The changing patterns of Bangladesh foreign policy: a comparative study of the Mujib and Zia regimes (1971-1981), 1995
Haider, Zaglul
1995-07-01
1990-1999
This study has highlighted the changes in Bangladesh foreign policy during the Mu jib and Zia regimes. It has uncovered the fact that the foreign policy of the Sheikh Mu jib regime was shaped by the principles of the national liberation war of Bangladesh (secularism and socialism) although the post-liberation reality demanded the supremacy of the national interest in the foreign policy formulation of the new nation. Because of Mujib's central priority on the principles of the national liberation war, his foreign policy was tilted towards India and the Soviet Union, as the two key international actors of Bangladesh's national liberation war. Due to their skeptical role in the liberation war the United States, China, and the Muslim world were kept away from the preferential treatment. As the Indo-Soviet allies failed to meet the emerging needs and growing economic crisis, Mujib's foreign policy failed to achieve the national interest and it proved dysfunctional. On the other hand, following the eclipse of the Mu jib regime and at the beginning of the Zia era, a thaw began in the foreign policy decision-making process of Bangladesh. Ziaur Rahman considered the national interest as a vantage point and put top priority on it (self preservation, economic advancement, safe-guarding as well as augmenting national power and upholding national ideology). In order to achieve the national interest Zia very promptly transformed Bangladesh's foreign policy from the Indo-Soviet orbit, got rid of the socialist yoke, and aligned with the United States, China, and the Muslim world triangle . Zia1s redesigned foreign policy has successfully explored sufficient external resources to meet the mounting economic crisis and to a great extent contributed to the economic development of Bangladesh. Although the Indo-Soviet threat was posed to the state under Zia, the new alliance of the United States, China, and the Muslim world effectively forestalled the threat and the national interest was served better than during the Mujib regime.
text
application/pdf
Gibrill, Hashim
Clark Atlanta University
Georgia--Atlanta
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1995_haider_zaglul.pdf
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
