Md. Ali Siddiquee | University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (original) (raw)
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Papers by Md. Ali Siddiquee
A Study on Bangladesh-South Korea Relations: Trends and Directions, 2022
The political relations between Bangladesh and Republic of Korea (RoK) are based on mutual respec... more The political relations between Bangladesh and Republic of Korea (RoK) are based on mutual respect and trust, democratic principles, commonalities in history, common values and ideals for peace and security, common goals for prosperity, and have always been multifaceted. In the last five decades, Bangladesh and RoK relations have gone through significant transformations. This has been reverberated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who expressed the necessity to take the current relations to a new height. At present both nations share strong economic and cultural ties. RoK has been helping Bangladesh in its socio-economic development initiatives. However, deepened and broadened political and strategic cooperation between these two friendly nations is currently missing. Needless to mention that the economic drivers form the core of the relations between these, nevertheless it is high time where both these nations pushed their respective sides to elevate the existing relations from mere economic and cultural domain to transcend a political and strategic partnership one where the prime focus should be on politico-strategic, security, defense and military aspects. This section analyzes the political, diplomatic, and strategic relations, areas of politico-strategic cooperation, current challenges, and ends with some recommendations in the chapter.
Journal of Bangladesh and Global Affairs, 2022
The Bay of Bengal (BoB) is historically contested area among the major Asian and European powers ... more The Bay of Bengal (BoB) is historically contested area among the major Asian and European powers due to a wide variety of geopolitical reasons. Within the broader IOR, the BoB remains the key portal for enhanced bilateral and multilateral engagements. The recent policy initiatives of China, India, USA, Australia and Japan in the IOR and the Bay region specifically indicated growing strategic rivalries. This has serious ramifications for the security and development potentials for Bangladesh. The great powers will try to suggest policy inputs for Bangladesh, the latter may not only will face pressures with regard to policy independence but also be constrained and might succumb possibly to these pressures. Due to the burgeoning rivalry among the great powers, Bangladesh will encounter difficulties in policy independence. Thus, Bangladesh's preferred policy posture to tackle the great power rivalry should be and in fact has been an independent, non-aligned one. After 50 years of its independence, some domestic sources are seen to highlight Bangladesh's weakness, some analysts have underscored Bangladesh's strengths in courting major great powers. This article shows what challenges are it facing, how it has responded so far, and some recommendations about what it shall continue to carry its legacy of strategic hedging in the coming decades to address the great power rivalry in the Bay.
This article reviews four writings in International Relations (IR) each of which provides an infl... more This article reviews four writings in International Relations (IR) each of which provides an influential theoretical perspective on the global order. The first text, authored by Hedley Bull, marked a sharp departure from the dominant realist school of thought. Bull's concept of the society of states maintains an international order by common interests based on a set of primary or universal goals. He argues that the common interests among the states are the prerequisites for forming the order. The second book, authored by Alexander Wendt, offers a groundbreaking meta-theory of constructivism. Wendt contends that inter
BILIA Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2021
State-centrism has enjoyed a core position in political theorizing but has been facing challenges... more State-centrism has enjoyed a core position in political theorizing but has been facing challenges since the decline of Greek power. The major blow to statecentrism came from critical and postmodern scholars in the post WWII era. By juxtaposing realist and feminist schools of thought, the article aims to draw distinctions between the respective accounts on accepting state as a given actor. The comparative analysis shows that the state-centrism in realism has produced limited vision on state as subject matter of IR, which resulted in further narrowed interpretations of national interests, threats, and security. The paper argues how the state-centrism has produced some dichotomies and narrowed interpretations of factors related to state-centrism that worked towards the othering processes of women in traditional bearings of International Relations (IR). The article concludes that state-centrism had been one of the useful ways in the past but not the most effective way to understand the ever-transformative nature of global politics of our time.
EASC Monograph, 2021
A complex, multi-layered maritime security dilemma persists between India and China regarding the... more A complex, multi-layered maritime security dilemma persists between India and China regarding the maritime security issues in the Bay of Bengal. Chinese and Indian defensive and offensive actions are characterized by complex historical and political enmity, and the maritime dilemma has resulted from a lack of understanding of each other’s intents. The dilemma has the potential to spiral out of control and spread to other littoral actors, making it a cascading one, in the Bay of Bengal. The dilemma will result in breaking out more aggressive and frequent clashes and even war where these powers, and the littorals may tempt to take it into the maritime realms. This monograph shows why the dilemma exists in the first place with the help of defensive realism, a subvariant of the neorealist school of thought in international relations theories. The monograph argues, with the help of a variant of the game theory, namely prisoner’s dilemma, that they are less likely to cooperate with each other on maritime security issues, rather pursue the littorals separately to be in strategic alliances with an aim to balance off each other’s influences in the region.
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 2019
The systematic persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas by Myanmar which resulted from p... more The systematic persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas by Myanmar which resulted from populist hatred can be traced back to the Second World War when the Rohingyas sided with the British. Xenophobia has taken a permanent shape in the practice of power, the motive force behind the actions and reactions of successive Myanmar states and political elites. The colonial legacy has been used as the rationale for isolation and the use of violence against the Rohingyas. The socio-historical constructed and imposed identity throughout the colonial and post-colonial years has been used by the majority Buddhists to dehumanize the Rohingyas. The article argues that the historical identity creation and imposition by the majority Buddhists have facilitated the recent refugee crisis. The article aims to identify whether the tactics of post-truth politics have been used to fuel populist anti-Rohingya feelings among the majority Buddhists.
A Study on Bangladesh-South Korea Relations: Trends and Directions, 2022
The political relations between Bangladesh and Republic of Korea (RoK) are based on mutual respec... more The political relations between Bangladesh and Republic of Korea (RoK) are based on mutual respect and trust, democratic principles, commonalities in history, common values and ideals for peace and security, common goals for prosperity, and have always been multifaceted. In the last five decades, Bangladesh and RoK relations have gone through significant transformations. This has been reverberated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who expressed the necessity to take the current relations to a new height. At present both nations share strong economic and cultural ties. RoK has been helping Bangladesh in its socio-economic development initiatives. However, deepened and broadened political and strategic cooperation between these two friendly nations is currently missing. Needless to mention that the economic drivers form the core of the relations between these, nevertheless it is high time where both these nations pushed their respective sides to elevate the existing relations from mere economic and cultural domain to transcend a political and strategic partnership one where the prime focus should be on politico-strategic, security, defense and military aspects. This section analyzes the political, diplomatic, and strategic relations, areas of politico-strategic cooperation, current challenges, and ends with some recommendations in the chapter.
Journal of Bangladesh and Global Affairs, 2022
The Bay of Bengal (BoB) is historically contested area among the major Asian and European powers ... more The Bay of Bengal (BoB) is historically contested area among the major Asian and European powers due to a wide variety of geopolitical reasons. Within the broader IOR, the BoB remains the key portal for enhanced bilateral and multilateral engagements. The recent policy initiatives of China, India, USA, Australia and Japan in the IOR and the Bay region specifically indicated growing strategic rivalries. This has serious ramifications for the security and development potentials for Bangladesh. The great powers will try to suggest policy inputs for Bangladesh, the latter may not only will face pressures with regard to policy independence but also be constrained and might succumb possibly to these pressures. Due to the burgeoning rivalry among the great powers, Bangladesh will encounter difficulties in policy independence. Thus, Bangladesh's preferred policy posture to tackle the great power rivalry should be and in fact has been an independent, non-aligned one. After 50 years of its independence, some domestic sources are seen to highlight Bangladesh's weakness, some analysts have underscored Bangladesh's strengths in courting major great powers. This article shows what challenges are it facing, how it has responded so far, and some recommendations about what it shall continue to carry its legacy of strategic hedging in the coming decades to address the great power rivalry in the Bay.
This article reviews four writings in International Relations (IR) each of which provides an infl... more This article reviews four writings in International Relations (IR) each of which provides an influential theoretical perspective on the global order. The first text, authored by Hedley Bull, marked a sharp departure from the dominant realist school of thought. Bull's concept of the society of states maintains an international order by common interests based on a set of primary or universal goals. He argues that the common interests among the states are the prerequisites for forming the order. The second book, authored by Alexander Wendt, offers a groundbreaking meta-theory of constructivism. Wendt contends that inter
BILIA Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2021
State-centrism has enjoyed a core position in political theorizing but has been facing challenges... more State-centrism has enjoyed a core position in political theorizing but has been facing challenges since the decline of Greek power. The major blow to statecentrism came from critical and postmodern scholars in the post WWII era. By juxtaposing realist and feminist schools of thought, the article aims to draw distinctions between the respective accounts on accepting state as a given actor. The comparative analysis shows that the state-centrism in realism has produced limited vision on state as subject matter of IR, which resulted in further narrowed interpretations of national interests, threats, and security. The paper argues how the state-centrism has produced some dichotomies and narrowed interpretations of factors related to state-centrism that worked towards the othering processes of women in traditional bearings of International Relations (IR). The article concludes that state-centrism had been one of the useful ways in the past but not the most effective way to understand the ever-transformative nature of global politics of our time.
EASC Monograph, 2021
A complex, multi-layered maritime security dilemma persists between India and China regarding the... more A complex, multi-layered maritime security dilemma persists between India and China regarding the maritime security issues in the Bay of Bengal. Chinese and Indian defensive and offensive actions are characterized by complex historical and political enmity, and the maritime dilemma has resulted from a lack of understanding of each other’s intents. The dilemma has the potential to spiral out of control and spread to other littoral actors, making it a cascading one, in the Bay of Bengal. The dilemma will result in breaking out more aggressive and frequent clashes and even war where these powers, and the littorals may tempt to take it into the maritime realms. This monograph shows why the dilemma exists in the first place with the help of defensive realism, a subvariant of the neorealist school of thought in international relations theories. The monograph argues, with the help of a variant of the game theory, namely prisoner’s dilemma, that they are less likely to cooperate with each other on maritime security issues, rather pursue the littorals separately to be in strategic alliances with an aim to balance off each other’s influences in the region.
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 2019
The systematic persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas by Myanmar which resulted from p... more The systematic persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas by Myanmar which resulted from populist hatred can be traced back to the Second World War when the Rohingyas sided with the British. Xenophobia has taken a permanent shape in the practice of power, the motive force behind the actions and reactions of successive Myanmar states and political elites. The colonial legacy has been used as the rationale for isolation and the use of violence against the Rohingyas. The socio-historical constructed and imposed identity throughout the colonial and post-colonial years has been used by the majority Buddhists to dehumanize the Rohingyas. The article argues that the historical identity creation and imposition by the majority Buddhists have facilitated the recent refugee crisis. The article aims to identify whether the tactics of post-truth politics have been used to fuel populist anti-Rohingya feelings among the majority Buddhists.