The Center for Governance Studies (CGS) in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is organizing a workshop titled “Nationalism, the State and the Civil Society: Understanding State-Society Relations” at a hotel in Dhaka. The objective of this workshop is to encourage ideological debates, conceptual inputs and participatory exercises among young women politicians. This initiative is part of CGS and FES’s ongoing collaboration. It also aimed to strengthen the practice of democratic coexistence and consolidate the essence of governance, state and state-society relations.

The opening remarks of the workshop were delivered by CGS President  Zillur Rahman, Executive Director of CGS  Parvez Karim Abbasi, Resident Representative of FES Dr. Felix Gredes,

The workshop was jointly conducted by Dr. Julian Benedict Kuttig, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Leipzig University, and Dr. Lailufar Yasmin, professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka. 

In his opening remarks, the President of CGS, Mr.  Zillur Rahman said, “We hear a lot of rhetoric about women empowerment. In reality there has been no such visible empowerment in any sector of the country.” He asked the participants, “How many of you think, you’ll be able to survive in politics for a long time?” Less than half of the participants raised their hands. Participants replied that their challenges are increasing lately. They raised concerns that they suffer restrictions from their families, society, and face bullying in social media. This is severely hampering their social participation. Furthermore they face difficulties and blowback in freely expressing their views.
Mr. Rahman also pointed out that women are the majority in the population (over 50%) however they have always faced systematic oppression and institutional discrimination. Despite leading from the front in different uprising across Bangladesh’s checkered history. This includes the most recent uprising during the months of July and August 2024. Regrettably, after the successful culmination of the uprising women have been sidelined from the centerstage of national politics. For instance, BNP received almost 20,000 nomination requests from women, but they didn’t consider more than 10. Whereas, Jamaat-E-Islami didn’t even nominate a single woman! He later on also questioned the nebulous understanding of sovereignty and its complex connotations in the modern world.

Executive Director of CGS, Mr. Parvez Karim Abbasi highlighted the fact that nationalism is a relatively new concept dating back from 18th century Europe. He discussed the evolution of nationalism from a historical perspective. Elements like language, geography, ethnicity and culture had shaped the contours of nationalism. He cited the example of renowned scholar Benedict Anderson referring to nationalism as an imagined construct, highlighting how an imagined cultural heritage can guide nation building and state formation. Mr. Abbasi showed in the process of his analysis, how different sorts of nationalism has been established in different parts of the world.

Dr. Felix Gredes, Resident Representative of FES talked about the political foundation of his organization. He described the working areas and the philosophies of the organization. For a long time, FES has been working on various issues of global importance including climate change, labor union and international relations. 

Professor Lailufar Yasmin emphasized the need for young politicians to acquire English language skills for effective communication in an increasingly globalized world.

Dr. Julian interacted with the participants and enunciated on the difference between the concept of nation and nationalism. He connected his flow of discussion by referring to a number of eminent scholars who have had pioneering contributions in tracing the evolution and understanding of nationalism across the world. There was a lively interactive session and participants engaged in tabletop exercises group discussions and short presentations at the end of the lecture.