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International IDEA spoke to artist and photographer Mayco Naing on the sidelines of the Australian National University (ANU) Myanmar Update 2023, where she launched her exhibition, “How to quantify FEAR”. 

Constitution-making is often integral to achieving a new political settlement after conflict and in fragile settings. However, the process fails with relative frequency, in that actors cannot agree on a new text or the finalized text is not approved or ratified. While failure may be temporary—the process may resume after a period of time—it can also be costly.

On 5–6 December 2022, International IDEA gathered 30 leading experts on democracy, anti-corruption and human rights at the inaugural Democracy in Asia and the Pacific Outlook Forum. Representing 23 institutions and organizations from 12 countries, attendees discussed key trends in democracy in the Asia and the Pacific region over the course of seven topical sessions.

View this joint statement in English and Myanmar. 

This technical paper explores and analyses diversity management in Sudan’s democratic transition arrangement (2019–2021). It primarily utilizes the concept of ‘diversity management’ for legislative practice. To administer geographical, multicultural, multi-ethnic and multilingual population diversity, Sudan has passed, in accordance with international principles, many laws to manage diversity in a way that reflects strategic national planning.

Federalism is a constitutional mechanism for dividing responsibilities between different levels of government in a country. It grants constituent units (i.e. substate territorial entities that may be called states, regions, provinces, Länder or cantons) a certain degree of autonomy (or self-rule) in regulating some policy areas.

Myanmar is rich in natural resources and a global biodiversity hotspot. Myanmar is also one of the countries worst affected by climate change and one of the least equipped to improve its resilience without external support. How to manage natural resources has always been at the heart of Myanmar’s history and learning how to manage economic development sustainably became a central question of Myanmar’s democratic transition.

This Report provides a study of the ethnic composition of Myanmar’s subnational units together with an analysis of the historical evolution of the administrative units that existed under the 2008 Constitution.

Myanmar’s military junta has sought to justify the 1 February 2021 coup d’état with dubious allegations of electoral fraud surrounding the 8 November 2020 general elections. The State Administration Council perpetuates this narrative of electoral fraud and claims to be preparing fresh elections, including by making changes to election and political party laws, implementing a new electoral system, and updating the voter list.

More than one year after the Myanmar military staged an attempted coup d'état, democracy defenders both inside and outside of Myanmar remain committed to restoring legitimately elected leaders and returning the country to the path to federalism.

The participants of the third annual Women Constitution-Makers’ Dialogue explored comparative constitutional design approaches to legal pluralism and reconciling tensions between customary/religious systems and guarantees of gender equality and non-discrimination.

On 18 June 2021, the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution which calls upon the Myanmar armed forces “to respect the will of the people as freely expressed by the results of the general election of 8 November 2020, to end the state of emergency, to respect all human rights of all the people of Myanmar and to allow the sustained democratic transition of Myanmar, including the opening of the democratically elected pa

“Ensuring accountability for past actions, developing mechanisms for transitional justice, enshrining the principles of equality and protection of rights of all ethnic, religious and gender minorities, including Rohingya and other marginalized groups in Myanmar’s future federal constitution and combating all forms of injustice are vital for democracy and constitutional reform in a country and failing to uphold these principles could threaten the country's entire populations.” Wai

International IDEA condemns in the strongest possible terms the extra-legal executions of four democracy defenders in Myanmar, which mark yet another shocking escalation of the violence perpetrated by the military junta. International IDEA associates itself with the wide condemnation of these executions by the international community and the Myanmar national organizations, including the National Unity Government (NUG).

This brief explores inclusion strategies for constitutional and democratic reform in the post-coup context of Myanmar. It highlights the challenges to gender equality and inclusion in Myanmar, including the role and demands of the pro-democracy actors in Myanmar’s post-coup political landscape. It analyses how inclusive Myanmar’s legitimate interim government institutions are and what the revised Federal Democracy Charter states about gender and inclusion.

This brief explores how gender-based violence in Myanmar, particularly violence against women and girls, is addressed in the absence of a clear constitutional provision and legal protection.

Every major political process, whether peace negotiations, elections, parliamentary terms, constitutional reform or other forms of decision-making, can contribute to challenging gender inequality in public life. This brief explores how to be an effective constitutional advocate for gender equality and women’s rights in Myanmar.

This brief explores how constitutional advocates for women’s equality in Myanmar can advance women’s representation and meaningful participation in public decision-making and institutions. It looks at how different countries have aimed to do this through their constitutions, and what lessons can be learned for your own advocacy strategies.

In the current interim period in Myanmar, with an illegitimate military regime in power and efforts by the interim governance institutions under way to build and enable a transition to a genuine democracy, the formation of an interim electoral management body—like a government and a legislature—is urgent and necessary as a key institution to support and prepare for the restoration of democracy.

Under its MyConstitution programme, International IDEA continues to support the legitimate interim government institutions of Myanmar in their pursuit of restoring democracy and constitutional governance since the 2021 coup, together with an increasing number of young civil servants who are emerging as change-makers in Myanmar’s interim National Unity Government (NUG), its interim parliament, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and the inclusive platform of the pro-democr