As the People’s Republic of Bangladesh recently celebrated its 56th Independence Day, the occasion invites not only celebration but also thoughtful reflection on the nation’s evolving trajectory. Born out of indomitable resilience and profound sacrifices, the country has, over the decades, navigated complex political, economic, and social transformations. This milestone offers a timely moment to assess the enduring challenges confronting Bangladesh, while envisioning a more refined, advanced, and forward-looking state in the years ahead.

First, the established conception of statehood in Bangladesh has to be reassessed. If sovereignty is defined as “the supreme authority of the state over its territory and its independence from external control,” Bangladesh, or the Land of Bengal, had been sovereign for thousands of years. The Gangaridai Kingdom, the Gaur Kingdom, the Bengal Empire under the Pala dynasty, the Bengal Sultanate under the Balban, Ilyas Shahi, Ganesha, Habshi, Hussein Shahi, Muhammad Shahi, and Karrani dynasties, the Confederacy of Baro-Bhuyan, and the Bengal Nizamate under the Nasiri and Afsar dynasties – all had been sovereign states. Hence, Bangladesh had a tradition of sovereign statehood for millennia, and the War of Independence in 1971 resulted in the restoration of sovereignty to this polity. Thus, the millennia-old history and tradition of sovereign statehood, coupled with a long tradition of waging struggles against foreign domination and occupation, should serve as the source of a state-centric, civic, and inclusive nationalism in Bangladesh.

Second, Bangladesh is yet to complete the complex process of state-building and nation-building. As succinctly emphasized by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in Why Nations Fail, a nation requires robust, functioning, and deeply entrenched institutions to succeed. Bangladeshi national institutions are plagued by patrimonialism, bureaucratic inefficiency, and endemic corruption, and it is a significant hindrance to successful state-building. Hence, all national institutions, ranging from ministries to offices of union councils, should be thoroughly reformed in order to make them more efficient, digitized, rationalized, and corruption-free. Simultaneously, statesmen, political parties, civil society organizations, and the wider society must join hands in developing a civic and deeply patriotic sense of nationhood among the 170-odd million citizens of the country. Regional distinctions, such as Sylheti or Chittagongian identities, can coexist with a robust and clear national identity. While demographic reality stipulates that ethnic Bengalis and Muslims would form the core of the nation, ethnic and religious minorities must be fully integrated........

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