2024-08-12
7 分钟Hello, Rosie Bloor here, co-host of The Intelligence,
our daily news and current affairs podcast.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.
We hope you enjoy it.
As exits go, it was dramatic.
On August 5, Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,
fled the country she has ruled with an increasingly harsh grip since 2009.
She was driven out by a vast display of people power on the streets of Dhaka, the capital,
and will be replaced by a caretaker government backed by the army and led by Muhammad Yunus,
a Nobel Peace Laureate.
Like him, many Bangladeshis are calling it a second liberation,
half a century after independence.
Yet to meet the promise of the moment,
Bangladesh must do more than oust an aging autocrat.
It must also clean up a rotten political system.
The good news is that the economy is resilient and civil society is robust.
Problems are venal political dynasties and the enfeebled institutions that have failed to stand up to them.
Mr. Yunus has a short time to set the country on a democratic path.
His success or failure will shape the lives of 173 million Bangladeshis and influence the rivalry between China,
India, Russia and the West.