36th July: The 2024 Student-Led People's Uprising and the Fall of an Authoritarian Regime in Bangladesh
Author
Islam, Jahidul
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-10-15
Pages
53
Abstract
This thesis explains how a student-led mass uprising in Bangladesh in July 2024 managed to unseat an entrenched authoritarian government. It shows how a technical campaign to correct discriminatory government job quotas grew into a nationwide moral call for justice and accountability. I used a qualitative single-case study and process tracing—a step-by-step reconstruction of cause and effect. Data were triangulated from international and national news, human rights fact-finding reports, and interviews with key participants and witnesses. The analysis drew on political process theory (how movements use openings in political structures), social movement theory, and authoritarian regime theory. The study identifies five interconnected processes. 1) Protective umbrellas: legal helplines and volunteer medical posts reduced personal risks and reframed collective disobedience as civic duty. 2) Reconstruction of justice: widespread use of legal language—due process and equality before the law—consolidated the uprising’s legitimacy in public debate. 3) Student–citizen alliances: teachers, lawyers, doctors, and journalists joined student groups, turning campus protests into a broad civil movement. 4) Patterns of repression: coercion followed a conditional logic. Visible, indiscriminate violence in public spaces triggered moral backlash, whereas covert repression produced only short-lived deterrence. 5) Hybrid organizations: flexible structures that combined personal coordination with shared public narratives maintained stability amid surveillance, internet blackouts, and intimidation. Together, these processes eroded the regime from within. When security forces confronted a movement shielded by moral legitimacy and practical protections, elite unity fractured and the government fell. Theoretically, the study refines political process theory by developing the idea of opportunity activation—how activists turn emerging openings into collective action—and contributes to authoritarian regime theory by explaining why calibrated coercion (targeted, measured repression) fails when a movement meets widely accepted standards of justice. Empirically, it shows that democratic renewal in Bangladesh emerged not from a sudden rupture but from the patient building of moral order, protective infrastructure, and hybrid civic architecture.
Denne afhandling forklarer, hvordan et studenterledet masseoprør i Bangladesh i juli 2024 kunne vælte en magtfuld autoritær regering. Den viser, hvordan en teknisk kampagne for at rette op på diskriminerende statslige jobkvoter voksede til en landsdækkende moralsk appel om retfærdighed og ansvarlighed. Jeg anvendte et kvalitativt enkeltcasestudie og process tracing—en trinvis rekonstruktion af årsag og virkning. Data blev trianguleret fra nationale og internationale nyhedsmedier, menneskerettigheds-faktaundersøgelser og interviews med centrale aktører og vidner. Analysen bygger på politisk procesteori (hvordan bevægelser udnytter åbninger i det politiske system), social bevægelsesteori og teori om autoritære regimer. Studiet identificerer fem sammenhængende processer. 1) Beskyttende paraplyer: juridiske hotlines og frivillige lægeposter mindskede personlige risici og omfortolkede kollektiv ulydighed som borgerpligt. 2) Genopbygning af retfærdighed: udbredt brug af juridiske begreber—retssikkerhed og lighed for loven—konsoliderede oprørets legitimitet i den offentlige debat. 3) Alliancer mellem studerende og borgere: lærere, advokater, læger og journalister sluttede sig til studenterorganisationer og gjorde campusprotester til en bred civil bevægelse. 4) Mønstre i repression: magtanvendelsen fulgte en betinget logik. Synlig, vilkårlig vold i det offentlige rum udløste moralsk modreaktion, mens skjult repression kun gav kortvarig afskrækkelse. 5) Hybride organisationer: fleksible strukturer, der forbandt personlig koordinering med fælles offentlige fortællinger, sikrede stabilitet under overvågning, internetnedlukninger og intimidering. Samlet set svækkede disse processer regimet indefra. Da sikkerhedsstyrkerne stod over for en bevægelse med moralsk legitimitet og praktiske beskyttelser, brød eliteenigheden sammen, og regeringen faldt. Teoretisk forfiner studiet politisk procesteori ved at udvikle idéen om mulighedsaktivering—hvordan aktivister omsætter nye åbninger til kollektiv handling—og bidrager til autoritære regimeteorier ved at forklare, hvorfor kalibreret repression (målrettet, afmålt magt) fejler, når en bevægelse opfylder bredt accepterede retfærdighedsnormer. Empirisk viser studiet, at demokratisk fornyelse i Bangladesh ikke opstod ved et pludseligt brud, men gennem tålmodig opbygning af moralsk orden, beskyttende infrastruktur og hybrid civilsamfundsarkitektur.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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