Explaining Asia’s turn to illiberal democracy
The return of the Rajapaksa brothers to power in Sri Lanka highlights a broader and more alarming trend: the rise of illiberal democracy in South Asia as Sri Lanka joins… Read more »
Category: Bangladesh
Can new social contract restore faith in democracy?
Labor unions have played a critical role in democratic transitions, in sustaining democracy and as civil society groups advancing pluralism and democratic norms. So the latest annual Global Rights Index from the… Read more »
What next for the Rohingya? Fresh thinking needed to resolve crisis
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee called for the Myanmar army chief to be prosecuted for “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes”, CIVICUS… Read more »
South Asia’s trajectory shows how to fortify liberal democracy
By some measures, South Asia is more stable and democratic than it has been in decades, notes Paul Staniland, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Violence and… Read more »
Bangladesh: crackdown as elections loom
Bangladesh security forces have been arresting and intimidating opposition figures and threatening freedom of expression in advance of national elections on December 30, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today: The… Read more »
Bangladesh democracy hangs in the balance
By any measure, the current state of democracy in Bangladesh is grim, note analysts Atif Ahmad, a researcher at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Michael Kugelman, senior… Read more »
Violence returns as Bangladesh gears up for polls
Bangladesh has faced increasingly difficult human rights challenges in recent years, notes the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission: The country’s decision to open its border to approximately 800,000 Rohingya refugees… Read more »
Opposition aims to rescue Bangladesh’s ‘decaying democracy’
The announcement of a schedule for the next general election in Bangladesh has triggered hope of a credible poll but also concern about more political violence across the Muslim-majority South Asian nation,… Read more »
Media reform in the ‘New Malaysia’ (as Bangladesh backtracks)
On May 9th, 2018, Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Government was defeated in general elections that stunned the world. Today, nearly five months on, the International Federation of… Read more »
Three potent threats to liberal democracy
For much of the 20th century, the main threat to liberal and democratic societies came from militant and totalizing ideologies: fascism and communism, or revolutionary socialism, writes Will Marshall (left), President… Read more »