
This book contains essays for discussion and amendment. The author has tried to describe and analyse one of the most enduring issues of our time in order to facilitate a different understanding of the event. The effects of nationalism, militarism, fundamentalism and democracy manifest themselves as a powerful pressure with significant effects on our human environment. It has widened the gap between concern and decision and has impassibly divided Bangladesh society.
The Politics of Nationalism examines the process of nationality construction within the Hill people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. The book places the issue in an historical context and begins with the first encounter of the Hill people with the British in 1760; it traces their loss of independence and consequent marginalisation within the colonial state. The book then argues that nation-state is tuned to the needs and aspirations of the dominant community; and the Hill people being the subordinate group continued to be marginalised within the State of Pakistan and then Bangladesh.
The challenge of establishing a functional democracy essential for national development has eluded many less developed countries. Bangladesh has been struggling to meet the challenge since its inception. Bangladesh in the Mirror compares the hopes of Bangladesh at independence in 1971 with the reality that exists today. While this book acknowledges the country's accomplishments, it also shows that the aspirations and potential of the Bangladeshi people have been thwarted by a fragile political and administrative system.