Promoted to brigadier general in 1948, the year Burma attained its independence, Ne Win in February 1949 became commander of the armed forces, with a rank of major general. As various ethnic minorities and communists launched rebellions against the government in 1949-1950, Gen. Ne Win served as minister for defense and for home affairs under Premier U Nu. Together with U Nu, Ne Win made the Burmese armed forces powerful enough to reduce the size of the various insurgent groups by the mid-1950s.

In 1958, pressed by key subordinates who saw an increase in the insurgent threat following a split in U Nu's government party, Ne Win ousted the popular elected leader in a bloodless coup. Ne Win permitted the holding of elections in February 1960, however, and U Nu won. Ne Win left his post of caretaker premier in April 1960.

On March 2, 1962, Gen. Ne Win deposed U Nu a second time. This time, he abolished Parliament and the constitution, jailed most of the civilian politicians for four to six years, and embarked on a crash course of socialist development. Known as the "Burmese Way to Socialism," Ne Win's isolationist policies were opposed both by U Nu and the Communists. His policies brought the country's export economy to a virtual standstill and necessitated food rationing to avoid famine in a country once rich in rice.

By 1971, Ne Win had transformed Burma into a one-party police state run by his Burma Socialist Programme Party. Under a new constitution in 1974, he installed himself as president and kept that title until 1981. He continued to rule until July 1988, when massive demonstrations against his repressive regime forced him to resign. Under his rule Myanmar went from one of Southeast Asia's most developed nations to one of its poorest. The once-wealthy nation was granted least developed country status by the United Nations in 1987.

Even after his resignation, Ne Win played a major role in a violent September 1988 coup led by his crony Gen. Saw Maung that returned the army to power and shut down the pro-democracy movement, shooting, torturing and jailing thousands of its followers. Even into his 80s, Ne Win was widely assumed to be steering the new regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which, in the assessment of Susan Blaustein in the Nation, "may have outdone its mentor [Ne Win] in alienating Burma's population, isolating the country and savaging its economy." Foreign journalists were banned from visiting, and a 1990 election was assumed to be rigged. Myanmar's government was repeatedly cited for human rights violations. As Ne Win recedes from view, his repressive legacy remains strong.