The Myanmar military has a history of viewing civil society as an adversary. The military sees it as a distraction from their objective of maintaining state power and believes Western governments are behind the support for civil society. Public officials have continued to repress civil society while simultaneously using civil society organizations to give the illusion of enabling governance and promoting a positive collaborative image. In reality, the government has worked to subjugate CSOs by co-opting, restricting, or eliminating them, as well as relying on other forms of oppression to control civic space.
