Papers by Rashed Uz Zaman
Journal of Political & Military Sociology, Vol. 50, No. 2, 2023
In a democratic state, it is expected that a balance exists between civil and military power. Whi... more In a democratic state, it is expected that a balance exists between civil and military power. While the military’s role has been traditionally defined as safeguarding a country’s national sovereignty and security, the modern concept of civil-military relations encapsulates a broader engagement of the military in advancing a country’s diplomacy as well. This article, taking the broader understanding into consideration, probes into the Bangladesh military’s expanding role. While civil-military relations went through much turbulence during the first few decades in Bangladesh’s history, with the restoration of democracy in 1991 the military has been one of the key participants in advancing defense diplomacy. Using several case studies, the article addresses vital questions such as the role of colonial legacies in Bangladesh’s military, how the military has gradually embedded itself in Bangladesh’s social, political, and economic milieu, and how unique civil-military relations have emboldened Bangladesh’s defense diplomacy.
Bristol University Press eBooks, Mar 20, 2023
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Nov 13, 2018
Global Political Transitions, 2022
We argue the complex future of peace operations requires cautious but optimistic stakeholder step... more We argue the complex future of peace operations requires cautious but optimistic stakeholder steps to accommodate changing peace operation patterns. By reducing major global peace trends to local experiences, we supply comparative historical evidence from peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations: their scopes and legal mandates, as well as the intertwining global–local network that proved so crucial to success. Further exploring local security and legitimacy implications of the expanded U.N. will to use peace enforcement, we detect both doctrinal and operational challenges to contemporary peace operations, helping us shed light on three facilitative features of future U.N. peace support operations: (a) technological development and its U.N. peacekeeping impact; (b) the growing regional flavor of peacekeeping operations; and (c) the U.N. combating capacities against violent extremism. Future peace supporting complexities, we conclude, need a more contextual approach with mandate flexibility.
Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Feb 1, 2019
Since 1988, Bangladesh has been one of the highest police contributing countries (PCCs) to United... more Since 1988, Bangladesh has been one of the highest police contributing countries (PCCs) to United Nations Peacekeeping operations. Over the years, Bangladesh Police has not only carved out space for itself as a top PCC, but also earned a name for itself as a dependable force which delivered the tasks assigned to it. However, in the last few years, Bangladesh Police has seen a fall in deployment to various missions due to an increasing number of participation of other new contributors across the world. Moreover, there are significant transformations in the nature of conflict and mandates of peacekeeping operations which would require Bangladesh Police to be prepared itself for future participation in such missions. Against such a backdrop, this article examines how Bangladeshi police peacekeepers evaluate their participation in peace missions and their capacity in addressing the challenges of the contemporary and future peace missions. It also investigates issues of capacity building, skill enhancement, and increasing competency of Bangladesh police peacekeepers as perceived by themselves. This article argues Bangladesh needs to comprehend the changing scenario and enhance the capacity of police peacekeepers by undertaking appropriate measures including tapping into the experience of its returning police personnel. Otherwise, the sustainability of Bangladesh’s participation in UN police peacekeeping deployments may face severe stress and become problematic.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, 2022
The discipline of International Relations (IR) started its journey in 1919, to understand why war... more The discipline of International Relations (IR) started its journey in 1919, to understand why wars occur, reflecting the concerns arising out of World War I. The origin of the discipline thus has carried a Western bias since its inception and often remained oblivious to investigate the concerns of non-Western countries. In this context, the aim is to locate the centers of learning about the development of institutional IR in South Asia, by probing into the academic development of IR in different countries of the region. While doing so, it is necessary to emphasize how the concept of “international” emerged in South Asia much before the ideas of international relations in modern sense made their ways in the region. While there is a rich heritage of “international” in South Asia, the modern statehood often juggled between the old and the new. The institutional development shows that South Asian IR, despite a rise in local contribution to global IR, still yearns to follow Western path ...
Ever since that fateful September day when terrorists struck New York’s World Trade Center and th... more Ever since that fateful September day when terrorists struck New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington DC terrorism, particularly terrorism brought about by weapons of mass destruction (WMD), has become the buzzword in international relations jargon. As the United States embarked on a long-term, comprehensive campaign to fight global terrorism, South Asia, too, began to experience the fall out of the scourge called terrorism. Since September 2001, this region has had its fair share of terrorist acts, worsening an already delicate political situation. Experts and analysts have added their words to the hype surrounding the concept of WMD terrorism and many a grim picture is being painted about the likelihood of WMD terrorism striking new targets.
Contributions to International Relations, 2021
The Round Table, 2017
Bangladesh is one of the top troop contributing countries to UN Peacekeeping Operations. This pap... more Bangladesh is one of the top troop contributing countries to UN Peacekeeping Operations. This paper traces the antecedents and history of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and follows Bangladesh's participation in various peacekeeping operations over the past 25 years including Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Journal of International Peacekeeping, 2015
United Nations (un) peacekeeping missions have become an important feature of world politics sinc... more United Nations (un) peacekeeping missions have become an important feature of world politics since the end of the Cold War. In recent times, the intensity of peacekeeping missions has increased and new challenges have also emerged. Under such circumstances, the un has often highlighted the importance of regional organizations getting more involved in undertaking and sustaining such missions. South Asian countries provide a large number of troops to un missions and yet, a regional collaboration has not been accorded much importance by countries of the region. This paper argues, given the emerging challenges, South Asian countries may have to resort to a regional approach with regard to peacekeeping missions.
Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, 2016
Stosunki Międzynarodowe, 2021
The extraordinary rise of China is one of the most remarkable events of the 21st century and it h... more The extraordinary rise of China is one of the most remarkable events of the 21st century and it has attracted tremendous interest in international politics. Yet, the ways in which the small states in South Asia strategically respond to the changes in the systemic structure have largely been neglected in traditional literature. This article seeks to fill this gap by systematically analysing the types and causes of strategies undertaken by three small states in South Asia in order to respond to China’s rise. Empirically, it focuses on the contentious regional dyads in South Asia and its maritime domain, exploring how structural, behavioural, and past experiences shape the way in which Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives respond to a rising China and the regional power politics. This article concludes that the small states in South Asia are neither bandwagoning nor balancing China, as structural realism assumes. Instead, these states have adopted a form of a ‘hedging’ strategy where th...
The paper highlights the major transformations in global peace support operations led by the Unit... more The paper highlights the major transformations in global peace support operations led by the United Nations at present. In light of these trends, this paper asks how these trends affect today’s peace operations and what affect they may have on future operations. In attempting to answer these questions, the paper conducts a comparative historical analysis of peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations – their scopes * ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6055-1443, Ph.D. in Strategic Studies from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. In 2009–11, Dr. Zaman was an Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Erfurt, Germany. He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, USA, in 2012. His latest publication is a book chapter titled ‘Indian Political Realism’, in Edinburgh Companion to Political Realism edited by Robert Schuett and Miles Hollingworth (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Novem...
Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations
This article argues that in the 21st century, international order has not only become unstable bu... more This article argues that in the 21st century, international order has not only become unstable but also short-term in nature and issue-based, which has led to the emergence of a number of alliances whose functionality can be questioned. A number of alliances are being formed and are in existence but without any clear goals and objectives. This hypothesis is applied to understand the nature of the recently formed AUKUS—Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States’ alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. The paper, taking the framework of international order, argues that AUKUS would be one such alliance that has started with a lot of promises but its fundamental proposition to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific region—although it does not mention the name of the country—is impractical. Given the economic rise of China as well as the example of the Five Eyes (FVEY) of intelligence sharing mechanism of the Anglophone countries formed during the early years of the Cold War...
Journal of International Relations, 2022
This article argues that in the 21st century, international order has not only become unstable bu... more This article argues that in the 21st century, international order has not only become unstable but also short-term in nature and issue-based, which has led to the emergence of a number of alliances whose functionality can be questioned. A number of alliances are being formed and are in existence but without any clear goals and objectives. This hypothesis is applied to understand the nature of the recently formed AUKUS—Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States’ alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. The paper, taking the framework of international order, argues that AUKUS would be one such alliance that has started with a lot of promises but its fundamental proposition to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific region—although it does not mention the name of the country—is impractical. Given the economic rise of China as well as the example of the Five Eyes (FVEY) of intelligence sharing mechanism of the Anglophone countries formed during the early years of the Cold War, the AUKUS may survive the test of time but it also may exist as an example of the patterns of the current international order—that is another alliance without a clear path. This article also takes into account of the reaction of the Southeast Asian nations and criticisms against AUKUS in Australia. It points out how Australia’s security should be viewed more comprehensively.
Uploads
Papers by Rashed Uz Zaman