Six months ago, Bangladesh freed itself from an autocratic regime through a historic popular uprising. United Nations investigation reported that over 1,400 people were killed, and thousands more were injured due to government repression during the movement. At its core, this struggle was driven by two fundamental goals: dismantling autocracy and implementing systemic change.
In response, an interim government led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus was established with a clear mandate—to implement the deep reforms demanded by the people. However, these efforts quickly met fierce resistance.
The public called for sweeping reforms across multiple sectors, including constitutional law, education, finance, healthcare, and bureaucracy. Yet, the dominant political party—rooted in power politics rather than public service—emerged as the primary obstacle. Over the past 16 years, an entrenched beneficiary class, sustained by ideological control and systemic corruption, has embedded itself across government, business, finance, education, and healthcare. These vested interests, along with the political elite, remain the biggest barriers to reform.
To address these challenges, the government lunched six fact finding commissions to reform the judiciary, election system, administration, police, Anti-Corruption Commission, and the constitution. Notably, Constitution reform commission led by Prof Ali Riaz of Illinois State University, proposed broad changes including changes to preamble, term limit, bicameral parliament system and decentralize judiciary. These changes understandably will need to go through internal debate and process to be fully implemented.
Besides Constitutional reform, other commissions reports are now complete but the dominant political party refuses to implement their recommendations. Instead, they are aggressively pushing for early elections—seemingly as a strategy to reclaim power and derail the systemic transformation the people fought for.
If elections proceed before some of these crucial reforms take hold, any new government will inherit a deeply flawed system and face overwhelming challenges. Without dismantling entrenched corruption and structural dysfunction, Bangladesh risks falling back into the same cycle of power politics that has long stifled its progress. The path ahead is uncertain, but one thing is clear—the demand for systemic change will not be silenced.
Bangladesh’s near-term future will have implications far beyond its borders. Positioned as a strategic wedge between two parts of India and connected to Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh’s stability is crucial for regional and extended geopolitical dynamics. Moreover, with a population of 180 million, sustained stability and economic growth could transform Bangladesh into a even bigger market for both Asia and the West, influencing trade, investment, and strategic partnerships.
Bangladesh’s Economic Crisis
In recent years, Bangladesh’s economy has stagnated and entered a downward spiral. The two key pillars of economic strength—remittances and export earnings from the ready-made garments (RMG) sector—have shown little to no growth. Meanwhile, the energy sector, which dictates the cost of living and production, has become overwhelmingly import-dependent, further straining the economy.
Adding to these challenges, widespread looting of the banking sector and foreign currency reserves—through both direct and indirect means—has left the financial system critically disabled, with no viable recovery options under current conditions. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman made the revelation that on average $12-15 billion dollars laundered from Bangladesh annually during last 15 years of Awami League rule.
White paper published on money laundering by Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of Center for Policy Dialogue revealed $234 billion dollars siphoned off during Awami League rule. It has been estimated that $47-100 billion worth of money was washed or laundered into Canada as a haven to conceal harmful and illegal financial activities.
Compounding factors of wholesale theft and regime backed corruption left Bangladesh economy in a dire state. That was not only blow Bangladesh economy suffered, economic date and reporting were heavily falsified to create façade of look good economy. “The First Hundred Days of Reform” report prepared by International Crisis Group after 100 days Awami League regime ouster showed macroeconomic indicators, including export figures and growth data were manipulated and were “highly misleading”. Report also highlighted World Bank estimation that from 2015 to 2019 about half of Bangladesh’s reported gross domestic product (GDP) growth was “unexplained”.
With short of foreign currency reserve, growing import bills and ambition to restart the economy, a new government will face an impossible balancing act. If it continues the current import-driven energy model, production costs will rise, leading to higher inflation, decreased export competitiveness, and stagnant incomes. Conversely, if the government stops printing money to curb inflation, the banking sector and government functions risk collapsing due to severe liquidity shortages. However, if money printing continues, inflation could spiral out of control, driving mass unrest.
It is evident that an overwhelming and unsustainable imbalance has been created—one that cannot persist indefinitely without a breaking point. Without restoring financial stability, economic growth and investment will remain unattainable. The new government must adopt a multi-pronged strategy to regain equilibrium. Bigger question or challenge to the upcoming new govt would be what is their strategy and detailed action plan to reestablish the economic equilibrium?
Another pressing question for any new administration is what immediate actions it will take to repatriate stolen money from Bangladesh. Without recovering these funds, economic stabilization will remain elusive.
The road to economic recovery is steep, and the new government must act decisively to restore balance. The challenge is not only in having a strategy but in having the political will and capacity to execute it effectively. Without bold and immediate action, Bangladesh risks deeper economic turmoil. The time for reform is now. Will the new government rise to the challenge?
The Education Crisis: A Nation’s Future at Stake
Education is at the heart of Bangladesh’s demand for change, yet over the past 16 years, it has suffered a systematic collapse due to absolute politicization under the previous regime. Even private universities were not spared, as ruling party leaders seized control and turned them into political tools rather than centers of learning.
The consequences have been devastating:
- Dismal quality of education, leaving students unemployable even after graduating from once-prestigious institutions.
- Bangladeshi universities ranking at the bottom in regional institutional assessments.
- A growing disconnects between education and market demands, both locally and internationally.
For a nation of 180 million people, sustainable growth is impossible without a strong education system. The question is not just whether the next government has the political will to reform education, but whether it understands the urgency of the crisis. What will the new govt do to uplift quality of education that infuse experience into learning process and responds to demands of local and overseas needs?
The future of Bangladesh depends on education reform. Without bold and immediate action, the country will continue to lag behind in global competitiveness. The new government must decide:
- Will it take real steps to rebuild the education system and secure Bangladesh’s future?
- Or will it allow education to remain a casualty of political manipulation and money-making venture, leaving generations unprepared for progress?
The choice will determine whether Bangladesh rises as a knowledge-driven economy or remains stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.
Healthcare in Bangladesh: A System Need New Framework
While wealthy political elites seek treatment abroad, spending over $3 billion annually, the general population is left struggling with inadequate and ineffective healthcare. Despite having skilled physicians, the healthcare system remains crippled by a lack of resources, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and deep-rooted corruption. The real issue is not just the availability of doctors, but the systematic failure in delivering quality healthcare to the masses.
Any meaningful healthcare reform must go beyond superficial improvements—it requires a complete restructuring of how healthcare is delivered, managed, and developed in Bangladesh. Without a bold new healthcare framework, no real change will be possible. The people of Bangladesh deserve more than just promises—they deserve action.
What Will the Next Government do to improve treatment facility, practice and process for common people? This is a very core question, but prudent answer depends on addressing much broader area like – how to augment real medical research, how to produce medical talents and how to create excellence in medical practice?
Bangladesh’s Bureaucracy: Begging for Demolition
The present-day bureaucratic system, officially known as the Bangladesh Civil Service, is a legacy of British colonial rule. However, over the last 16 years, under the previous regime, the bureaucracy has deteriorated into its worst form. New appointments were made primarily based on political allegiance, leading to widespread discrimination—a key factor that initially ignited the student-led uprising.
Under the autocratic rule, the bureaucracy was heavily politicized and weaponized to consolidate power. Over time, bureaucrats, in collusion with ruling elites, formed a well-organized and deeply entrenched network of corruption, both domestically and internationally. This corruption syndicate has siphoned billions of dollars from Bangladesh, infiltrating every level of administration.
Today, the bureaucracy is not just inefficient but serves as a major barrier to reform. Without dismantling this entrenched system of political favoritism and financial exploitation, meaningful change will remain elusive. The challenge for any new government will be not only to cleanse the civil service of corruption but also to restore its integrity as a professional, merit-based institution that serves the people—not political interests.
The vast accumulation of ill-gotten wealth by Bangladeshi bureaucrats—both within the country and abroad—is a well-documented reality. Worse still, by becoming a critical pillar of the past autocratic regime, the bureaucracy has grown so powerful that even so-called “elected” officials could not execute their mandated duties without bureaucratic interference or paying a percentage of project funds as kickbacks.
In what is supposed to be the “People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” the civil service was originally intended to serve the people. However, over time, bureaucrats have effectively become the de facto rulers of the country, overpowered democratic institutions and blocked essential governance and development efforts. This deeply entrenched bureaucratic syndicate has made it virtually impossible for any government to implement reforms without first confronting and dismantling this corrupt system.
Given this reality, the first and most critical question for any new administration is this:
- Will they submit to the bureaucratic syndicate, as past regimes did, becoming complicit in its corruption?
- Or will they heed the people’s demand and take decisive action to cleanse the bureaucracy, restoring it as a system that truly serves the republic?
Without a deep structural purge of the bureaucracy, no democracy can survive, and no meaningful socio-economic progress can be achieved. The people have made their demand clear—will the new government have the courage to act?
The Hard Question: How Can the New Government Rebuild a Corrupt and Irredeemable Bureaucracy?
Teesta Barrage: A Symbolic and Strategic Imperative for Bangladesh
There is no doubt that the Teesta Barrage has become a symbolic national project for the people of Bangladesh. Decades of water aggression have devastated communities, and the prolonged suffering of millions has galvanized public demand for its immediate implementation.
The Teesta issue is not just about water scarcity—it represents a larger struggle against environmental and economic devastation. India’s construction of multiple upstream dams has severely disrupted Bangladesh’s water flow, leading to droughts in dry seasons and severe flooding in monsoons. Worse still, India has actively obstructed Bangladesh’s attempts to implement mitigation measures, such as water preservation and irrigation projects.
The previous regime, prioritizing political appeasement over national interest, consistently ignored the suffering of the Bangladeshi people, using one excuse after another to delay action. For the new government, repeating these delaying tactics would not only be politically damaging but also a direct betrayal of national sovereignty.
The Key Decision: Will the New Government Accept China’s Offer?
With China offering techno-economic assistance for the earliest implementation of the Teesta Barrage, the new government faces a defining question:
- Will it seize this opportunity to safeguard Bangladesh’s water security, ensuring rapid execution of the project?
- Or will it continue to delay under diplomatic pressure, leaving millions of Bangladeshis vulnerable to further devastation?
The decision will not just shape Bangladesh’s water policy but will also signal the new government’s commitment to national interest over foreign influence. The people have waited long enough—will the new leadership finally act?
Creating Strategic Value for Bangladesh: A Path to REAL Sovereignty
In contemporary statecraft, strategic value is survival. In a world of shifting power dynamics, nations without strategic depth and capital become vulnerable to political, economic, and even military coercion.
Bangladesh, surrounded by a regional hegemon, has suffered these effects since independence—economic dependency, diplomatic subjugation, and strategic irrelevance. In 55 years, Bangladesh has failed to break free from this geopolitical limbo, largely due to a lack of visionary leadership, institutional inertia, and an absence of real strategic discourse.
Mere rhetoric will not suffice. Bangladesh needs a strategic transformation, led by thinkers and policymakers who understand the complex geopolitical, economic, and security realities. Bangladesh has remained strategically vulnerable for too long. The core question is, can the new government overcome the existential strategic handicap?
The ultimate test for the new government – will Bangladesh remain trapped in its historical strategic dogma? Or will it take decisive steps to finally break free and establish itself as a sovereign, strategically independent nation?
Real freedom comes from strategic strength—without it, sovereignty is just an illusion.Bottom of Form
Bangladesh’s Defense Paradigm
As the global defense landscape transforms, Bangladesh’s defense paradigm must evolve from traditional arms-based strategies to a more technology-driven, hybrid defense model. Modern warfare is increasingly characterized by multi-domain integration—a fusion of cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI), electronic warfare (EW), real-time surveillance and intelligence. In this new era, the traditional domains of land, air, and sea are no longer sufficient.
Over the past 15 years, Bangladesh’s armed forces had suffered from significant setbacks, beginning with the tragic massacre of 57 Bangladesh Army officers in February 2009. Since then, the defense establishment has been systematically weakened, with certain segments being exploited as instruments of extra judicial power projection for the autocratic regime rather than serving as a professional, independent force safeguarding national security.
Threat perceptions for Bangladesh also changed with increasingly hostile Indian political interference, border incursion and killing of Bangladeshis, and Indian propaganda campaign to create pretext for intervention. On the southern border, the Myanmar military junta’s genocidal actions against the Rohingya population created humanitarian and security risks for Bangladesh. Rising power struggles among global and regional actors in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal have created a new strategic concern for Bangladesh’s maritime security.
Bangladesh must move beyond conventional military thinking. The integration of cyber capabilities, AI, space surveillance, and intelligence systems into a unified multi-domain defense strategy will be crucial in addressing both current and future challenges.
The new defense doctrine should balance technological advancements with regional strategic alignment, ensuring Bangladesh can defend itself effectively in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. What will be Bangladesh defense doctrine? What are capabilities Bangladesh needs to face increasing hostile hegemon and future threat perceptions?
Mir Hasan is a seasoned technology and telecom professional in the United States. Long time keen observes and analyst for technology and geopolitics. Occasionally wrote on transformative geopolitical events around Bangladesh.