The significance of unruly politics in Bangladesh

Hossain, Naomi

Abstract

This chapter looks at both elite and mass modes of politics. Unruliness - framed variously as informality, fragility - is the substantive governance issue in Bangladesh, and political unruliness is at its nucleus. It explains why Bangladeshi political culture is so dependent on rule-breaking for its power, and implicitly, to reflect on what that means for the 'good governance' agenda associated with rule-bound transparent administration. The chapter focuses on some of the motivations for the main debates about governance in Bangladesh. It describes in more detail what is meant by 'unruly politics'. The chapter discusses the issue of hartal, taking a preliminary look at how it has changed over time and at its position within political culture. It deals with the analysis to the ready-made garments (RMG) workers' protests, which started in 2006 and continue episodically to the present.

Citation

Hossain, N. (2017). The significance of unruly politics in Bangladesh. In I. Basu, J. Devine, & G. Wood (Eds.), Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315201337

• Publication Date: Sep 8, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 30, 2025
• Publisher: Routledge
• Book Title: Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes
• ISBN: 9781138707610
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315201337
• Related Public URLs: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312083491_The_significance_of_unruly_politics_in_Bangladesh