Military rule in Myanmar (also known as Burma) lasted from 1962 to 2011 and resumed in 2021. Myanmar gained its independence from the British Empire in 1948 under the Burmese Independence Army, as a democratic nation. The first military rule began in 1958 and direct military rule started when Ne Win captured power through a coup d'état in 1962. Burma became a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party that lasted for 26 years, under the claim to save the country from disintegration. During this period there was some democratic landscape in the form of giving rights to the citizen to elect and to stand for election.