Fifty Years of Bangladesh Parliament : A Critical Evaluation /

This book critically examines the constitutional position and contribution of the Bangladesh Parliament during the fifty years of its existence. Examining the institution through a "Westminster" lens, the book unearths how and why it behaves in an (un)Westminster, rather say the "East...

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Main Author: Chowdhury, M. Jashim (Author)

Format: eBook

Language: English

Published: Leiden ; Boston : Brill | Nijhoff, 2025.

Series: Brill's Asian Law Series ; 14.
International Law E-Books Online, Collection 2025.

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Call Number: KNG2183

Table of Contents:
  • Foreword
  • Preface
  • Abbreviations
  • Table of Cases
  • 1   The Dilemma of Design
  •  1 The "Westminster" Template
  •  2 The Dilemma
  •  2.1  A Less-than-Ideal Orientation
  •  2.2  A Continuing "Hegemon"
  •  2.3  "Cross-imperial or Cross-colonial Borrowing"
  •  3 Fitting a Misfit
  •  4 A Bagful of Problems
  •  4.1  Personalisation and Radicalisation of Politics
  •  4.2  Military Interventions
  •  4.3  Corrupt and Dynastic Political Parties
  •  5 A Brief History of Bangladesh Parliaments
  •  6 The "Eastminster Deviations"
  •  7 Existing Literature and Contribution of this Book
  •  8 Structure of the Book
  • 2   Organisation, Position and Powers
  •  1 Introduction
  •  2 Composition of the Parliament
  •  2.1  Parliamentary Election Process
  •  2.2  The Speaker and Deputy Speaker
  •  3 Parliament's Relation with Other State Organs
  •  3.1  Parliament and the Government
  •  3.2  Parliament and the Judiciary
  •  3.3  Parliament and the People
  •  4 General Powers and Functions of the Parliament
  •  4.1  Law Making and Constitutional Amendment Powers
  •  4.2  Financial Powers
  •  4.3  Accountability Powers
  •  5 Conclusion
  • 3   A Subdued Legislature
  •  1 Introduction
  •  1.1  Questioning and Debating the Government
  •  1.2  Parliamentary Questions
  •  1.3  Parliamentary Debate
  •  2 Legislative Processes as Tools of Accountability
  •  2.1  Pre-legislative Stage
  •  2.2  Legislative Stage
  •  3 Scrutiny by the Parliamentary Committees
  •  3.1  Committee Work for Constituency Benefits, Re-election, and Career Prospects
  •  3.2  Committees as Suppliers of Information, Expertise and Scrutiny
  •  3.3  Coalition Logic for Committee Assertiveness
  •  3.4  Partisan Cartelisation of Parliamentary Committees
  •  4 Political Parties as the Agents of Accountability
  •  4.1  Inter-party Relations within the Parliament
  •  4.2  Intra-party Accountability
  •  5 Conclusion
  • 4   A Defiant Judiciary
  •  1 Introduction
  •  2 Parliament and the Judiciary's Inter-institutional Comity
  •  2.1  Bangladesh Parliament's position on the  Sub Judice Rule
  •  2.2  Bangladesh Supreme Court's Incoherence over the Exclusionary Rule
  •  2.3  Internal Process Doctrine
  •  3 The Concept of Judicial Accountability
  •  3.1  Judges' Democratic Accountability to the Parliament
  •  3.2  Judges' Explanatory Accountability to the Parliamentary Committees
  •  4 Judicial Review of the Statute Laws and Constitutional Amendments
  •  4.1  "Strong" and "Weak" Forms of Judicial Review
  •  4.2  Bangladesh's "Strong Form" Judicial Review
  •  5 Importance of "Democratic Dialogue"
  •  5.1  Potentials of Dialogic Judicial Review in Bangladesh
  •  6 Conclusion
  • 5   A Disengaged Electorate
  •  1 Introduction
  •  2 The Parliament's Electoral Accountability
  •  2.1  Nature of the Elections
  •  2.2  Fairness of the Electoral Process
  •  2.3  Fairness of the Electoral Outcome
  •  3 The Parliament's Continuing Accountability
  •  3.1  Public Relations of the Parliament
  •  3.2  Constituency Works of the  mp  s
  •  4 Parliament's Operational Accountability
  •  4.1  Avenues of Public Participation
  •  4.2  Petitioning the Parliament
  •  5 Conclusion
  • 6   The Problems of Reform
  •  1 Introduction
  •  2 The Failed "Revolutions"
  •  2.1  The Military Rulers of 1975-1990
  •  2.2  The Military-Backed Government of 2007-2008
  •  3 The "Constitutional Bargain"-ers without "Democratic Instrumental Vision"
  •  3.1  A Crippled Election Commission
  •  3.2  A Stillborn and Failed Caretaker Government
  •  3.3  Reluctance in Capacity Building
  •  4 Parliamentary Reform: The Role of Time, Attitude and Institutions
  •  4.1  Norton's Attitudinal and Formalist Theory
  •  4.2  Kelso's Contextual and Institutional Theory
  •  4.3  Adoption of the Parliamentary System in 1972
  •  4.4  Abolition of the Parliamentary System and Failure of the One-Party System in 1975
  •  4.5  Revival of the Parliamentary System in 1991
  •  4.6  Abolition of the Caretaker Government in 2011
  •  5 Conclusion
  • 7   The "Eastminster Deviations" and Ways Ahead
  •  1 Introduction
  •  2 Three "Eastminster" Deviations
  •  3 Parliament's Failure to Hold the Executive Accountable
  •  3.1  Ministerial (Non)Responsibility
  •  3.2  A Mere Legitimizer
  •  3.3  Controlled Deliberation
  •  3.4  Cartelized Committees
  •  4 Antagonistic Relation with the Judiciary
  •  5 Detachment from the People
  •  5.1  Crisis of Electoral Legitimacy
  •  5.2  The Localised  mp  s
  •  5.3  A Detached Citizenry
  •  6 Roadblocks to Parliamentary Reform
  •  7 The "Perseverance Despite"
  •  8 The Ways Ahead
  •  8.1  Incremental and Intermediate Reforms
  •  8.2  A Democratic Dialogue between the Parliament and Judiciary
  •  8.3  Waiting for a Realignment of the Political Landscape
  •  9 Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index.