Sixth Workshop of the “Strengthening Civil Society Organizations in Myanmar 2019-2020” Program: Colonialism and Conditions for Democratizations, Civil Society Engagement

EAI has provided ongoing research and institutional assistance to the strengthening of civil society organizations and democracy promotion through the “Strengthening Civil Society Organizations in Myanmar” program since 2015. The sixth workshop of the 2019-2020 program, “Promoting Civil Society Engagement in Myanmar’s Electoral Democracy,” was held online on June 24^th in 2020.

In the sixth workshop, discussions based on online democracy lectures by professor Larry Diamond from Standford University took place. Before students had the chance to participate in discussions, they acquired theoretical knowledge by listening to the first online lectures on “Conditions for Democratizations and Civil Society Engagement” and discussed ways of developing Burmese democracy. Then, the students were engaged in this workshop with Professor Jin Seok Bae of Gyeongsang National University to examine the legitimacy and Myanmar’s democratic consolidation and discuss ways to take democracy in Myanmar to the next step.
 
Due to COVID-19, EAI has replaced the fifth Yangon workshop which was scheduled in late April to an online platform with remote lectures and discussion sessions. EAI plans to hold further lectures on civil society engagement in electoral democracy in light of Myanmar’s November 2020 general elections. The “Strengthening Civil Society Organizations in Myanmar” program has been supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) since 2015.

Lecturer
Jin Seok Bae, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Gyeongsang National University

Program Manager
Juhyun Jun, Research Associate at EAI

Participating Institutions
Sandhi Governance Institute
Yangon School of Political Science
Another Development
Yone Kyi Yar Knowledge Propagation Society
Naushawng Development Institute