In the Cold War environment of the 1950s, Pakistan army sought an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom while they searched for allies in the Middle East and South Asia. At the same time, the military-bureaucratic establishment of Pakistan denied a democratic constitutional regime in the country and slowly transformed East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, into an internal colony. In East Pakistan, the pro-democracy movement was headed by Awami League (AL), a board coalition of constitutional autonomist and radical socialists and communist. Within the AL, Maulana Bhashani, a radical cleric, and his left wigs followers read into the global politics of Cold War alignment between the Pakistan and the USA to be a critical hindrance toward the democratization of politely, but constitutional autonomists within AL remained committed toward the Cold War military alliance. This lead to a split in the AL Consequently, In the wake of Suez War, global politics impinged upon local political alignment as much as local political alignment informed and influenced global politics in Pakistan.

Brexit was aimed at reclaiming Britain’s bartered sovereignty and regaining the power within and beyond Europe. The formal separation coincides with the ongoing post-pandemic rearrangement of the international order. With the strategic rise of the Indo-Pacific, it has become imperative for Britain and India to redefine their role in refashioning the global landscape in which a new continent, Eurasia, and a new water body, the Indo-Pacific, dominate. India has made its move; Britain, too, must.

The Abe administration has redefined Japan’s relationship with the South Asian countries for economic and geo-strategic interests and introduced country-specific strategies for success. However, Chinese influence in the region is increasing. On the other hand, Japan’s South Asia policy is India focused, and mainly to counter China, regionally and globally. Reintegration of Quad is another step towards the objective. Most of the existing literature evaluates the current South Asian geo-economic and geopolitical dynamics from a narrow angle of China or Japan while looking into the combined perspectives of Japan and China in South Asia remains outside their purview. This qualitative study examines the prospect of the renewed Japan-South Asia relations in emerging Chinese influence. By analyzing very recent data, this research finds Japan’s engagement in the South Asian region higher than in the past. The Chinese investment in the region has increased significantly and its influence is intensifying. This research reveals that the positive image of Japan as a trusted friend and the character of its services and quality of its products are helping Japan strengthen its renewed relationship with the South Asian countries. The research concludes that South Asian countries are seemingly dividing into two blocs, not yet clearly visible, but clears signs of a Japan-India alignment vis-a-vis China are there.

The Bangladesh economy is characterized by remarkable progress in international migration, resulting in a considerable inflow of remittance. Although many studies have attempted to study the effect of foreign remittances on household expenditure patterns, no effort has been made to critically analyze the effects and implications of migration and remittance flow on migrant households’ health expenditure. This article attempts to explore the effect of remittance on the health expenditure of remittance recipient households (RRHs) and the impact of the cost of treatment. Descriptive and regression analyses and standard micro-econometric techniques were applied by analyzing the nationally representative household data set of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 of Bangladesh. Results show that RRHs are more likely to spend more on health matters and more likely to have higher treatment costs than non-recipient households. Thus, remittances are significantly associated with health expenditure and the cost of treatment. International migration seems to be a household strategy characterized by a high expected return.

In Bangladesh, two contrasting scenarios regarding the responsiveness of the bureaucrats working at the field level are present. Whereas some bureaucrats reach out to the people and respond to their demands, others remain unresponsive and unapproachable. So, why do the bureaucrats working at the grassroots, while performing under the same rules, same institutional context and reality, perform in two different ways while interacting with citizens? How can these two contradictory sets of understanding regarding bureaucratic responsiveness coexist in Bangladesh? This article attempts to unpack this puzzle by relying on a slightly modified version of historical institutionalism. Building on Bell’s model of ‘agent-centric institutional change’ and by using a modified version of Mahoney & Thelen’s framework of institutional change, it argues that dialectical interaction between agents (bureaucrats) and institutions (i.e., rules- both formal and informal, norms that affect the behavior of the agents) within the broader political setting can best explain the variation in behavioral pattern of the bureaucrats. The political context allows agents to exercise discretion in a specific manner in executing their roles and functions while being constrained by institutional rules and norms. The dialectical interaction between structure (political context), agent, and institution determines the current administrative reality, which has allowed the contradiction to emerge and sustain.