ABSTRACT
Bangladesh has undergone a variety of regime changes since it became independent in 1971. Amendments to the constitution of 1972 have changed the form of government from the original parliamentary system to a presidential system in 1975 and back to a parliamentary system in 1991. Parliamentary government, which requires the party in power to work closely with the opposition and to have functioning committees in which opposition parties are also included, has not been institutionalized in Bangladesh. A temporary government was established without any constitutional premise to assist Bangladesh in transitioning from an authoritarian system to a democratic one. The new government was soon overwhelmed by the enormous reconstruction and rehabilitation challenges facing it after the immensely destructive conflict for independence. In 2001 a third caretaker government was led by former chief justice Latifur Rahman. Tinkering with the form of local government has been a pastime of each regime, as it had been before independence among the regimes of Pakistan.
