• Editors: Kyunghee Choi, Joonyoung Jang
• Publication Date: February / 2024
• Publisher: Zininzin

Spring Revolution: Brave Journey towards a ‘New Myanmar’, a study on the journey and prospects of Myanmar’s democratization movement after the February 2021 military coup, has been published.

Myanmar became independent in 1948 after British colonization but had been ruled by an authoritarian system after the 1962 military coup and takeover. The democratization of Myanmar society has grown with the civilian government through the past decade since 2011, after the democratization movement in 1988, but has been seriously threatened by a military coup with the military realizing the impossibility of ruling through election. With a newly set political goal of establishing a federal democratic state, Myanmar is continuing its hard struggle with a new way of constructing a federal army.

Spring Revolution: Brave Journey towards a ‘New Myanmar’ was planned as part of the commemoration for the 10th anniversary of SNUAC Southeast Asia Center, to reverify Korean society’s interest and support for Myanmar’s democratization movement.

Spring Revolution: Brave Journey towards a ‘New Myanmar’ is the product of research work by nine academics and journalists through the project supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘The analysis of the current situation and prospects after the declaration of a state of national emergency in Myanmar’, a workshop, and the international conference titled ‘Spring Revolution and Myanmar’s Long Road Toward National Unity: Beyond the Lasting Conflict’.

The book consists of 9 chapters on ‘The history and structure of Myanmar military politics’, ‘Myanmar and the regional and international societies’, and ‘Myanmar development strategies and the Korea-Myanmar relations’. It is an accomplishment that consists of the diverse activities and perspectives of researchers, journalists, and activists working on topics related to Myanmar. We hope that this expression of diverse voices and opinions contributes to Myanmar society’s aim of becoming a democratic federal state pursuing harmonious and peaceful prosperity after overcoming military authoritarianism.