Military, Authoritarianism and Islam: a Comparative Analysis of Bangladesh and Pakistan

The years 1975 and 1977 witnessed a wave of de facto military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively. In Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq operationalized the country's preexisting Islamic identity from emblematic to substantive at both domestic and international levels. General Z...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Politics and religion
Authors: Sheikh, Md Ziaul Haque (Author) ; Ahmed, Zahid Shahab (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2020]
In: Politics and religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Pakistan / Military dictatorship / Bangladesh / Islamization / Political identity
B History 1975-1990
RelBib Classification:BJ Islam
KBM Asia
ZC Politics in general
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The years 1975 and 1977 witnessed a wave of de facto military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively. In Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq operationalized the country's preexisting Islamic identity from emblematic to substantive at both domestic and international levels. General Ziaur Rahman and General Ershad of Bangladesh revived the country's Islamic identity at the domestic and international levels and reopened the space for religious fractions that were banned from politics constitutionally in the previous regime. Focusing on military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan between 1975 and 1990, this paper aims to bridge that gap by specifically examining the use of Islam. This study argues that dictators in both countries used Islam to support their survival strategies of legitimacy, repression, and social control. Authoritarian rulers did not have to use Islam to maintain military coherence, because of the military's culture of subordination to superiors.
ISSN:1755-0491
Contains:Enthalten in: Politics and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S1755048319000440