Opinion | How Generals Plot Together, in Myanmar and Thailand

His junta, and now government, proceeded to quell protests and silence the political opposition by exploiting existing polarization within the public, notably between the monarchists and supporters of populist former prime ministers, and by re-engineering the political system — the Constitution, Parliament, the courts — to further entrench the military’s power.

In Myanmar, the February coup ostensibly was carried out in response to electoral fraud during the general elections in November that brought a resounding victory for the ruling National League for Democracy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to practice a “genuine discipline-flourishing multiparty democratic system,” while promising to continue existing economic and foreign policies. This coup was “different” from others, he said.

His coup nonetheless has been violent and deadly, whereas the…