Civil society in Bangladesh
- Bihar Journal of Public Administration
- 17(2), Jul-Dec, 2020: p.719-722
Civil Society as a political force occupies prominence in democracy and political discourse, and is seen as a political buffer state. It provides the space for articulating and aggregating public interests, forming public opinion, developing agenda outside the state and market and creates means to influence these. In other words, it facilitates the consolidation of democracy. On the contrary, it has been found that despite vibrant civil society in Bangladesh, it has failed to nurture democracy and promote culture of democracy there. As such, the present paper intends to underline the nature of civil society in Bangladesh and the factors responsible for inhibiting the civil society in nurturing democracy in the country. The present attempt finds that it is the complexities associated with civil society that inhibit it to nurture democracy in the country. Party politics has impinged on the functioning of civil society in terms of prevailing polarization, clientelism has seized the autonomy and its vigilant role in the national policies and decision making. Therefore, the civil society remains fragmented on party lines. However, civil society in Bangladesh has made success in terms of economic empowerment, viz. in poverty alleviation and social development. – Reproduced