Politics
Has democracy returned to Bangladesh?
With February’s election giving the Bangladesh Nationalist Party a two-thirds majority in parliament and bringing to an end 18 months of a non-elected interim government, Professor Dr Mohammad Tarikul Islam questions whether democracy has been restored.
Election leaves Thai army in charge, helped by the ‘Cambodia factor’
Thailand’s snap election of 8 February produced two clear winners, the conservative Bhumjaithai Party and Thailand’s armed forces. The party’s aggressive support for the military during last year’s clash with Cambodia proved a decisive factor. Pravit Rojanaphruk explains how the election has reinforced the army’s role in a country where it is often described as a ‘state within a state’.
A border on fire: Pakistan, Afghanistan and an unending war
An air strike on a hospital in Kabul on 17 March, which Taliban officials blame on Pakistan, killed more than 400 people and took the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan to a more serious level. Mediation by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey led both countries to declare a ceasefire for the Eid holiday, but there are no signs that the distrust between the neighbours is close to being resolved, as Iftikhar Firdous reports.
The state of democracy in Pakistan
It is said that the army in Pakistan wields more power than its democratically elected government, a situation that has prevailed for much of its years as an independent state. Umber Khairi reports.
While Trump gambles on Iran Xi doubles down in China
With President Trump preoccupied with the war in the Middle East this may not be the best moment to meet Xi Jinping of China, who has just endorsed the country’s latest Five-Year Plan. Howard Zhang has been looking at the plan and at issues between the two superpowers.
The legacy of ‘regime change’ in Iran
There has been much speculation as to whether the bombing of Iran by Israel and the US and the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will mark the end of the Islamic Republic and restoration of democratic government. Richard Oppenheimer witnessed at first hand the start of the revolution that brought the Ayatollahs to power 47 years ago.
How Iran governs itself
The Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) based in New York explains how Iran is governed. Democracy Asia publishes this extract with the permission of the CFR.
Parliamentary democracy in decline
Why has India dipped in recent years in international indices measuring the state of a country’s democracy? Kavita Chowdhury set out to investigate.
A new leader takes over
Voters in Bangladesh have delivered a landslide victory to BNP leader Tarique Rahman, who has been sworn in as the new prime minister. The vote came 18 months after a Gen Z-led revolution sent the autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina into exile.
Landslide victory strengthens Japan's Iron Lady
The lady known affectionately as Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ has led the country’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a landslide electoral victory – the party won more than two-thirds of seats in the House of Representatives or Diet.
Taking a longer view
The Islamic Republic of Iran has just celebrated the 47th anniversary of its founding. Amid the bunting and fireworks foreign reporters detected a sense of foreboding they had not experienced previously.
How democracy and elective monarchy sit side-by-side in Malaysia
Malaysia has an unusual system of governance in that both its parliament and its monarch are elected. But while adult citizens elect their parliamentary representatives, the king is elected from a field of nine sultans, hereditary rulers of their respective states, and only sultans get to vote.
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Has democracy returned to Bangladesh?
A border on fire: Pakistan, Afghanistan and an unending war
