Academic and Reference Books

Elections under caretaker governments are a common practice to be found in most parliamentary democracies of the world. Usually an outgoing government acts as the caretaker administration. But Bangladesh has deviated from this established democratic tradition. The Constitution now requires that a non-party caretaker government (NCG) run the routine administration of the country for a limited period of time between the dissolution of parliament and the appointment of a prime minister after the constitution of a new parliament.

This book contains essays for discussion and amendment. The author has tried to describe and analyse one of the most enduring issues of our time in order to facilitate a different understanding of the event. The effects of nationalism, militarism, fundamentalism and democracy manifest themselves as a powerful pressure with significant effects on our human environment. It has widened the gap between concern and decision and has impassibly divided Bangladesh society.

The Politics of Nationalism examines the process of nationality construction within the Hill people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. The book places the issue in an historical context and begins with the first encounter of the Hill people with the British in 1760; it traces their loss of independence and consequent marginalisation within the colonial state. The book then argues that nation-state is tuned to the needs and aspirations of the dominant community; and the Hill people being the subordinate group continued to be marginalised within the State of Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

This volume consists of 26 columns published earlier in various leading dailies between the years 2004 and 2006. The need for publication of the columns was felt because of the almost unending debate on religion-based militancy. The major political parties did not fail to have polarised views on the issue based on politics of denial and politics of confrontation. The media and the civil society, on the other hand, contributed to a more informed understanding of the much-debated subject of terrorism.