Consolidation of Awami League dominance through a bundle of RMG export growth, rising remittance inflows, GDP-growth take-off to a sustained 6-7% trajectory, and the "Digital Bangladesh" ICT-services push, paired with progressive tightening of political space via the Digital Security Act 2018 and disputed elections. Coherence line: developmentalism plus electoral dominance-with-institutional-capture. Economic strategy emphasised power-sector expansion (rental-power programme, Rampal coal), BIMSTEC / SAARC regional connectivity, export cash incentives, and social-safety-net scale-up (Vulnerable Group Development, old-age allowance, stipends). The Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 triggered the Bangladesh Accord / Alliance factory-safety response and a Labour Act amendment in 2013. The 1971 International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) prosecutions became a core legitimacy instrument and a driver of opposition polarisation. Elections: 2008 free-and-fair AL landslide under caretaker; 2014 BNP-boycotted (AL 234/300 direct; turnout 40%); 2018 "midnight election" (AL+allies 288/300, credibility widely contested). Set the institutional and macro scaffolding for the fourth-term consolidation that followed.
Policy-content fingerprint — how the framework codes this movement on its axes
Size of cash and near-cash transfer programmes (unemployment benefits, means-tested assistance, universal child benefits). Architecturally distinct from forced-saving schemes — see condition welfare_architecture.
increased · weak
larger transfer footprint
Safety-net scale-up (VGD, old-age, stipends) from low base.