Schedule

Wednesday, March 19, 2025
6 p.m. Light Bites Reception
7 p.m. Discussion

In the 2010s, Myanmar (Burma) experienced a brief tenure of democracy that culminated with nationwide democratic elections in 2015. However, a military coup in 2021 ended democratic reforms and led to the country teetering on the brink of failed statehood. The years since the coup have seen prodemocracy protests and ethnic militias taking up arms throughout wide swaths of the country. The ensuing military rule and civil war have led to economic devastation and prevented Myanmar from returning to its once revered status as an intellectual and economic gem of Southeast Asia.

Join Asia Society Texas and the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations as Erin Murphy, Deputy Director, Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discusses the current situation in Myanmar, potential futures for the diverse and fractured country, and roles the U.S. and the international community can play to promote peace, democracy, and economic development in the country.  Murphy will be joined in conversation by Alan Crain, Houston Committee on Foreign Relations Board Chair.

About the Speaker

Erin Murphy  is the deputy director for the Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics and senior fellow for the Emerging Asia Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has spent her career in several public and private sector roles, including as an analyst on Asian political and foreign policy issues at the Central Intelligence Agency, director for the Indo-Pacific at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, founder and principal of her boutique advisory firm focused on Myanmar, and an English teacher with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in Saga, Japan. Murphy received her master’s degree in Japan studies and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and her bachelor’s degree in international relations and Spanish from Tufts University. She was also a 2017–2018 Hitachi international affairs fellow in Japan with the Council on Foreign Relations. Murphy is also the author of Burmese Haze: US Policy and Myanmar's Opening-and Closing (Association for Asian Studies, 2022).

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Asia Society Texas Business & Policy Programs are endowed by the Huffington Foundation.

Business and Policy programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Bank of America, Muffet Blake, and ExxonMobil. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, The Brown Foundation, Inc., and Houston Endowment Inc. Generous funding provided by bp America, Inc, Anne and Albert Chao, ConocoPhillips, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Regions Bank, and Stephanie and Frank Tsuru. Additional support is provided by the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing the best in public programming.

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About Asia Society Texas

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