Democratic consolidation and failure

Lessons from Bangladesh and Pakistan

Bibliographic Data

ID6252790
AuthorsSteven I Wilkinson (Duke University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume7
Issue3
Pages203-226
Publication date2000-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510340008403678
OpenAlexW1998163388
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited27

The long transitions from military rule in Pakistan (1977–88) and Bangladesh (1975–90) have been almost completely ignored in studies of democratization. They deserve more attention, partly because, from the methodological point of view, the many similarities between them help us to isolate the most important factors that lead to successful transitions and democratic consolidation. The contrast between Bangladesh, which successfully consolidated its democracy in the 1990s, and Pakistan, which did not, demonsrates the general importance of three factors. First, it lends support to Alfred Stepan's argument in Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone (1988), that cases where the 'military as institution' is threatened by continuing in power ‐ as in Bangladesh ‐ will be more likely to make a successful transition. Second, the contrast between Bangladesh and Pakistan brings out the critical importance of an autonomous civil society ‐ which exists in Bangladesh but not Pakistan ‐ during a transition from authoritarian rule. At crucial moments in 1987, 1990 and 1996 civil society in Bangladesh forced reluctant and corrupt politicians to unite in opposition to the military government and then to successfully reform the new democracy's political institutions. Third, ethnic polarization. Ethnic polarization ‐intensified, ironically, by several consociational policies designed to reduce conflict ‐is a major factor hampering the development of a non‐ethnic civil society capable of pressuring the military and politicians to democratize

Authoritarianism · Civil society · Consolidation (business · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Military government · Military rule · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Politics and Society in Latin America

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