SHAIKH HASINA'S VISIT TO INDIA AND THE FUTURE OF INDO-BANGLADESH RELATIONS

Shaikh Hasina's crushing victory in the December 2008 Bangladesh elections opened a new chapter in her country's relations with Delhi. India had long wanted improvements in cooperation against terrorism and better access to the states of North East India, Bangladesh needed better cooperation over water resources and the trade imbalance. Shaikh Hasina's swift action against insurgent groups trying to operate against India from Bangladesh territory laid the foundations for her very successful visit to India in early 2010 which in turn set the framework for a better future relationship. But in the light of the hostility of many in Bangladesh to improved relations with India, the author examines the options for Indian policy makers. He concludes that the emphasis should be on achieving progress in areas outside security, where progress would be irreversible, while recognising that a real transformation of the relationship would be possible if Shaikh Hasina was able to win the next elections and secure a further term in office.     

1998年的缅甸外交

缅甸外交在１９９８ 年继续稳步发展,但也遇到了新的困难。缅甸与东盟成员国来往密切,但因金融危机等诸多因素的影响,缅甸与东盟成员国的矛盾也逐渐凸现。虽尽力改善与西方国家的关系,但成效甚微,以美国为首的西方国家继续对缅实行制裁。缅甸与印度、孟加拉国的关系在１９９８ 年进展不大,缅中友好关系得到进一步发展     

The Kerala model of development a debate (Part 2)

Abstract

Every year hundreds are killed and millions made homeless by floods in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Basins. Every year millions go hungry because of the low productivity of agriculture in the region and the unequal distribution of its benefits. Some thirty percent of the world's poorest 800 million people live in the Basins of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Their future prosperity depends both on changed agrarian relations and on the development of the resources of the two rivers. While coordinated development of the rivers could increase agricultural productivity and provide enormous quantities of hydroelectricity for the three main countries of the region—India, Nepal and Bangladesh—for the last thirty years such development has been precluded by intergovernmental dispute over the sharing of the Ganges. The conduct of the dispute is frequently determined by the immediate political needs of the factions in power in India and Bangladesh. As long as that remains the case, proposals for the regulation and development of the Ganges and Brahmaputra are likely to stagnate.     

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: THE NARRATIVES OF SECULARISM AND ISLAM IN BANGLADESH

This paper challenges the popular perception that Bangladesh has become the latest battleground between secularism and Islam and problematizes the simplified understanding and the binarization of religion and secularism in Bangladesh. It argues that extant discussions on the one hand overlooks the historical background of the interactions of religion and while on the other hand, it ignores the extant multiplicity of both Islamic practices and the understanding of secularism. The author calls for a nuanced understanding of the complex historical and contemporaneous developments regarding relationships between religion and politics.     

The Contribution of Commonwealth Armed Forces in UN Peacekeeping: The Case of Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is one of the top troop contributing countries to UN Peacekeeping Operations. This paper traces the antecedents and history of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and follows Bangladesh’s participation in various peacekeeping operations over the past 25 years including Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo.     

Collectivisation in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1960–66: A Comment

This article analyses the developments of current account balances of Bangladesh since the 1950s. Available evidence suggests that the loss of the Indian raw jute market in the 1950s and the arrival of jute substitutes in the international market in the 1960s have had lasting impacts on the current account position of Bangladesh. An empirical investigation of the effects of external factors on the current account balances of Bangladesh for the 1973–89 period suggests that the real effective exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka and the economic activity in the industrial countries were the major determinants of current account balances of Bangladesh. Indeed, empirical results reject the strict version of the twin-deficit hypothesis for Bangladesh.     

Urban political machines and student politics in “middle” Bangladesh: violent party labor in Rajshahi city

In response to the mostly Dhaka-centered research on student politics in Bangladesh, this article aims to understand political competition, the role of patronage networks, political organizations, violence, and student organizations in the provincial city of Rajshahi. The article explores how student politics in Bangladesh shapes (and is shaped by) the political dynamics in “middle Bangladesh.” Student groups in Bangladesh are closely affiliated to political parties and serve as their most important source for mobilization in a party-political regime commonly referred to as a “partyarchy.” Campus politics is deeply integrated into the urban party-political machine in Rajshahi. Controlling Rajshahi University (RU) provides a steady flow of party workers for the local party machine. Thus, the RU campus is a space for organizing political (and violent) labor as well as an important source of revenue for and the distribution of benefits by local party bosses. The urban party machine, however, is not mechanically held together merely by the dispensation of inducements – instead, it is more chaotic and contingent on a form of strategic ambiguity that disguises the structuring effects of patronage power that keeps members motivated and engaged.     

Migration from Bangladesh: Impulses,Risks and Exploitations

Migration and emigration from Bangladesh is a pervasive phenomenon. Historically, large-scale migration from the region constituting the present Bangladesh started after tea plantations were introduced to Assam by the British in the early 19th century. Gradually, the number of migrants from this region increased due to geographic location, climate change and poverty. Over the years, there has been a change in the gender pattern of migration, where the proportion of female migrants has increased significantly. These migrants play a significant role in the Bangladesh economy, as remittances constituted about 8.21% of gross domestic product in 2014. This article examines why, despite the many dangers that the migrants face, including violence in the host countries and exploitation by their ‘masters’, the number of migrants from Bangladesh continues to rise constantly.     

孟加拉国参与“一带一路”倡议:利益与问题

2007年全球金融危机爆发之后,中国和世界经济增长放缓。为此,中国提出了对外开放的宏大战略。这一战略的核心是丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路,即后来的"一带一路"倡议。"一带一路"倡议是真正意义上的全球合作,其影响远远超出了中国的范围。孟加拉国是孟中印缅经济走廊的一部分,孟中印缅经济走廊被列入"一带一路"倡议下的六大经济走廊之一。从孟加拉国的角度分析参与"一带一路"倡议的利益所在,并讨论孟加拉国在孟中印缅经济走廊中的作用,对研究"一带一路"倡议如何影响孟加拉国具有重要意义。另外,也需要从孟加拉国的角度审视"一带一路"倡议中提出的"五通",重点分析"一带一路"倡议可能面临的挑战,从孟加拉国的角度提出中国回应挑战的建议,为推动未来的相关研究提出若干建议。     

Patriarchal Investments: Marriage,Dowry and the Political Economy of Development in Bangladesh

This article explores why dowry inflation persists in Bangladesh, despite the country being widely heralded as a development success, especially with regard to gender. The article asks three questions. Does rural Bangladesh show changing patterns of marriage similar to those reported elsewhere in South Asia and more broadly? What might explain the persistent spread and inflation of dowry payments? How might changes in marriage and the inflation of dowry be related to the broader political economy of development in Bangladesh? Analysis of primary data from rural Bangladesh affirms shifts in norms of marriage arrangement and conjugal relationships, but also emphasises considerable continuity. The political economy of development in Bangladesh is briefly described. Dowry is argued to function not as compensation for perceived weakness in women’s economic contribution, but to bolster men’s. In mobilising “additional” resources, dowries help sustain the economic system and indicate ongoing commitment to cultural idioms of masculine provision and protection, against a background of widespread corruption and political and gender violence.     

缅甸的穆斯林与缅孟关系

罗兴加难民是历时甚久的政治冲突的旁观者.1992年,大约25万难民从缅甸的若开邦逃亡到孟加拉国,他们声称缅甸当局践踏人权.遣返工作于当年开始,截至1997年4月止,已有23万人被遣返.然而,1997年年中遣反计划暂停.缅孟双方似乎没有解决难民困境的政治意愿,遣返工作进展非常缓慢.除非迫不得已,否则孟加拉国政府决不情愿给予那些剩余的难民以种族上的平等待遇.2002年12月17-18日缅甸联邦总理丹瑞大将访问孟加拉国,这次访问进一步加强了两国之间的关系.近来缅甸政府表现出希望尽快接回至今仍滞留在孟加拉国难民营里的缅甸公民的意愿.     

The Bangladesh party-state: a diachronic comparative analysis of party-political regimes

Since independence in 1971, both civilian and military regimes have ruled Bangladesh. As many other military regimes did, the latter civilianised their rule through the formation of political parties and participation in general elections. When diachronically analysing political formations in Bangladesh, it is appealing to make a clear-cut distinction between autocratic and democratic regimes. However, this article argues that throughout its post-independence history, the dominant form of rule has been the party-state. Revisiting the work of Aristide Zolberg, this article develops a typology of party-states, away from its initial focus on single-party regimes. It argues that party-state formation can also be witnessed in competitive electoral settings.     

Ethnic Conflict and State Building in Burma

Commentaries on contemporary Bangladesh give increasing attention to the role of religion, particularly its more “fundamentalist” forms, in public politics. Here we offer an alternative analysis that explores the significance of religion in people's everyday lives, concentrating on its articulation in community politics. We draw on an important local distinction between dharma understood as a moral foundation for life and dharma understood more narrowly as “religion.” Our empirical analysis suggests that it is the former sense of dharma which has greater relevance for the moral order of the community, and is used to evaluate and structure its social and political institutions, including those identified as “religious.” This perspective furnishes fresh insights into the dynamic relationship between religion, politics and social change in modern Bangladesh.     

Performing ethnic relations in Russia's North Caucasus: regional spectacles in Stavropol’ krai

Using materials gathered during fieldwork carried out in Russia in 2008 and 2009, this paper examines the ‘Day of Stavropol’ krai 2009’ celebration and links it to debates on ethnic relations, identity and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia. It is argued that celebrations, festivals, parades and other ‘spectacles’ are significant, yet often overlooked, influences on ethnic relations. Although authorities at national and regional scale play a prominent role in governing ethnic relations, it is often the case that they revert to Soviet-era practices – such as the ‘folklorization’ of ethnic groups – and produce a narrative that proclaims the ‘eternal harmony’ of ethnic relations. Given widespread ethnic tensions that exist in Russia, such a representation of ethnic relations is far from the reality lived by people in everyday life. Thus, this paper explores how citizens' understandings of ethnic relations relates to that portrayed by state authorities.     

孟加拉国泰戈尔研究的历史与现实意义

亚洲第一位诺贝尔文学奖得主罗宾德拉纳特?泰戈尔(Rabindranath Tagore,1861～1941年)是世界级文学天才和思想巨匠.一百多年来,泰戈尔的作品在世界各地一再被翻译出版,关于他的研究成果也层出不穷.世界的泰戈尔研究成果中最丰富、最全面、最深入的当属泰戈尔的母语地区——孟加拉语地区的泰戈尔研究.从东孟加拉到东巴基斯坦再到独立后的孟加拉国,泰戈尔的研究也由于政治、文化、宗教等原因经历了很多的跌宕起伏.泰戈尔曾被认为是"印度文化的继承者"而被巴基斯坦禁止.印巴分治十几年间,泰戈尔研究主要都局限在"少数开明的文学家和数量庞大的宗派主义者"之间的"泰戈尔论争"中.1961年围绕泰戈尔的百年诞辰,东巴基斯坦的整个文化阶层和政府对立.泰戈尔也逐渐成为孟加拉文化的旗帜,激励了东巴基斯坦孟加拉人的语言和文化政治运动,成为激励孟加拉国独立的精神源泉.孟加拉国独立后,关于泰戈尔的相关性的争议又起,开始了对泰戈尔重新发现和研究的过程.梳理孟加拉国的泰戈尔接受史对于我国的泰戈尔研究,对于加强中孟、中印文化交流与互鉴,构建"亚洲命运共同体"具有重要的意义.     

Contested Resource Extraction,Anti-Corporate Protests and the Politics of Movement Alliance in Bangladesh

Why do activist groups form alliances and why do some alliances later fall apart? This article asks these questions in the context of a popular mobilisation against resource extraction in Bangladesh. It focuses on the dynamics of a strategic alliance between a locally organised community mobilisation against a British mining company and an urban radical activist group, known for its anti-capitalist activism, to explore the subsequent collapse of the alliance and the demobilisation of one group. Based on the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with activists and organisational documents, the article probes the underlying causes of rupture. Although several individual and organisational factors are identified, it is argued that Bangladesh’s confrontational political culture and its authoritarian party system played a critical role, with local activists vulnerable to co-optation or being silenced by powerful political actors. The article contributes to social movement scholarship by emphasising that specific political cultures can undermine efforts to build strategic alliances between diverse social movement organisations.     

The mimicry of the state as a state practice: the regulation of rickshaw licenses in Dhaka (Bangladesh)

Around half a million cycle rickshaws are currently active in Dhaka, Bangladesh. With only 86,000 official licenses available, different types of organizations supply licenses to most rickshaw drivers. These non-official licenses mimic the language of the state. This article argues that while these licenses appear as part of non-state, hybrid, or twilight institutions, they in fact constitute a state practice. Based on approximately 200 semi-structured interviews at six locations in Dhaka and offering a conceptualization of the Bangladesh state as a party-state, the article shows that the operation of non-official rickshaw licenses and the mimicry entailed is an inherent part of party-state governance, one which is not morally neutral. While most respondents saw the everyday benefits of non-official licenses in the absence of sufficient official ones, the latter remained the most prized and, if made available, respondents agreed that the former would become redundant.     

Functioning Achievements in Urban Bangladesh: A Comparison with Rural Areas

In view of the differences in the nature and concept of poverty across rural and urban regions, this article argues that a nationwide standardised poverty reduction strategy package may not be equally effective in these two regions. This article examines the limitations of existing poverty assessment approaches used in Bangladesh and identifies various indicators that are responsible for the achievement of higher level functioning in urban regions in contrast to rural areas. The methodology of the study is based on 917 samples of poor persons with microcredit collected from nine districts of Bangladesh. Significant differences have been observed in the indicators of poverty for rural and urban areas. The results from our participatory study reveal that the urban poor are more inclined towards social functioning achievements such as voting, decision-making at both household and work levels, having a voice at local meetings and co-operatives, whereas the rural poor are still demanding the most basic requirements.     

缅甸与孟加拉国关系中的罗兴亚难民问题——孟加拉国的视角

历史上,缅甸政府对若开邦的罗兴亚穆斯林长期执行种族歧视和迫害政策,导致大量罗兴亚人逃往资源并不丰富的穆斯林邻国孟加拉国.背负着难民的身份,罗兴亚人难以从孟加拉国政府得到长期而有效的帮助,因此只能通过挖掘当地自然资源、寻求工作机会和与其他国家穆斯林组织合作而获取生存资本.这极其严重地威胁到孟加拉国的政治、经济、社会和国家安全利益,并破坏了缅孟长久以来的友好关系.     

Macroeconomic Policies and Agricultural Terms of Trade,Bangladesh, 1952–2005

Agricultural prices in Bangladesh have had a tendency to rise at a faster rate than industrial prices since the early 1950s. The resulting rising trend in the agricultural terms of trade has been pronounced since the mid-1980s when Bangladesh introduced IMF- and World Bank-supported deregulatory economic reforms. This rising trend in the agricultural terms of trade is inconsistent with the Prebisch-Singer thesis in the context of domestic economy, which suggests a secular deterioration in the terms of trade for primary products vis-à-vis manufactured products. It is, however, consistent with the view of classical economists who saw the possibility of an upward trend in the terms of trade for agricultural products (food) because of diminishing returns in agriculture. In fact, the classical idea of the rising terms of trade for primary products makes sense in a land-constrained growing economy with increasing population, such as Bangladesh, which remained semi-closed until the mid-1980s. This article reviews macroeconomic policies in Bangladesh since the 1950s, examines the time-series properties of agricultural prices, industrial prices and the agricultural terms of trade and draws inference on the issue whether the agricultural sector was squeezed systematically by turning the terms of trade against agriculture for industrialisation of the country.