Politics

With the recent downfall of the longest-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, following domestic political unrest, Bangladesh is anticipated to reassert its role as a small state leader in Indo-Pacific security. For Indo-Pacific partners, aligning with the security interests of Bangladesh will help promote the overall security of the country, and this can best be met by observing domestic circumstances. Bangladesh has been an integral part of the Indian Ocean string of small states, apart from Maldives and Sri Lanka, driving small-state identity and leadership in shaping the Indo-Pacific strategy. However, in its regional efforts, Bangladesh will require navigating its domestic issues and political interests, which are strongly impacted by the country’s domestic vulnerabilities, many

Bangladesh's garment industry, a vital economic pillar, is facing a severe crisis due to a volatile mix of political unrest, including violent protests, and catastrophic flooding, threatening to unravel years of rapid growth and global prominence. The textile and garment industry, which accounts for over 80 per cent of Bangladesh's total export earnings and contributes approximately 11 per cent to the nation's GDP, has been hit hard. This industry contributes significantly to export earnings and employs millions. Following the unprecedented anti-government protests, which reached a crescendo on August 5, Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country. She landed in India on August 5 and is currently staying there. The two-month-long anti-quota protests have led ...

The past few years have been a season of misery for several South Asian economies. Sri Lanka defaulted on its debts in 2022, sparking an economic crisis that resulted in a catastrophic 7.3 per cent decline in GDP and a further 2.3 per cent decline in 2023. Pakistan managed to avoid a crisis on that scale but is nonetheless in poor economic shape: growth is anaemic, inflation remains high, and its foreign debt, though not as burdensome as Sri Lanka’s, remains a major threat to macroeconomic stability. In both countries, economic turbulence was intertwined with political upheaval. Now it’s Bangladesh’s turn, where the government of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League, which seemed unbudgeable, was toppled by student protests. Long a poster child for economic development in the region,

Before normalcy returns to Bangladesh, many political dramas will be enacted.  The current euphoria about the suave Muhammad Yunus will be temporary not for any fault of his but that is what the noisy Bangladesh democracy will ensure. We argue here, one, that Bangladesh politics is not a zero-sum game, that is, once the secularists are out the Islamists are in, and vice versa, and two, whether India really matters that much to influence the politics of Bangladesh for it has its own home spun dynamics Its electoral experience tells that besides their core voters both the major parties, Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), keep poaching into each other’s constituencies.  If not so, how can one explain their alternating in power?  Now that AL is out

Bangladesh's first female leader Khaleda Zia was released from house arrest on Tuesday, just one day after her rival, Sheikh Hasina, resigned as prime minister and fled the country. This development added a new chapter to the long-standing “Battle of the Begums” for control of Bangladesh. According to President Mohammed Shahabuddin's office, Khaleda, the leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was freed following discussions with defence officials and politicians. Since 1991, Sheikh Hasina, 76, and Khaleda Zia, 78, have been the central figures in Bangladeshi politics. They often alternate in power after inheriting the political legacies of two assassinated leaders who ruled Bangladesh in its early years. Sheikh Hasina led the Awami League, founded by her fath