Logo

Synopsis This book deals with one of the most intriguing as well as most important political phenomena of Bangladesh politics; the evolution of a Bangladesh from a constitutionally "secular" state to one where the Islamists have come out as important actors and secularism as an ideology has declined in strength. Drawing upon the literature on global as well as Bangladeshi Islamic Movements, the book tries to explain the reasons for the rise of the Islamists from within a "secular" state which special focus on the causes of the rise, the nature, and the future of the strongest and most significant Islamic movement, the Jamaat-E-Islami Bangladesh, a party that violently opposed the creation of the very state of Bangladesh in 1971. How could that happen? How far can the Jamaat go with keeping its ideology intact? How does the Jamaat view the post-9/11 global situation and how does it adapt itself to this new environment? These issues have been discussed in this book. It looks at the internal as well as external factors and the Jamaat's own strategy, leading to its growth in the Bangladesh polity. While there are books on Islam in Bangladesh, none deals with the politics and development of the Jamaat from domestic and global politico-economic and ideological contexts.