Constitutional Culture and the Failure of Norm Internalization in Bangladesh

Abstract

See Didi Herman, ‘Reimagining the State Based on a Radical Separation of Politics and Religion’1, in Myriam Bleau and Ruth Rubio-Marin (eds), The Gender of Constitutional Jurisprudence (Cambridge University Press, 2005) 117–118: Definition III A constitutional culture refers to the shared policy commitment within an institution or society to maintain its own constitutional norms, values and principles as lived practices rather than mere formal texts. Essential Components This process involves the elites, citizens, and state actors internalizing the rule of law, separation of powers, fundamental rights, and democratic accountability. For Bangladesh, this would mean transcending the text of the 1972 Constitution with its polity-shaped secularism, communism socialism-nationalism cocktail developed between 1950 and 1972 in favor of honest conduct, such as having an independent judiciary, holding free elections using a system that cannot be manipulated easily, limiting executive power legally, and tying up decentralized decision-making through democratic processes. Internalization of Norms Failure The 15th Amendment’s ban on caretaker governments is just one instance of the extent to which executives adjust constitutions opportunistically, judges yield to political pressure, and parliaments serve as rubber stamps. This makes the constitution not a legal social contract binding all of society, but rather an elastic tool for abrogating power, and betrays shabby civic education, elite predation, and poverty-induced apathy. Manifestations Particular to Bangladesh They include 2024 quota protests that unveiled unabashed authoritarianism under Sheikh Hasina, religious-secular toggling through constitutional amendments, and military coups that eroded checks and balances post-1975. Without internalization, constitutionalism boils down to “legal immunity” for offenses such as enforced disappearances. For norms to be woven into the fabric of society, they require genuine cultural processes and mass involvement.