Performance Legitimacy or Coercion? Assessing Dictatorial Longevity in Myanmar’s Authoritarianism

Background Southeast Asia’s authoritarian developmental model has endured in many countries in the region, partly because non-democratic leaders emphasize performance legitimacy to maintain autocratic power. However, despite being one of the oldest authoritarian regimes, Myanmar’s case indicates the opposite trend. Domestic stability has been absent, as the military junta continues to face resistance and opposition voices, despite its efforts to establish order. Given the lack of positive economic performance, what explains the longevity of Myanmar’s authoritarianism? Method Utilizing the 2024 Democracy Index and Varieties of Democracy’s 2025 participatory democracy index and fair and free elections data, this qualitative study bridges the analytical framework for conceptualizing regime varieties (a graded approach) and traces coercion in Myanmar’s authoritarianism to make sense of dictatorial longevity in Myanmar’s case. Results The results of this study are as follows: 1) Myanmar shows some concerning and stagnant trends away from ideal democratic practices, suggesting that Myanmar’s authoritarianism is fundamentally worse compared to Southeast Asian states with similar political systems; and 2) The presence of coercion, threat of violence, and the deployment of coerciveness through institutional structures under the junta’s rule, seen with digital authoritarianism, continued repression on civil liberties, and the military-backed elections, which forcefully prolongs authority. Conclusions Dictatorial longevity in Myanmar shows trends leaning towards coercion, rather than performance legitimacy. Therefore, despite similar systems in Southeast Asia encountering domestic stability, the case of Myanmar has resulted in increased repression and disregard for civil liberties and the rights of the Myanmar people.