CT Online Desk:
When the US State Department declared, on January 8, that Bangladesh's elections the day before "were not free or fair," it was indirectly acknowledging a major policy setback. For many months, the Biden administration used Bangladesh as a test case for its values-based foreign policy. It advocated tirelessly for greater respect for human rights, for democratic principles, and especially for free and fair elections. It deployed various tactics—relentless public messiging meetings with political party leaders written appeal for different political parties to work out differences, and santion and visa restriction. It's unclear why the administration chose to pursue its democracy agenda so robustly in Bangladesh (and it should be noted that this agenda was also pursued, albeit less emphatically, during the trump administration. One reason may have been a strong expectation of success: unlike some other countries where the US has sought to promote democracy, Bangladesh does have a legacy of democratic institutions and achievements—meaning it shouldn't be as heavy a lift to advocate for something with a precedent. US officials have also been heartened by the reduction in RAB abuses since Washington sanctioned it in 2021.
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