Democratic politics and the fall of the military regime in Bangladesh

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to explain the rise of democracy and the demise of the authoritarian military regime in Bangladesh. In this process the various subaltern social groups played a major role, though their political aspirations remain unrealized in the new government. On the basis of subaltern participation in the antimilitary agitation, the article argues for a separate political space for the subaltern categories that occupy a dialectical relationship with both the existing state structure and opposition political parties. This separate political space is, indeed, the core of democratic polity in Bangladesh.

The fall of the military regime of General H. M. Ershad in 1990 ushered in a new phase in democratic politics in Bangladesh. Given the extent of mass participation in antiauthoritarian social agitation, Bangladesh proudly stands with countries like the Philippines, Haiti, and many other socialist and nonsocialist countries. At the same time, the downfall of the military regime of General Ershad paved the way for the democratically elected Khaleda Zia government and the totally new conception of democracy and participatory governance it introduced.

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Notes on contributors

S. M. Shamsul Alam

I am grateful to S. M. Nurul Alam, Gale Bricker, Bill Doub, and two anonymous readers for the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars for comments and suggestions on various drafts of this article. I, however, am solely responsible for any shortcomings.