Including the Excluded: Government Backbenchers and Opposition in the Parliamentary Process in Bangladesh

Abstract

This chapter explores the scope and limits of mechanisms used to include the excluded—government backbenchers and opposition Members of Parliament (MPs)—in the parliamentary process in Bangladesh. In almost all Westminster-derived parliaments including the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad, several mechanisms have been introduced in recent years, probably the most important being all-party parliamentary committees, to respond to demands for participation by backbenchers in the parliamentary process. Some other mechanisms, such as the provision for (short-lived) half-hour unscheduled debates at the end of each sitting day and the tradition of referring bills to standing committees for scrutiny, have also been devised to encourage cross-bench interaction on important matters. The extent to which this ‘policy of inclusion’ has any meaningful effect on the behavior of the two sets of parliamentary actors in Bangladesh is explored in this chapter. It also identifies other measures and policies for inclusion that have been proposed or adopted for making the two sets of actors active participants, and examines their effect.