The Tatmadaw is the official name of the armed forces of Burma. It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the People's Militia Units and until 2013 the Frontier Forces, locally known as Na Sa Kha. The force is headed by the Commander in Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Following a coup by General Ne Win in 1962, the Tatmadaw maintained a firm grip on power through a military government in Burma until the 2015 elections. In this time they hollowed out all rival institutions- from the judiciary to the school system- developed during British rule or in the fragile years of multi-party democracy following independence in 1948. Its human rights record is among the worst in the world: the use of rape as a weapon of war and the mass recruitment of child soldiers have been documented at length. Burma's previous military rulers were marked by their international isolation- enjoying warmer relations with Pyongyang than with Washington- and could be parochially minded in the extreme.
In 2011, following international pressure the Tatmadaw began a carefully managed liberalization, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the longstanding opposition party, the NLD, in the 2015 election. Although the military’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, was defeated the power of the military still descends into every corner of society as it maintains a powerful veto power in legislative affairs.
Its grip was felt keenly when the government was formed in March 2016. The military put forward Myint Swe as vice president- a choice the NLD was unable to veto. The military maintains its “guiding role” in the nation’s politics, and full sovereignty over its own affairs, as stipulated in the 2008 Constitution. This has proved to be a millstone around Burma's democratic development.