ABSTRACT
Political violence is one of the major features of the political landscape of Bangladesh. This chapter proposes a three-tier approach, macro, meso, and micro, to understand what prompts violence and offers explanations of the nature and patterns of political violence in Bangladesh in the past decade and a half. The 2000–2017 period is used for analysing political violence in Bangladesh for two reasons. First, this period covers significant variations; the presence of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Awami League (AL), and interim government regimes, both flawed and fair elections, widespread government repressions and the rise, fall, and resurgence of an Islamist militancy. Second, the trial of war criminals and consequent emergence of two competing social movements, Shahbagh and Hefazat, are the crucial landmarks of this period that may help to understand the increasing political polarization and violence in contemporary Bangladesh and perhaps, in the future as well.
