New Answers to Old Questions

Outside Myanmar, the 2021 coup d’état has often been portrayed as the end of a hopeful period for the country. In this Adelphi book, however, Aaron Connelly and Shona Loong argue that the Aung San Suu Kyi government that preceded it was a false dawn, unlikely to fulfil the international community's aspirations for a stable, peaceful and strong Myanmar. Instead, the movement opposing the 2021 coup holds much greater promise – despite the bloody conflict that dominates the news today.

Connelly and Loong survey three fundamental relationships that have shaped Myanmar before and after the coup – between the military and the state, between the majority Burmese and ethnic minorities, and between Myanmar and the world – to explain how opposition to the coup has shifted all of them in a more liberal, pluralist and cosmopolitan direction.

Aaron Connelly is Senior Fellow for Southeast Asian Politics and Foreign Policy at the IISS. Based in the Singapore office, his research focuses on Indonesia, Myanmar, ASEAN, and US policy in the region. Prior to joining the IISS, Aaron was the first director of the Southeast Asia Project at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Fulbright scholar and visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Shona Loong is Associate Fellow for Southeast Asian Politics and Foreign Policy at the IISS. She works on the IISS Myanmar Conflict Map microsite, contributing analyses and shaping its overall direction. Shona holds a DPhil in human geography from the University of Oxford and is currently a senior scientist in political geography at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on conflict, peacebuilding, and the politics of development in Myanmar and its borderlands.