ABSTRACT
With democratic backsliding unfolding in incremental manner in Bangladesh for years, concerns have been expressed since 2016 whether the country will descent into a one-party state. These concerns are premised on both the contemporary political developments and the history. This chapter describes this process of democratic backsliding in Bangladesh and the emergence of the hybrid regime – a system which alloys authoritarianism and democracy. This chapter argues that along with the constitutional and legal measures, the ruling party has adopted ideational measures creating an environment which allows and legitimizes the undemocratic actions of the incumbent. These undemocratic steps have created a de facto one-party state; but whether a de jure one-party state is likely is an open question at this point because hybrid regimes are not immutable, its mutation to authoritarianism far more likely.
