The Coup by the Myanmar military in February 2021 has resulted in renewed calls for a fundamental reform of the political system, which includes the abolition of special privileges for the Tatmadaw, a focus on democratic governance principles and the introduction of a federal union of equals. This presentation will look at the situation in Myanmar before the military coup and assess to what extent, a) Myanmar was a decentralised / federal state under the 2008 Constitution; b) how discussions in the Union Peace Conference dealt with the issue of federalism and c) How developments have sped up since the military coup, and how new visions on federalism are evolving amongst the different stakeholders. By doing so, the presentation will focus on the current situation, and the diverse perceptions of federalism amongst a variety of groups. Finding compromise and agreement will be challenging – and the presentation will highlight how the situation might get worse, before it can get better and a new constitutional framework can be agreed upon.

Speaker Bio

Dr Sören Keil is a Senior Teaching and Research Fellow at the Chair for International Politics of the University of Passau in Germany. Before that, until September 2024 he was the Academic Head of the International Research and Consulting Centre at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He previously worked at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK. His research focuses on institutional design in post-conflict societies, federalism and decentralisation, as well as conflict resolution and power-sharing. He has published widely on comparative federalism and power-sharing, with his latest book titled “Power-sharing in the Global South – Patterns, Practices and Potential” (Palgrave, with Allison McCulloch and Eduardo Aboultaif).