Myanmar is, at last, entering a period of democratization. However, a great deal of uncertainty remains, as the contents of this book reveal. What sort of democracy Myanmar might eventually become remains unclear, and we cannot make many assumptions about the intentions of many of the individuals and organizations central to the process of democratization. The reform process is neither smooth nor certain, and much uncertainty remains about the prospects for implementation of policies, even where the will for genuine change exists on the part of at least some in the national leadership.

Experts on democracy and democratization talk about the need both to enable and to consolidate democratic practices, so that new forms of social and political behaviour are “routinized” and become habitual (Linz and Stepan 1996). The democratization process in Myanmar has not yet had sufficient time for us to speak of democratic practices being habitual; nevertheless, participants at the 2013 Myanmar/Burma Update Conference, whose contributions comprise the contents of this book, have been keen to explore the extent to which the new government in Myanmar has so far succeeded in its pursuit of ambitious reforms.

Key questions asked at the conference that have made their way into this volume address whether or not the government's reform agenda will fully embrace democratization, and if so, in what ways, or whether the government might attempt to push back against public aspirations for improvements and reforms. Some observers of the political changes that have occurred since the previous conference in May 2011, such as Morten Pedersen, were inclined to concur that the reform program was a calculated long-term strategy and seemed irreversible. They pointed to the many new policy initiatives from the centre, the apparent sincerity of elite actors about the need for consensus on democratic transition, and the growing popular sentiment for social and political change, as evidence that the country is firmly on a democratizing path. In holding this view, Pedersen is joined by other prominent Myanmar watchers (see, for instance, Callahan 2012; Emmerson 2012; Min Zin and Joseph 2012).

In his foreword to this volume, Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development and former academic Winston Set Aung notes the complexity of reforms, and the potential for one reform or set of reforms to be derailed by set-backs in others, due to the interconnectedness of the overall agenda.