On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized control of the country, arresting civilian leaders and ousting the elected parliament. Since then, the country has perched on the edge of civil war, caught between the use of violent force by the Tatmadaw and a growing armed resistance on the part of ethnic militias as well as the proclaimed National Unity Government. On top of that, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is causing a surge in infections that threatens to collapse the health care system.
Six months after the coup, what does the political and social landscape look like in Myanmar? What are the prospects for the country moving forward, and is there anything the international community can do to shift the needle toward a peaceful resolution?
On August 2, Moe Thuzar, an ISEAS Fellow and co-coordinator of the Myanmar Studies Programme; Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon; and Nicholas Coppel, an Adjunct Associate Professor (Practice) at Monash University, and Australia’s Ambassador to Myanmar from 2015-2018, joined The Diplomat to look at the situation in Myanmar six months after the military seized power.