Violence and the breakdown of the political settlement: an uncertain future for Bangladesh?

Abstract

We explore the dynamics of the elite political settlement in Bangladesh after the democratic transition in 1991 and its impact on the elite interactions in the arena of competitive electoral democracy. We trace the history of how a political settlement around regime succession developed in the mid-1990s, and then experienced difficulties in multiple stages, and finally broke down in 2011. Violence was instrumentally used, by the ruling elites and the main opposition party, to influence the processes of negotiations around the succession of power. We argue that ‘partyarchy’—where political parties exert informal control of the party through formal processes and institutions—and dynastic rule prevent the political elites from reaching a stable settlement around regime succession. We also show how the changes to the rules of the game around regime succession have led to a qualitative shift in the extent and nature of violence in the political domain, and explore why democratic consolidation remains elusive.     

Book reviews

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Multinational enterprise policies towards international intra-firm technology transfer: The case of Japanese manufacturing firms in Asia

In this paper, we examine Japanese manufacturing firms’policies towards intra-firm technology transfer to subsidiaries located in 10 major countries in Asia. In contrast to other research on the topic, this paper is based on a study ofparent firms and thus examines technology transfer policies more directly. The aims of the paper are to explain what Japanese parent firms understand by technology transfer, and to assess the policy implications of the study. The findings indicate that Japanese parent companies have coherent, systematic and nuanced policies on technology transfer to subsidiaries in developing countries. Three distinct categories of technology (“production/supply chain knowledge”; “human resources systems” and “technology for innovation”) are recognised by firms and policies exist for each category, including whether it will be transferred, the extent of the transfer—and when.