THE CONVERSATION: Bangladesh is booming, but slide towards authoritarianism could burst the bubble

Description

Bangladesh has been a development success story in recent years. The country made remarkable progress in poverty alleviation prior to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) deadline of 2015 and has over performed on multiple social indicators, such as education, health and fertility. According to the United Nations (UN), Bangladesh has progressed so much that it has now fulfilled the criteria to graduate from a “least developed country” to a “developing country”.

But, following the recent general election, which saw the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, win a third term, what are the chances of these development trends being sustained and progressing even further?