to prevent further democratization.