Background: Burma Then and Now

Between 1962 and 2010, Burma was ruled by two military regimes. Allegations of human-rights abuses led the United States, the European Union, Canada, and a few countries in the Asia-Pacific to impose a variety of economic sanctions throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Burma's isolation continued during that time: trade and investment were limited, foreign travel was nearly banned, few tourists were allowed to enter, and the population remained impoverished.
During his March 2011 inauguration speech, President Sein promised to bring about reforms to improve Burmese living conditions — a pledge attempted, albeit with somewhat limited success. In a gesture of political openness, the president met with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the pro-democratic National League for Democracy (NLD). He has also invited exiled activists to return to Burma without punishment and has released many political prisoners.

Suu Kyi was released in November 2010 after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest for political dissent. Suu Kyi and NLD candidates were allowed to run in the April 2012 by-elections, winning the vast majority of parliamentary seats. Although some international observers reported that the elections did not meet the four criteria outlined by the United Nations (free, fair, transparent, and inclusive), it was politically significant that the opposition participated, as opposition candidates had previously refused to run in the 2010 election in protest against restrictive election laws.
The government is also making efforts to improve the economy. It adopted the National Rural Development and Poverty Reduction Plan (2011-15), which is intended to reduce the poverty rate from 26 percent to 16 percent by 2015. Economic reforms include making foreign investment easier and switching to a floating exchange rate. This is an important step toward macroeconomic stability, and results from these economic reforms may prove to be substantial. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that real GDP growth in Burma may increase to more than 6 percent for fiscal year 2012/13, compared to an average of about 5 percent in the past five years.
In addition, new parliament members have breached a number of delicate issues, including the question of citizenship for the long-repressed Rohingya, a Muslim minority.
Despite some government efforts, ethnic and religious tensions largely remain unresolved, and violent clashes continue to displace a significant number of Burmese. Decades-long issues regarding citizenship and inclusion of the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities remain an open question for the "new" Burma in its transition.