"This book examines the decade of missed opportunities in Myanmar between 2011 and 2021 as it came closer to peace than ever before. The regime liberalized, held mostly free and fair elections, reached a national ceasefire agreement with armed groups, and began a multilateral peace dialogue with ethnic minorities. Yet little was achieved. 'Winning by process,' as opposed to winning by war or by agreement, represents the state's ability to gain advantage by manipulating the rules of negotiation, bargaining process, and sites of power and resources"

Introduction
1. Winning by Process: Leveraging Formal Negotiation, State Institutions, and War
2. The Failure to Win by War: The Limits of Bamar Dominance and Ethnic Minority Repression
3. Democratization: Layering and Sequencing in the State Institutional Arena
4. Process over War: From Ceasefire to Political Dialogue
5. Normalizing Weak Ethnic States: Constitutional Lock-In and Implementing Layers
6. Outflanking and the Erosion of De Facto Autonomy
7. Fragmentation, Marginalization, and Subjugation: Layering and Locking In Ethnic Recognition
Conclusion

Jacques Bertrand is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He is the author, most recently, of Ethnic Minorities and Political Change in Southeast Asia.
Alexandre Pelletier is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Université Laval. Follow him on X at @APPelletier.
Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung is Chair of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She is the author, most recently, of Everyday Economic Survival in Contemporary Myanmar. Follow her on X at @AThawnghmung.