ABSTRACT
This chapter serves as an introduction to the volume. It briefly provides certain key reflections on the fifty years of Bangladesh’s constitutional journey, covering both major achievements and notable failures as well as highlighting the challenges. The chapter captures the history of constitution-making and the subsequent constitutional developments, from the adoption of parliamentary democracy in 1972 to constitutional dismemberment or the fall of democracy in 1975, from a lingering autocratic regime to democratic restoration in 1991, and to the current hybrid regime. The chapter also sets the context for the book, describes its objectives and likely contributions, and summarises the major arguments of the individual chapters. It concludes that the future of Bangladesh’s Constitution depends on how it can lend its agency to mend confrontational politics and provide a guarantee for fair, free, and multi-party national elections. Apart from the problem of credible free and fair elections, there remains the challenge of democratic consolidation.
