Where does the Awami League stand today, 18 months after the July Uprising, and is there any way back for the party post-February 12?
In a riverine land such as ours, mainstream might be a more evocative term -- BNP represents the confluence of various cultural, historical, social milieus that continue to flow through us. As Mrs Zia has memorably put it, BNP situates itself to the left of the right, and to the right of the left.
The axes of Bangladeshi politics have shifted dramatically. Where do the political parties line up in the new dynamic?
Khaleda Zia’s moral authority came not just from her political positions, but also from her very persona. She was the epitome of dignity and grace. Authenticity is a virtue in politics, something she exhibited all her political life.
Every Muslim knows the phrase Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim -- the most Beneficent, the most Compassionate. Can we reorient our moral compass towards the politics of responsibility and compassion?
In the past decade, a number of books have appeared on Bangladesh’s Liberation War. This essay covers three volumes focusing on the war from within the lens of conflict studies and great game manuevering -- by Gary J Bass, Srinath Raghavan, and Salil Tripathi.
Stop doomscrolling and ignore the online doomsayers. We are on course for a peaceful democratic transition.
November 1975 was one of those months when, to paraphrase Lenin, decades happen. Fifty years on from that month of coup and counter-coup, we can hope that the guns have been forever silenced in Bangladesh, and that we will never again see rule from the cantonment.
The interim government has done a creditable job stabilizing the economy and fixing the mess it inherited. But the incoming government is still going to have its work cut out for it, and we will need very safe hands to ensure that Bangladesh gets back on track.
There is much to be learned from the surveys that have been done over the past year. But is anyone, especially the political parties, listening?
The recent Innovision poll provides a very good snapshot of the political state of play with less than 6 months to go before elections
Nearly nine out of ten respondents support the February election timing, nearly seven out of ten believe the Interim Government will deliver it, and over nine out of ten say that they will vote.
A one-year assessment on the government’s performance would find it has performed adequately, and the country is firmly on the road towards democracy
For all the talk about reforms, as far as the economy is concerned, Professor Yunus and his cabinet have behaved explicitly like a transitory administration. How do we make up for the past losses? That is something for the elected government to figure out.
Orthodox macroeconomic policies are having desired effects, with the exchange rate and the central bank’s stock of reserves stabilizing even as import restrictions have been lifted. Higher interest rates have had a dampening effect on economic activities, but very strong remittances have supported household consumption, while exports and public demand also contributed to growth. The economic recovery had started by summer, though pockets of weakness remain, particularly in private investment consumption.
