2021 Myanmar coup d'état in the context of 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms

The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ) is the supreme law of Myanmar. Myanmar's first constitution adopted by constituent assembly was enacted for the Union of Burma in 1947. After the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, a second constitution was enacted in 1974. The country has been ruled by military juntas for most of its history.

The 2008 Constitution, the country's third constitution, was published in September 2008 after a referendum, and came into force on 31 January 2011. Under this current constitution, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) retain significant control of the government, even before their coup of 2021. Under the constitution, 25% of seats in the Parliament of Myanmar were reserved for serving military officers. The ministries of home, border affairs and defense were headed by serving military officers. The military also appointed one of the country's two vice presidents. Hence, the country's civilian leaders have little influence over the security establishment.

Burmese diaspora refers to citizens of Burma (Myanmar) who have moved abroad, regardless of ethnicity. Burma contains over 100 different ethnic groups, though the term "Burmese" can be used to refer to the Bamar ethnicity. Myanmar has experienced significant waves of population displacement, due to decades of internal conflict, poverty, and political persecution,often triggered by political events like the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, the 8888 Uprising and ensuing 1988 coup d'état, and most recently, the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. The diaspora is broadly categorised into 3 groups: religious minorities and ethnic groups who have fled conflict areas, elites seeking more politically stable environments, and others seeking improved educational and economic opportunities. In 2021, 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers were from Myanmar, making them the world's fifth largest refugee population, behind Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and South Sudan.

The diaspora in neighbouring Asian countries generally work in blue collar sectors (e.g., agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, etc.) while increasing numbers of white collar workers have resettled in the Western world. The significant brain drain of entrepreneurs, professionals and intellectuals resulting from continued decline in Myanmar's sociopolitical environment have had significant ramifications on the country's economic development, particularly in terms of human capital. The recent military coup in 2021 has resulted in the exodus of repatriates of Burmese nationality (e.g., professionals, executives and investors) as well as expatriates alike, impacting the country's emerging start-up scene.

The State Counsellor of Myanmar (Burmese: နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်) was the de facto head of government of Myanmar, equivalent to a prime minister, from 2016 to 2021. The office was created in 2016 after Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the 2015 Myanmar general election so she could lead the government despite being constitutionally ineligible for the presidency. The officeholder could “contact ministries, departments, organizations, associations and individuals” in an official capacity, while being accountable to parliament. The office was abolished by Aung San Suu Kyi's political adversary, Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing, after he seized power from her in a 2021 military coup d'état.

The National League for Democracy (Burmese: အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, IPA: [ʔəmjóðá dìmòkəɹèsì ʔəpʰwḛdʑoʊʔ]; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victory in the 2015 general election but was overthrown in a coup d'état in February 2021 following another landslide election victory in 2020.

Founded on 27 September 1988, the NLD has become one of the most influential parties in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Aung San Suu Kyi, the former State Counsellor of Myanmar, serves as its leader. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Myanmar general election. However, the ruling military junta refused to recognise the result. On 6 May 2010, the party was declared illegal and ordered to be disbanded by the junta after refusing to register for the elections slated for November 2010. In November 2011, the NLD announced its intention to register as a political party to contest future elections, and Myanmar's Union Election Commission approved their application for registration on 13 December 2011.

The Ministry of Information (Burmese: ပြန်ကြားရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန) in Myanmar officially informs the public about government policy plans and implementation and supports improvements to knowledge and education of the public. Since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état it has been described as responsible for the dissemination of propaganda through state-owned media.

2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.

Like the year 2020, 2021 saw the year by the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, due to the emergence of multiple COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued in 2021. Most major events scheduled for 2020 that were postponed due to the pandemic were hosted in 2021, including the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (held in Glasgow, Scotland), Expo 2020 (held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates), and sporting events such as UEFA Euro 2020 (held across 11 European countries), the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics (both held in Tokyo, Japan), as well as the 2021 Copa América (held in Brazil).

The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the Border Guard Forces, the Myanmar Coast Guard, and the People's Militia Units. Since independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw has faced significant ethnic insurgencies, especially in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, and Shan states. General Ne Win took control of the country in a 1962 coup d'état, attempting to build an autarkic society called the Burmese Way to Socialism. Following the violent repression of nationwide protests in 1988, the military agreed to free elections in 1990, but ignored the resulting victory of the National League for Democracy and imprisoned its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The 1990s also saw the escalation of the conflict involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State due to RSO attacks on the Tatmadaw forces, which saw the Rohingya minority facing oppression and, starting in 2017, genocide.

In 2008, the Tatmadaw again rewrote Myanmar's constitution, installing the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the 2010 elections, which were boycotted by most opposition groups. Political reforms over the next half-decade culminated in a sweeping NLD victory in the 2015 election; after the USDP lost another election in 2020, the Tatmadaw annulled the election and deposed the civilian government. The Tatmadaw has been widely accused by international organizations of human rights violation and crimes against humanity; including ethnic cleansing, political repression, torture, sexual assault, war crimes, extrajudicial punishments (including summary executions) and massacre of civilians involved in peaceful political demonstrations. The Tatmadaw has long operated as a state within a state.