On August 5, a student-led revolution toppled Bangladesh’s increasingly repressive prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. After 15 years in power, her government’s sudden and improbable collapse creates the possibility for a new era in Bangladesh. Democratic champions are reinvigorated, but instability and violence will grow in the near term and countervailing forces will likely emerge to blunt progress. Bangladesh’s revolutionary moment is not yet a revolution. Only sustained and deliberate political reform can finish what the students started. The United States can help.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

El 28 de julio, Venezuela celebró una de las elecciones más importantes de su historia. La oposición política del país, liderada por María Corina Machado, superó la desilusión popular, las divisiones políticas y un sistema electoral amañado para obtener una aplastante victoria para su candidato de unidad, Edmundo González Urrutia. Según un grupo de la sociedad civil, los cálculos «extrapolados de los recibos oficiales del conteo de votos» de una muestra representativa de centros de votación locales otorgan a González el 66% de los votos. La oposición venezolana respondió al momento con una inspirada campaña prodemocracia.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue;  Nonviolent Action

On July 28, Venezuela held one of the most consequential elections in its history. The country’s political opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, overcame popular disillusionment, political divides and a rigged electoral system to earn a landslide victory for its unity candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. According to one civil society group, estimates “extrapolated from the official vote count receipts” from a representative sample of local voting centers give González 66% of the vote. Venezuela’s opposition met the moment with an inspired pro-democracy campaign.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue;  Nonviolent Action

Bangladesh has experienced its most consequential political event in at least two decades. On June 6, one day after Bangladesh’s high court reinstated the country’s job quota system that favored descendants of the 1971 liberation war, about 500 students gathered at Dhaka University to demand its repeal. Two months later, on August 5, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had governed  for 15 years, abdicated power and fled the country as a coalition of Bangladeshi students, political opponents and ordinary citizens marched on her residence to demand her resignation. As the prime minister departed for India, the head of the army announced his plan to form an interim government in a televised address.

Type: Question and Answer

Democracy & Governance