Abstract
International Relations (IR) is no longer considered as an academic discipline that analyzes the major powers or great powers’ activities only. From its Cold War content of emphasizing on traditional state-centric security, it has traversed a long way to expand its subject matter. Similarly, smaller nations and their imprints on international politics are also emerging as a significant area of inquiry in IR. This article seeks to contribute to this inquiry by discussing Bangladesh’s rising significance and how academic IR addresses this issue. It traces the history of IR in Bangladesh as well as its gradual expansion. It discusses the growth of IR as an academic discipline at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, that gradually led to the development of IR studies in other parts of the country. The article documents this growth, which is the first of its kind to trace the rise and development of IR in Bangladesh. It therefore fulfils the lacuna in understanding how and where the growth of IR took place in a non-western country. One might contend what is the relevance of studying IR in Bangladesh. The article argues that despite being physically small , academic IR has generated interest in Bangladesh due to the changing geostrategic significance of the country. The article outlines the rising geopolitical significance of Bangladesh where great powers are interested to come and be a part of Bangladesh’s development. It is in this context, the study of IR becomes more pertinent in Bangladesh.
Highlights
International Relations (IR) is no longer considered as an academic discipline that analyzes the major powers or great powers’ activities only
This led to the unfolding of ontological questions in IR as well by challenging its Western origin as an academic discipline
Scholars from around the world started to initiate and participate in the discussion of non-Western contribution to the discipline. This discussion was initially spearheaded from an avowedly Western context — that is from Europe and the United States (US) — nonWestern IR established itself as a significant area of inquiry where IR does speak about the concerns of the West and that of “the Rest”
Summary
With 147,570 km, Bangladesh is a small South Asian nation wedged between India on its three sides and Myanmar on the other. This has deepened Bangladesh’s geostrategic significance which was reverberated in the proclamation of policy makers who work on South Asian region. The study of strategic rivalry of India and China in South Asia, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean is a topical issue in contemporary politics [Zaman, Yasmin 2014] Added with this is the Bangladesh dynamics. While the country has five or ten year development plans to achieve economic goals, it lacks having such targeted goals in the areas of foreign and strategic policies It was evident during the Rohingya influx of August 2017, when Bangladesh found itself “friendless” despite all the major powers’ active interest in Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s foreign policy is often identified as proactive rather than being a product of cogent calculations
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