From Wikipedia – Burma, now called Myanmar, has been a stratocracy under various guises since 1962, and in the process has become one of the least developed nations in the world. The military junta finally dissolved in 2011 following general election in 2010 and subsequent inauguration of Burma's civilian government.

A stratocracy is a form of government headed by military chiefs; the term is derived from two Greek terms signifying army and power.[1] It is not the same as a military dictatorship where the military's political power is not enforced or even supported by other laws. Rather, stratocracy is a form of military government in which the state and the military are traditionally the same thing and government positions are always occupied by military leaders. The military's political power is supported by law and the society. As such a stratocracy does not have to be autocratic by nature in order to preserve its right to rule.

Historically, the term was used by Greeks to describe the structure of the late Roman Republic and later the early Empire, where there was no distinction between military and civilian offices, and appointment to governing roles required military service and promotion. The closest contemporary government to a stratocracy is the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar (Burma), which is arguably different from most other military dictatorships in that it completely abolished the civilian constitution and legislature. A new constitution that came into effect in 2010 cemented the military's hold on power through mechanisms such as reserving 25% of the seats in the legislature for military personnel.[2]

Comments by H. Skip Robinson

Once again, even some of our best authors and intellectuals, in my opinion, are missing the key elements of socio-economic principles and therefore attempting to classify various forms of government based on who is ruling or what laws they have implemented.  All authoritarian regimes are made up of a relatively small group of people (an oligarchy) using various forms of excessive taxation and malum prohibitum laws. Not to say that all forms of taxation aren’t excessive, as they are, but anything over a few percent provides those in power a huge incentive to continue to expand and maintain their power through additional fascist means.  All countries, in my opinion, are therefore Fascist Oligarchies, as even a direct democracy such as Switzerland has its limitations, as to the results and effects on the majority. Many individuals in a direct democracy will inevitably vote for what’s in their own best interest rather than what is in the best interest of the majority. Ignorance plays a factor, as well, as many are not sufficiently schooled in socio-economic, giving way to placing restrictions/regulations on those that produce and privileges to those that do not produce benefits to the majority fostering systems that promote corruption and cronyism such as fascism and communism.  In Burma’s case, they have actually created a Constitution that requires them to be a fascist oligarchy as they will surely need heavy progressive taxation and regulations to maintain such as system, giving rise to the social abuses that warfare creates.  As the warfare state financially oppresses the majority it is only a matter of time before the government increases the oppressive levels of greater taxation and regulation until once again they become a Military Junta with no protections of individual rights and one of the highest human rights abusers on the planet, as they were a few years back.

In reality, you may not think that the military has much political power in many countries but behind the scenes, both the military and military contractors play a highly influential role in the redistribution of wealth that requires huge levels of taxation and regulations to support.  Most wars are as much a result of this power to tax and redistribute the money, as they are a result of true conflict among nations. Civil unrest and rebellion is generally a direct conflict between those that benefiting from the redistribution through oppressive means and those that are being harmed by it.  Myanmar is still using its military to kill and steal from their Citizens according to Amnesty International.