Can Myanmar’s NLD Government Undo the Gordian Knot of Federalism and Ethnicity?

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said that peace is the first priority of the National League for Democracy (NLD) when it comes to power in April 2016. Both her remarks at the Union Peace Conference in January and the NLD election manifesto point to ethnicity and federalism being linked. This is a position similar to that taken by the outgoing Thein Sein government and the army. Now that the word "federalism" is accepted as useful in the debate over how to establish an end to Myanmar's persistent civil