Bangladesh: 53 Years of Solitude

The recent toppling of the Awami League regime after 15 years in power illustrates both the weakness of the Bangladesh state’s capacity for constitutional rule and the strength of the armed forces. The military’s role has been critical in each change of regime from the first, on 15 August 1975, to the most recent, in August 2024. The military has emerged as the only credible formal state power in Bangladesh mainly because it is largely free from accusations of corruption. Its role in UN peacekeeping ensures an external and legal source of income for its members. Civilian authorities, both politicians and civil servants who form the state governance machinery, function through their identities as members of a common political network, with extra salary income taken as payment for loyalty, something now seen as ‘normal’. This has resulted in a ‘withered’ state: formal on paper, informal in practice. Meanwhile, trust in and dependence on the public service agencies and the formal economy is low. Traditional societal institutions still dominate while formal institutions have shown low growth and poor performance.