Political Culture, Political Parties and the Democratic Transition in Bangladesh

26 Nov, 2007 by Priyo Australia

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The fate of democracy in Bangladesh is of global interest because success of democracy here would provide a model for democratic transition in Muslim-majority countries in the age of terrorism. In 1991 Bangladesh embarked upon a new journey towards democracy. But this journey has been fraught with crises. This book focuses on major political parties of Bangladesh to account for the crises of transition to democracy. It argues that the nature of the Bangladeshi political parties is primarily responsible for these crises. The major political parties have fragmented too often, merged together and proliferated in stride with the politics of individual or factional interests of their leaders. As a result, they have failed to emerge as viable agents in sustaining stable democracy in the country. However, the role of political parties cannot be understood without taking into consideration the overarching political culture and societal characteristics of the country. Consequently, this work has fleshed out an integrated theoretical framework to examine these characteristics through a brief history of the eleven major political parties and a survey of political leaders- their perceptions, knowledge, values and attitudes centering on the predicament of political parties and democracy in Bangladesh.

The first edition of this book, published in 1996, predicted the coming crisis of democracy in Bangladesh. This thoroughly revised second edition after a decade (with a new ISBN) also provides an update on the lingering crisis of democratic transition in the country till to date. That is why this work has both historic value and contemporary relevance. It is an indispensable reading for anyone interested not only in Bangladesh politics but also in the dynamics of democratic transitions in other parts of the developing world.

Shamsul I. Khan is the Program Director of the Postgraduate Programs (International Studies) at the School of International Studies, University of South Australia, and teaches in international and Asian studies. A former Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr Khan has written extensively on issues related to foreign policy, international security and sustainable development. Dr Khan’s recent publications include a book chapter, entitled “’Islamic Fundamentalism in the Asia Pacific Region: Failures of Civil Societies or Backlash against the US Hegemony?”

S. Aminul Islam is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Sociology at the University of Dhaka. He was educated at the University of Dhaka and the University of Southampton, UK. The key areas of his teaching and research are development, governance and culture. A former Commonwealth Scholar, Professor Islam has published extensively at home and abroad. He has conducted empirical research on poverty, livelihoods, governance, education and health. He is the co-author of Introduction to Behavioural Science (2000), Local Governance and Community Capacities: Search for New Frontiers (2002). He has also authored, edited and translated several other books.

M. Imdadul Haque is Professor of Sociology at the University of Dhaka. He is the author of On Methodological Issues in Social Sciences (2000) and the co-author of The Dictionary of Sociology (in Bangla, 2003). His areas of interest include research methodology, statistics, political sociology, and sociological theory.