I WAS not surprised when Columbia University鈥檚 interim president Katrina Armstrong caved to the demands of the Trump administration. She agreed to ban face masks or face coverings, prohibit protests in academic buildings and create an internal security force of 36 New York City Police officers empowered to 鈥榬emove individuals from campus and/or arrest them when...
HASINA鈥橲 return to power in 2008 was not just the return of a leader; it was the return of something darker, more insidious. As the caretaker government retreated quietly, she swiftly reasserted control over every arm of the state, her will bending institutions like pliable clay. The dream of democracy, nurtured with such care in the days following the...
THE call for constitutional change in Bangladesh has intensified, not merely for refinement but as a profound demand for democratic renewal. Reforming the 1972 constitution within its current framework overlooks a critical reality: the document is itself embedded with principles that have enabled authoritarianism rather than safeguarded against it...
IN THE recent rise of secular authoritarian government and the rise of religious orthodoxy in response to the so-called development-focused regime, let us take a step back and reread Lalon Fakir (d. 1890) to find what he professed and practiced in a similar situation. Lalon鈥檚 reformulation of the concept of spiritual practice was informed by the...
Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te warned on Wednesday that China鈥檚 鈥榞rowing authoritarianism will not stop with鈥� the island and urged democratic countries to unite to curb its expansion...