The Violence of Democracy: Bangladesh Context

Two major intertwined contradictions have gripped the state of Bangladesh democracy today: the space and role of religion in the public/political domain and the evolution of a viable, acceptable mechanism of democratic power transition. These issues are not new in Bangladesh and they keep on recurring every five years in election cycles. It suggests a democracy deficit in Bangladesh. Arguably, democracy is a culture and practice not limited to holding of elections at regular intervals. Also important is the mode of democracy practised. In Bangladesh both the civil and the military institutions have damaged the institution and practice of democracy. With globalization, both local and global forces are impinging upon the body politic of Bangladesh. The end of the Cold War, it may be argued, has unleashed several forces, not accounted for in the much predictable world of bipolarity. The traditional and dominant paradigms of politics, of state centric realism, have come under challenge from forces hitherto regarded as peripheral. The western ideas of modernity and rationality have come under serious interrogation. The idea that democracy is for the people, by the people and of the people has been contested over and over again. The post-colonial states have brought out the sharp contradictions and limits of majoritarian democracy.