Rule by Law vs. The People’s Will: An Anthropological Inquiry into Constitutional Legitimacy in Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65826/JSAI.1.2.2026.96Keywords:
Constitutional legitimacy, Article 70, Cyber Security Act 2023, deliberative democracy, constitutional reformAbstract
The “Monsoon Revolution” in Bangladesh (2024) represents a strong political and constitutional history. Unlike the other developments perceived in other constitutional democracies, despite the official justifications, this crisis combined the systematic corruption. İt also involved the parallels violation of constitutional rules. While the constitutional framework of democracy was maintained the constitutional mechanisms were regularly rigged to build the strengthening of executive as dominance and fundamental rights were suppressed. The approach uses a doctrinal analysis of the law coupled with empirical tools and data gotten from student-led political mobilization, this forms the basis for examining the role that Article 70 of the Constitution and Cyber Security Act 2023 play as the principal instruments of authoritarian governance. Drawing on deliberative democracy, moral constitutionalism, and constitutional moments theories, it posits that in Bangladesh’s context revolt of 2024 has been an essential moment for constitution-making in terms of reassertion of popular sovereignty. The paper further discusses the July National Charter as a spontaneous attempt towards constitutional reconstruction and zooms into legislative independence, executive power, judicial autonomy and participatory governance. As much as in order to re-legitimize constitutional procedures it is necessary for a transition beyond procedural electoralism; just so how much with normatively grounded constitutional order based on moral rights, public deliberation and enforceable democratic safeguards.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Sheikh Mehbuba Moitree, Sheikh Mehzabin Chitra, Chayan Chakma, Sujeya Khisa, Samanta Samiha Raisa, Md Sojib, Tahsina Marjan
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