01760nam a2200181   4500999001900000008004100019100002600060245008000086260000900166300001500175520110800190650002301298650003301321773007101354906003501425942001201460952010601472  c510174d510174190802b           ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aRahman, Tahmina97655  aParty system institutionalization and pernicious polarization in Bangladesh  c2019  ap.173-192.  aThis article traces the development of political polarization in Bangladesh since its 1971 war of independence. I show how polarization is elite-driven, hinging mostly on competing views of the foundation myth of the nation. One major political bloc has emerged that ties national identity tightly to religion (Islam), where the other bloc prefers a national identity tied to ethnicity and use of the Bengali language. I show how an underdeveloped party system has contributed to the resulting political and societal polarization that stems from this ideological divide, which was created by elites as they attempted to consolidate party power. Further, I make a case that the activities of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)—established in 2010 to prosecute those who aided the Pakistani army in committing war crimes during the 1971 war—actually increased polarization and made it pernicious. Instead of healing the nation, the ICT exacerbated old political cleavages and instigated violence and social tension, making Bangladesh’s young democracy more unstable and careening. - Reproduced.  aPolarisation97656  aDemocracy - Bangladesh97657  aThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science  aPolitical parties - Bangladesh  2ddccAR  00102ddc40709384114aIIPAbIIPAd2019-08-02h681, Jan, 2019: p.173-192.pAR120130r2019-08-02yAR