Republic of Burma

Burma, formally referred to as the Republic of the Union of Burma (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) since 2016, and previously known as the Union of Burma (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) between 1945 and 2016, is a country in Southeast Asia, and had a population of roughly 54 million individuals in 2018. It is mainly bordered by Bangladesh and India on the East, Thailand in the West and China in the Northern area. It is also bounded by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The national capital is Naypyidaw, and the largest city is Yangon, which has served as the original capital until 2007.

In 1885, the area of Burma was seized by the British East Company and later incorporated in the British Raj, and became a colony. After a brief occupation from Japanese forces, the country was granted independence on 4 January 1948 in confirmity of the Burma Independence Act. Burma post-independence period has been charatcherized by continued and protracted insurgency in East Regions, mainly from ethnic groups who were dissatisfied of the central government treatment and mismanagement of regional affairs. Other than the rebel activity, democratically-elected Prime Minister U Nu was deposed in 1962 by rogue elements of the Tatmadaw, and it's Chief of Staff, General Ne Win, assumed the role of head of government. In early 1970's, Ne founded the Burmese Socialist Party Programme, and transformed the country in a totalitarian socialist-military dictatorship, adopting autarky and leading Burma to almost declare bankruptcy. On 17 September 1974, dissent officers from the Burmese Armed Forces staged a coup to remove Ne Win, and assumed power through the State Law and Order Restoration Council, led by Brigadier General Saw Maung, who promoted himself to Senior General in 1979.

The military junta, inspired by regimes in South America, adopted neoliberal economic policies and led an exclusive effort to modernize the state.