Sustaining Myanmar’s Transition: Ten Critical Challenges
June 24, 2013
Priscilla Clapp Retired Minister-Counselor, U.S. Foreign Service Former Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Burma
and Suzanne DiMaggio Vice President, Global Policy Programs, Asia Society
AsiaSociety.org/MyanmarChallengesReport The authors would like to thank the Myanmar Development Resource Institute/Centre for Economic and Social Development, the United States Institute of Peace, the Blue Moon Fund, Harold J. and Ruth Newman, and the Arthur Ross Foundation for their partnership and support. The views and opinions in this report are solely those of the authors.
© 2013 The Asia Society. All rights reserved. For electronic copies of this report, please visit www.asiasociety.org/policy/publications. Asia Society 725 Park Avenue New York, NY 10021 Phone: 212-288-6400 Fax: 212-517-8315 Email: [email protected] www.asiasociety.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AfTeR MoRe ThAn hAlf A CenTuRy of brutal, debilitating military rule, Myanmar is in the process of a calculated top-down course reversal, which has unleashed a bottom-up awakening of political, economic, and civil society activity. President Thein Sein, a former general and an unlikely reformer, stands at the helm of this stunning transition.
In a show of just how far Myanmar has come, President Thein Sein met President Barack Obama at the White House in May 2013. The last time such a visit occurred was nearly 50 years ago during the Lyndon Johnson administration. The trip followed President Obama’s visit to Myanmar—the