Myanmar’s Digital Coup: How the World Responded

This book explores the nature, scope, merits and limits of international responses to Myanmar’s February 2021 coup. The novelty of this book lies in its analysis of the coup in the digital age. While the literature on Myanmar addresses issues such as earlier periods of reform, Myanmar’s political transition, the Saffron revolution, and human rights, there is still limited research that looks into the influence of digitalised Myanmar on the post-coup Civil Disobedience Movement and protestors. Myanmar opened and changed enormously in the past ten years. The use of technology and the Internet increased phenomenally, exposing Myanmar’s citizenry to new ideas, experiences and ways of viewing the world. The impact of these developments on responses to the 2021 coup is the focus of this book.
Myanmar’s opening to the world and its digitalisation has made this coup different from the three previous coups. The book’s starting point is that diplomacy is no longer (if it everwas) the preserve of governments and diplomats. International organisations, not-for-profit organisations, large corporations, academia, civil society, social media, and even individuals have all been engaged and sought to influence developments.
Drawing extensively on primary sources (official statements by UN agencies, foreign governments, international corporations, NGOs and Burma campaign activists) and experiences as a senior diplomat and an academic working with Myanmar’s government to build cyber capacity and cyber security awareness, this book takes a fresh look at all forms of international behaviour that seek to bring about change in a rogue or pariah state. The book will be the first to study the part played by Gen Z and their facility with smart phone technology to mobilise, inform and build opposition to the coup. To what extent did the youth of Myanmar learn from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and the so-called ＂milk tea alliance＂? How has dependenceon the internet affected the operations of the security forces and the Civil Disobedience Movement? How did both sides deploy misinformation and disinformation to achieve their respective goals?
The book thus provides an informative guide for those seeking an understanding of what has happened and what, short of a military intervention, can be done about it. It examines international responses in the first year following the coup, candidly assessing their feasibility, efficacy and utility. Recent developments are situated within the context of Myanmar’s modern history and the discourse on the effectiveness of sanctions compared with engagement.
The book also critically examines ASEAN’s role - how does ASEAN see its role, how does the National Unity Government regard ASEAN endeavours, and how does the rest of the world view ASEAN’s capacity to address Myanmar’s problems? We evaluate ASEAN’s principle of non-interference in the internalaffairs of member states. Does this principle matter more to it than judgments about its weakness and inability to deal with breaches of the ASEAN Charter?

Nicholas Coppel is an Adjunct Associate Professor (Practice) at Monash University, and a former senior career diplomat and Ambassador. He was Australia’s Ambassador to Myanmar from 2015-2018. Between 2011 and 2013, he headed the 500+ person Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands in restoring law and order and governance in Solomon Islands after a period of ethnic tensions. He oversaw and contributed to the publication of ten books as Executive Director of the Department of foreign Affairs and Trade’s Economic Analytical Unit. Overseas, he has also served as Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner in Port Moresby and Deputy Head of Mission in Manila, with an earlier posting in Washington DC. Nicholas has a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Australian National University and a Master of Business Administration degree from London Business School. He was awarded the Cross of Solomon Islands in 2017.
Lennon Y.C. Chang is Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia. He is the Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific Association of Technology and Society which he co-founded in 2012. He is also the founder of Cyberbaykin: Myanmar Cyber Security Awareness campaign. Before joining Monash University, he was an Assistant Professor of criminology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the City University of Hong Kong (2011-2015).He was awarded his PhD by the Australian National University in 2010. He has a Master in Criminology and Bachelor in Law degrees from National Taipei University. In 2007 he received an Endeavour Asia Award and in 2009 was identified by Peking University and Griffith Asia Institute as an Australia-China Emerging Leader. He was recently selected as a Global Emerging Voices Fellow and an Australia-China Youth Dialogue Fellow.