Source: Current History
Since Bangladesh made a transition to democracy in 1991, the country has held three competitive elections that resulted in a turnover of power from the incumbents to the opposition. Consolidating democracy in Bangladesh would be an important achievement because of the dearth of stable democracies in Muslimmajority countries. But equating elections with democracy or assuming that alternations in power would automatically result in the consolidation of a liberal democracy is a mistake that some social scientists call the “electoralist fallacy.” Democracy is consolidated and truly becomes the “only game in town” when elected governments govern within the bounds of the rule of law and the political opposition respects the procedures and norms of the democratic game...
