Measuring Democracy

With so much going on in the Middle East, Myanmar is in the midst of democratic change as well. From what I gather, Myanmar has been under military rule for the last 40 years or so. The military government held free elections last November for the first time since 1990, although many pro-democracy groups denounce the results as fraudulent, as the military party won over 80% of the votes.

There is little opposition to this party. The  current dictator, Than Shwe, could easily win the first presidential election if he decides to run (and he likely will). To read more about the situation in Myanmar, here is an article from the Economist detailing the new democratic processes taking place.

This topic is particularly relevant considering our ongoing discussions on how we define democracy. Clearly, in this instance, Myanmar is not democratic: the opposition party boycotted the last elections because the leader of the NDF was under house arrest. The military government (and it’s party) control way too much of the parliament to allow for any sort of political opposition.