Ali Riaz – författare

Pathways of Autocratization addresses one of the most important questions in contemporary global politics: how does a country regress from a democracy to an autocracy?

This book offers a novel framework for understanding the processes that erode democracy and lead to autocracy and explains a specific instance of democratic backsliding in Bangladesh: the world’s eighth most populous country. With probing analysis of events and trends of Bangladeshi politics, especially since 2009, the book contextualizes the country’s autocratization process within global trends and compares it with others which have trod a similar path in recent decades, including Bolivia, Cambodia, Hungary, Poland, the Philippines and Turkey. The book discusses the implications of institutional changes, the role of pliant media, the contribution of ideology, and the conduct of international actors in the autocratization process while also mapping future trajectories for the country.

Succinct, incisive, and thought provoking, this book is rich in its theoretical robustness and empirical details. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of democratic backsliding and prospects for reversing this trend.

Pathways of Autocratization addresses one of the most important questions in contemporary global politics: how does a country regress from a democracy to an autocracy?

This book offers a novel framework for understanding the processes that erode democracy and lead to autocracy and explains a specific instance of democratic backsliding in Bangladesh: the world’s eighth most populous country. With probing analysis of events and trends of Bangladeshi politics, especially since 2009, the book contextualizes the country’s autocratization process within global trends and compares it with others which have trod a similar path in recent decades, including Bolivia, Cambodia, Hungary, Poland, the Philippines and Turkey. The book discusses the implications of institutional changes, the role of pliant media, the contribution of ideology, and the conduct of international actors in the autocratization process while also mapping future trajectories for the country.

Succinct, incisive, and thought provoking, this book is rich in its theoretical robustness and empirical details. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of democratic backsliding and prospects for reversing this trend.

In the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved significant social and economic progress. Despite high population density, a limited natural-resource base, underdeveloped infrastructure, frequent natural disasters and political uncertainty, the country has recorded positive developments in terms of broad economic and social indicators. This Handbook presents a comprehensive and interdisciplinary resource on the politics, society and economy of Bangladesh today. Divided into six thematic sections, the Handbook focuses on relevant issues and trends on:

Written by a team of international experts in the field, the chapters provide an accessible and up-to-date insight into contemporary Bangladesh. The Handbook will be of interest to students and academics of South Asian studies, as well as policymakers, journalists and others who wish to learn more about this increasingly important country.

In the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved significant social and economic progress. Despite high population density, a limited natural-resource base, underdeveloped infrastructure, frequent natural disasters and political uncertainty, the country has recorded positive developments in terms of broad economic and social indicators. This Handbook presents a comprehensive and interdisciplinary resource on the politics, society and economy of Bangladesh today. Divided into six thematic sections, the Handbook focuses on relevant issues and trends on:

Written by a team of international experts in the field, the chapters provide an accessible and up-to-date insight into contemporary Bangladesh. The Handbook will be of interest to students and academics of South Asian studies, as well as policymakers, journalists and others who wish to learn more about this increasingly important country.

Political violence has remained an integral part of South Asian society for decades. The region has witnessed and continued to encounter violence for achieving political objectives from above and from below. Violence is perpetrated by the state, by non-state actors, and used by the citizens as a form of resistance. Ethnic insurgency, religion-inspired extremism, and ideology-driven hostility are examples of violent acts that have emerged as challenges to the states which have responded with violence in the form of civil war and through violations of human rights disregarding international norms.

This book explores various dimensions of political violence in South Asia, namely in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Each chapter either speaks to an important aspect of the political violence or provides an overall picture of the nature and scope of political violence in the respective country. Political violence is understood in the larger sense of political, that is, above and beyond institutions, and also as an integral part of social relationships where social norms and the role of individual agency play seminal roles. The contributions in this book incorporate both institutional and non-institutional dimensions of political violence.

Exploring how everyday life in South Asian states and societies is transformed by the engagement with violence through direct and indirect methods, this book adopts an interdisciplinary framework; diverse methods are employed – from ethnographic readings to more macro level analyses. The phenomenon is explored from historical, sociological, and political perspectives. This book will be useful as a supplementary text in courses on South Asian Studies in general and South Asian Politics in particular.