ABSTRACT
Political parties, in the words of Max Weber, are ‘the children of democracy’ (Weber, 2008, pp.155–208). Despite a checkered history of democracy and faltering democratization, there has been no dearth of political parties in Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. There have been repeated attempts to create a dominant party system. Besides, the re-emergence of Islamist parties, fragmentation of parties, and building alliances characterize the past four decades of the party political landscape. Notwithstanding these changes, political parties across ideological differences demonstrate some similarities in regard to ethos and practices.
