Conceptualizing student movements in Bangladesh post-2013: a qualitative and comparative case study of the Quota Reform Movement and the Road Safety Movement

Social Identities. 2023. Vol. 29. No. 6. P. 534–554.

Ghosh S. C.

Despite the presence of mass grievances and moral indignation
against the political elite and the monied class, the social
movements in Bangladesh in the last decade, albeit very few, have
failed to transform the increasingly authoritarian and
claustrophobic political milieu. In fact, the nation has not seen
that many movements, notwithstanding serious mass grievances
on social, political, and economic issues. This situation poses a
paradox. I study two significant social movements’ cases, the 2018
Quota Reform Movement and the 2018 Road Safety Protests, and
briefly compare the genealogy of the movements, as well as their
success and failure. The study draws primarily on secondary data
derived from existing research on the issue and a systematic
review of major newspapers in Bangladesh over the relevant
period of time for its analysis and supplements it with participant
observations and informal interviews. I conceptualize these
movements by using a theoretical framework derived from
Political Process Theory (PPT). I argue that, although both
movements were partially successful, the Quota Reform
movement was relatively more successful than the Road Safety
Movement. In this paper, I try to address the reasons behind the
relative success of one movement over another. By comparing the
two movements in tandem, I argue that significant differences in
‘mobilizing structure’ make the difference in the degree of
success, given that the ‘framing’ and the ‘political opportunity
structures’ were more or less similar for both movements.

Keywords: students, social movements, Bangladesh

Publication based on the results of: The risks of social turbulence and the integrative potential of Russian society (2024)