ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a chronological overview of armed ethnic conflict in Myanmar. It looks particularly at the 1988-2011 and 2011-2016 periods, and focuses largely on the approaches of former governments to handling ethnic armed conflicts. The chapter discusses the opportunities and challenges that the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government faces today in trying to bring a lasting peaceful settlement. It also provides a sober reflection on the reality that, despite good reason for hope, Myanmar likely has many more decades, at least, of ethnic armed conflict, and that the potential for meaningful change depends on the actions of the Bamar military elite. The NLD's commitment to achieving peace through political dialogue was further confirmed in President Htin Kyaw's inaugural address, as he stated as his government's main policies: 'national reconciliation, internal peace, pursuing a constitution toward a federal union'.
