Demonstrators calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned State Counsellor and Foreign Minister of Myanmar on August 8, 2026 in New York City | Photo by John Lamparski/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via AFP
In this paper published by NYSEAN Partner ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Kyaw Yin Hlaing asserts that although Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains a major factor in Myanmar politics, the nature of her influence has changed. Whereas before the 2021 coup, her importance rested on her extraordinary popularity, leadership of the democratic movement, and electoral legitimacy, her ability to exercise political leadership following the coup has sharply diminished, yet much of her popular and symbolic legitimacy remains.
Kyaw Yin Hlaing is Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He was previously a visiting scholar at Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program.
