North South University

Assignment
Political Science Group Project
POL101, Section – 01
Topic
Is Bangladesh a Hybrid Regime?

Submitted to Submitted by

Shah Md. Hadidul Islam(1931010030)

Fahim Muntasir Shoummow(213 1159 642)

Naima Binte Alam Toufika(2122130630)

Date of Submission: 17th October, 2023

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................. 1
Methodology .....................................................................................4
Findings of the research ....................................................................4
From primary data- ..........................................................................4
From secondary research- ................................................................7
Recommendation ..............................................................................9
Conclusion .............................................................................................. 11
References .............................................................................................. 12

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Introduction:

Hybrid regime is governing system of a country that government applies on its country’s

people. Hybrid regime, a governing system, is considered to be the combination of

democratic and authoritarian governing system. Basically, it is a governing system

where government listens but there is little implementation of people’s words.

Government refrain its people from free and fair democracy, and builds pressure on

people to follow only the rules of government applies on them (Hybrid regime,

n.d.).Hybrid regimes typically have regular elections, but these elections are often unfair

or rigged. The government may use its power to influence the outcome of elections,

such as by harassing opposition candidates, manipulating the media, or buying votes.

Hybrid regimes typically restrict civil liberties, such as freedom of speech, assembly,

and association. The government may crack down on dissent, arrest opposition leaders

and journalists, and suppress civil society groups.The judiciary in hybrid regimes is

often not fully independent of the government. The government may interfere in judicial

proceedings or appoint judges who are loyal to the ruling party.

Bangladesh is a country where political system always plays a vital role in every sector

of the country as people always discuss about the ongoing culture of politics. In

Bangladesh, political system is considered to be a mess of all time, and it is because all

the political parties who have hand in structuring this system of politics are also running

this system. Hybrid regime is built on the basis of an authoritarian which results in

incomplete democratic transition. Unlike other countries, there is little practice of

democracy because, sometimes, people are being refrained from expressing themselves

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as a responsible citizen of a country. Bangladesh has been classified as a hybrid regime

by several independent organizations, including the Economist Intelligence Unit's

Democracy Index. The Democracy Index scores countries on a scale of 0 to 10, with

higher scores indicating more democracy. Bangladesh scored a 5.99 in 2022, which

places it in the category of "flawed democracy".

Bangladesh has continued its steady progression and has moved up to 73rd

among 167 countries on the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index

2022, yet its scores remained unchanged.

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There are several reasons why Bangladesh is considered a hybrid regime. First, the

country has a history of electoral fraud and violence. The 2018 election, which was won

by the incumbent Awami League party, was marred by allegations of widespread

irregularities. Second, the government has cracked down on dissent in recent years.

Opposition leaders have been arrested, journalists have been harassed, and civil society

groups have been restricted. Third, the judiciary is not fully independent of the

government. In this report, we are going to research whether Bangladesh is a hybrid

regime or not. We are going to do all necessary jobs to find out ‘is Bangladesh a hybrid

regime?’. For this research purpose we will interview people through forms and we will

have some data from the internet regarding the topic.

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Methodology:

For the primary research, a survey will be conducted on the basis of sampling of the

university going students and the people who are doing jobs and have sense of

politics.The sample (respondents) will be 100. In order to get a useful data, a

questionnaire with different types of questions which will help to get the exact answer of

the questions we are looking for answers.

For the secondary research, the internet like search engine Google will be used for some

valid information.

Findings of the research:

From primary data-

people. We will highlight some important questions regarding the topic with pie charts that

show what percentage of 100 people answered that particular question.

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In this question, people were asked about their opinion that whether their opinions matter

or not to the government of Bangladesh. Surprisingly, 47% of people answered

government listens but there is no implementation of their work. And another big portion,

38% of people directly answered that government never listens them, and that clearly

indicates hybrid regime.

In above question, people were asked that governing system of this country fits into hybrid

regime or not. We can see that majority of people, about 76% thinks Bangladesh’s political

culture, system, election process, and governing system are run like hybrid regime

governing system.

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In this question, 38.4% of people think Bangladesh can prosper in near future with the

hybrid regime governing system with the right execution of plans. At the same time,

another 38.4% of people strongly believe that the country cannot prosper at the higher

level unless there is practice of democracy in the country.

The practice of democracy is always preferred over hybrid regime as 42% of people

preferred democracy. It indicates that the practice of democracy is always preferable in

any time because democracy leads to freedom. But surprisingly, 26% of people is okay

with the hybrid regime governing system.

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People were asked about which governing system is better for country to go to higher

level. As expected, majority of people like 59.6% thinks democracy system is perfect for

any country to run successfully. But at the same time, 34.3% people think democracy can

be practiced in hybrid regime governing system.

From secondary research-

We got our primary data from the search engine Google. After having all the data, it clearly

indicates that Bangladesh fits into hybrid regime. Bangladesh is still categorized as having

a hybrid government, which means that there are significant irregularities that impede free

and fair elections, as well as pervasive corruption and weak application of the law

(Mahadi, 2023). According to political experts, hybrid regime is considered to be a tool to

make a weak parliament in the country. In Bangladesh, parliamentary democracy has

been started in 1991. However, by 2018, the country became an example of the mixed

governing system like democratic and authoritarian (Riaz, 2018). In hybrid regime

governing system, people are being stopped from electing the right candidate for any

position to run successfully. This governing system always hampers the parliamentary

system of a country. After 50 years of this country, Bangladesh does not speak of

progress in democratic governance as there is no free and fair election (Three Issues at

Centre of Bangladesh Politics, 2021).

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 Democracy Index 2022
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9.81
10

8 7.04
6.47
5.99
Scores

5.54
6
4.49 4.13
4

2
0.32
0

Country

In above graph, democracy index of 2022 is shown with countries and their scores in

democratic world. We can see that Bangladesh scored 5.99 which is lower than Norway,

India, and Sri Lanka, and it is alarming situation for Bangladesh that this country needs

to be democratic for its people’s betterment. There is no accountability of representative

to the people, and that leads to huge mess in every sector of the country because people

of the country are not listened. Rather of calling Bangladesh a democracy, the country is

still referred to as a hybrid system, as of 2008 (Bangladesh not a democracy, a hybrid

regime, 2017). Before 2008, Bangladesh was categorized as flawed democracy as per

the data, and this was the governing system where people can choose their candidate for

the position with free and fair election but there can be some issues in electoral process.

But in graph, Bangladesh moved two places up to rank 73rd with score of 5.99 as per the

democracy index 2022 (Bangladesh moves 2 notches up, 2023). After overall research,

we can say that Bangladesh fits into hybrid regime where the governing system is the

mixture of democratic and authoritarian governing system. People who are living in this

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type of governing system are being refrained from free and fair election which is the clear

indication of hampering the practice of democracy. In hybrid regime, people are listened

but there is no implementation of their words and people always want democracy where

there is free and fair election and people will be listened.

Recommendation:

Basically, hybrid regime are nations with electoral frauds and preventing people from free

and fair election. There is little practice of democracy in hybrid regime, and that is why

people cannot choose the right candidate for any position. In hybrid regime, people are

listened but government does not do according to people’s say. The government’s word

will be the last say and will be applied on people also. People have to go through these

rules to live in a country peacefully. If we consider the output of hybrid regime, then it

would rather create chaos than making peace in a country. Hybrid regime creates mess

between political parties in Bangladesh which leads to a corrupted political system, and

that can be the major reason behind the improper electoral process where free and fair

election is uncertain. If we look at the countries with hybrid regime governing system, then

we can see that people always complain about the electoral process of that country and

people always want to leave the country and want to settle in a country where there is a

complete practice of democracy, people are listened, and government do according to

people’s say. This is same thing happens in Bangladesh just because of being a hybrid

regime nation. In Bangladesh, political culture is a mess and people are not ensured about

their basic rights and this can be the major reason behind majority of people are leaving

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the country. Now if we look for solution, then we should think about the complete practice

of democracy. Because the full practice of democracy is always preferred over hybrid

regime. To deal with hybrid regime, initially, we need to identify its characteristics. Some

especial characteristics are irregularities in free and fair election, government pressure

on opposition parties, serious weakness in all sectors, wide spread of corruption, rights

of civil society are hampered. So we need to ensure that none of these characteristics

are happened in real life. We need to ensure that people are encouraged enough to

participate in free and fair election to select the right candidate. Then the political system

needs to be structured in a way that the political parties always work for the betterment

of people and the country. Rights of civil society are not hampered, and this is the most

important thing that needs to be ensured before anything to call a country a democratic

nation. It is strongly suggested that there is no autocracy in the election process of

Bangladesh. People can vote their preferred candidate needs to be ensured. A

democratic country’s the most important characteristic is that the people can share their

opinions freely about what they feel and can participate in all development works without

any hesitation. But in Bangladesh, we can see a complete different scenario because of

being a hybrid regime. There is always a huge mess in electoral system, and people do

not feel encouraged to participate in this autocracy election process. That is why,

government of Bangladesh has to ensure that all the political parties are equally

competent to take part in free and fair election with all the legal votes of people. This is

the way Bangladesh can proper in near future with dignity. So the solution can be right

practice of democracy that people can feel they are valued in this country, government

needs to make people feel that the words come from their mouth have weight and there

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will be implementation of plans with right ways. When people will practice democracy, the

country will get back on the right track to be a democratic country. Because being hybrid

regime would rather create mess than bringing benefits for the country.

Conclusion:

In this research, we tried to find out whether Bangladesh is a hybrid regime or not. We

did all the possible works to get this research done successfully. We used both primary

and secondary relevant data for the research purpose. For the primary data, we

interviewed people through google forms and found out that majority of people is in the

side of democratic nation where their opinion will be mattered and people can take part

in free and fair election. As per the secondary data, Bangladesh is marked as hybrid

regime where practice of democracy is little, and it is more of an authoritarian governing

system. Being a hybrid regime, people feel less encouraged than before to participate in

election which creates a huge mess in every sector of the country. After all the research,

Bangladesh need to transform its governing system into democratic nation. Because right

practice of democracy can bring benefits and this is only way to thrive in this competitive

world as a democratic nation. So Bangladesh is a hybrid regime where authoritarian is

preferred than practicing democracy.

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References:

1. Bangladesh again marked as hybrid regime. (2022, February 10). New Age
Bangladesh. Retrieved from
https://www.newagebd.net/article/162419/bangladesh-again-marked-as-hybrid-
regime
2. Bangladesh moves 2 notches up. (2023, February 4). Daily Sun. Retrieved from
https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/671983/Bangladesh-moves-2-
notches-up
3. Bangladesh not a democracy, a hybrid regime. (2017, January 26). Prothom Alo
English. Retrieved from https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/Bangladesh-not-
a-democracy-a-Hybrid-regime-EIU
4. Hybrid regime. (n.d.). Retrieved from ECPS:
https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/hybrid-regime/
5. Mahadi, S. S. (2023, February 2). Bangladesh moves two notches up on democracy
index. The Business Standard. Retrieved from
https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/bangladesh-moves-two-notches-
democracy-index-579002
6. Riaz, A. (2018, December 31). Legislature as a Tool of the Hybrid Regime:
Bangladesh Experience. Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-
politics/article/legislature-as-a-tool-of-the-hybrid-regime-bangladesh-
experience/20AFD95F9803FE4D44A68430ACE108B9
7. Three Issues at Centre of Bangladesh Politics. (2021, December 16). Retrieved from
Centre for Governance Studies: https://cgs-bd.com/article/5779/Three-Issues-at-
Centre-of-Bangladesh-Politics

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