I

Abstract

The strategic environment represents the strategic factors which represents a nation’s perception
on different grounds that later influence on the national security mechanism and it poses
numerous security challenges for a country. The People's Republic of Bangladesh's strategic
environment is influenced by several variables that influence the defense mechanism and its
expansion in different ways. Though it influences defense mechanism, it is not whole military
backed strategic challenge. Many other factors like politics, security, economy, societal,
technology, information, ecology etc. are influenced by strategic environment of a nation.
Bangladesh plays a key role due to its geostrategic position in South Asia and works like a
bridge between South and South-East Asia. In this case, many aspects influence Bangladesh’s
stance on various matters.
 II

Strategic Environment
of Bangladesh
 III

Contents

I. Introduction 1
II. Rationale of Study
2
III. Methodology 2
IV. Literature Review 3
V. Strategic environment of Bangladesh 4
a. Security Aspects 4
b. Political Aspects 6
c. Economic Aspects 6
d. Technological Aspects 7
e. Ecological Aspects 8.
VI. Analysis 8
VII. Conclusion 9
VIII. References 10
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I. Introduction

Country’s defense system is one of the most crucial sectors and strategic environment plays the
major part here. Still, this does not confine to only defense, rather it expands to political,
economic, technological, societal etc. categories. Several events in Bangladesh and South Asia
have driven these strategical factors to an extent to preserve national interest as well as to contain
its regional influence.

Any defense system's ultimate objective is to have the ability to respond successfully to issues,
dangers, and threats, as well as various ways of harming the state and society. Defense systems
are constantly adapting to the dynamic world as the spectrum of threats to security in the modern
age has grown, with a likelihood for future growth. As a result, several areas of capability
development are included in the development of the defense system and its capability for a quick
and sufficient reaction to compromising security. It includes defense capabilities against armed
threats, terrorism, environmental and technological catastrophes, and more. It is preferable that
the transformation of the defense mechanism from its current state to the targeted one be a
designed and maintained operation.

We can see Bangladesh’s change in strategic environment over time, through regime changes,
due to regional power shift in international arena, while facing national threat and for many
reasons. In modern state, threat varies in different levels and how Bangladesh reacts to them is
determined by factors of strategic environment. This paper is going to explore how dynamic
shifts in strategic environment influenced our nation to react distinctively on particular matters
and how it fixated Bangladesh’s stance on various things. In this paper, it will be shown how
different factors of strategic environment transformed that later changed how nation behave on
different matters and how it affected national security and defense.
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II. Rationale of Study

This paper on Bangladesh’s strategic environment is going to help us to understand the power
dynamic change in various aspects, how they are affecting the nation for future decision-making
process, how it is shaping the overall security and defense mechanism and it clarifies nation’s
stance in different matters in international arena.

Evaluating current position of Bangladesh in international arena, it does not pose any threats to
its neighbor or any other nation and it has no threats of being attacked directly. But in the
modern world, it has to develop against modern security threats like terrorism, cyber-attacks,
environmental threats, balancing relation between regional hegemonic states and superpowers.
For this reason, it must choose its strategy wisely to bear out benefactory result in the end.

This study is going to provide us with information how Bangladesh has been dealing with
external and internal threats and how it is structuring Bangladesh’s path of growth in both
national and international platform.

III. Methodology

This study is primarily qualitative in nature and is based on secondary data. Books, reports,
published research studies, case studies, and conference papers, publication of national and
international journals, magazines, and documents available on the internet, as well as
government policies and plans, are examples of secondary sources. The data was interpreted with
the research study's comprehensive perspective in mind. Efforts were made to incorporate the
information gathered from various sources.
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IV. Literature Review

News Article of Celia W. Dugger on “India- Bangladesh border clashes visit how a major clash
took place in 2001 between border guards of two nations after independence of Bangladesh in
1971. It also explains how it affected on the Bangladesh-India border dispute and the 2015 India-
Bangladesh land boundary agreement signing.

A report on “Terrorism in South Asia: Bangladesh” of OSAC analysis described how terrorism
in Bangladesh was initialized and how it continued so that major terror network created a link in
Bangladesh.

Saimum Parvej’s section on ‘Terrorism and Counter-terrorism’ on the book of “Routledge

Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh” visits how Bangladesh’s initiative has countered it and
made remarkable progress to keep the country out of the evil grip of terrorism.

Syeda Naushin Parnini, Mohammad Redzuan Othman and Amer Saifude Ghazali’s paper of
“The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations” explains how Rohingya
issue took place and how it soured the relation between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

“Changing Foreign Policy of Bangladesh: Evaluation from the Different Political Regime” by
Md. Nazmul Islam visits how different regime shaped allegiance of Bangladesh with different
nations and how it affected in the future.

Anu Anwar’s web blog on “Bangladesh at 50: Navigating Strategic Survival” explains balances
its relationship with two regional hegemonic power, China, and India.

“The potential of strategic environmental assessment to reduce disaster risks through climate
change adaptation in the coastal zone of Bangladesh” by Md. Suzaul Islam and Yanrong Zhang
explores how Bangladesh can environmentally improve itself tackle climate change by Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA).

Tracy Kitten’s article on “Bangladesh Bank Heist: Lessons Learned” gives us the idea how
major cyber-attack took place on Bangladesh Bank and how it prepared us for further attacks and
how it prevented recent North Korean cyber-attack on banks.
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V. Strategic environment of Bangladesh

Strategic environment is a complex concept and there is no single interpretation of it.

Bangladesh’s geostrategic position put Bangladesh in a key role in South Asia and between
South and South East Asia. Again, with its neighbor, India and Myanmar, had to go through
several disputes and was resolved through diplomatic sessions or it is yet to be resolved. These
strategic contexts are determined by the strategic environment. For the purpose of this paper,
different factors which influence nation’s security and defense are described below:

a. Security Aspect

As matter of security, Bangladesh faced several situations that forced Bangladesh to improve its
defense mechanism and also focus on diplomatic ties too. Major events that had effect on
securities are described:

Bangladesh-India border disputes: On 19th of April, in the region of Baraibari, more than 200
kilometers west of Padua, a small squad of BSF forces invaded Bangladeshi territory. Although
Baraibari was Bangladeshi territory, there was no clear boundaries between it and India. It was a
reprisal for the Padua incident. This small group launched an attack against BDR. The 16 Indian
paramilitary soldiers were ambushed and murdered by Bangladeshi forces with the help of
hundreds of locals as soon as they entered Bangladeshi land. After that, they were allegedly
brutally murdered before their remains were sent to India. Indian prime minister blamed
Bangladeshi border guard for the incident and Bangladeshi prime minister expressed grief upon
the loss of soldiers’ life still made no formal apology. The whole incident could be dated back to
partition period and this long-term border dispute had no result for very long time (Dugger,
2001). But after the incident, both nations came to a diplomatic solution which resulted in both
countries coming to an end of land boundary agreement. Enclave problem was sorted, and
demarcation problem also got mitigated.

Terrorism: The brutal siege at Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka's Gulshan
neighborhood on July 1, 2016, was the most well-known Islamic State operation in Bangladesh.
Two police offers and twenty foreigners were killed when Five terrorists with firearms,
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machetes, and explosives carried out the siege. They first linked with regional terrorist groups
and then carried out their operation (Terrorism in South Asia: Bangladesh, 2020). During 2012–
2019-time lapse, surge in terrorist activities is seen but the way Bangladesh government cracked
down on terrorism and the initiatives were admirable. Formation of SWAT, institutionally
preventing the spread of terrorism, mass awareness has helped to minimize the threat (Parvez,
2016). Bangladesh has a good face in the international arena for suppressing the threat of
terrorism and its initiative was praised.

Bangladesh- Myanmar relationship and Rohingya Crisis: In 2017, the Myanmar government
started a military assault that displaced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims. Human rights organizations
believe the government was committing genocide against the Rohingya, while the government
denied the allegations. The majority of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, which has limited
resources and territory to accommodate refugees. According to the UN refugee agency, there are
over 900,000 Rohingya refugees in the nation. Many of them reside in overcrowded settlements
in Cox's Bazar, which now houses the world's biggest refugee camp.

This big issue has been a thorn between Bangladesh and Myanmar for security talks,
communication development, trades and many other things. Political tension on the side of
Myanmar also making this complex and Bangladesh is not being able to use its geostrategic
advantage (Parnini, Othman and Ghazali, 2013).

Enhancing cooperation with surrounding nations can have a favorable impact on the
development of the defense system by allowing collaborative initiatives to be carried out to
increase defense capabilities. The continuous changes in Myanmar's animosity toward
Bangladesh, as well as the country's continual regime transition, are a barrier to collaboration.
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b. Political Aspect

Bangladesh's foreign policy is highly proactive. It was not like this always. During independence
of Bangladesh, its relationship with India and Soviet Russia was good and cold with United
States, Pakistan, and rest of the Muslim world. After the regime change in 1975, Bangladesh’s
relation with the United States, Pakistan, China, Muslim world got better, and alliances were
formed. It was also changed when again Awami League regime came into power. This is when
relation with India got better but the existing relation and trade deals and foreign aids that formed
in BNP-regimes continued. It is normal to see when regime change there are slight changes in
relationship with countries like Awami League regime is more friendly toward India-led policies
and BNP is more leaned towards Pakistan and China. But no matter the regime, Bangladesh is in
a friendly relation with both of the regional hegemonic states, China and India, increasing its
importance in the international and geological platform (Islam, 2017).

c. Economic Aspect

Bangladesh's relations with China and India have progressed significantly during the last 50
years. Bangladesh's independence was initially opposed by China, although India was a loyal
supporter of the nation during its liberation war. Today, though, China's economic heft and
seeming lack of meddling in Bangladesh's internal problems make it a sought-after partner. This
contrasts with India's history of avoiding key bilateral issues with Bangladesh. In summary,
Bangladesh sometimes perceives India as a concern, whereas China is sensitive to Bangladeshi
concerns.

Bangladesh is a significant geopolitical actor in South Asia. Bangladesh nearly completely

separates India from its northeastern seven sister states, with the tortuous Siliguri Corridor
linking Nepal and Bangladesh shrinking to only 14 miles at one point. China’s influence on
India’s this side is immense and India needs Bangladesh’s help to mitigate it.

China, on the other hand, has its own strategy in Bangladesh. Aside from economic potential,
China's accessibility to the Indian Ocean is limited due to the small Straits of Malacca, which is
why it is seeking port facilities in the Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal, as well as overland links,
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such as through Myanmar and Pakistan. Even though China and Bangladesh do not share a
border, the two nations are just around 100 kilometers apart. As a result, China views ports on
the Bay of Bengal as strategically important. Bangladesh serves as a hub for the Bangladesh-
China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, which is one of China's six proposed
economic corridors. To strengthen its infrastructure, Bangladesh might take advantage of China's
offers to build a variety of roadways, bridges, and ports. Bangladesh might still entice investment
and labor from China to help resuscitate its garment industry, as its lower labor costs now make
it a more cost-effective option for Chinese firms (Anwar, 2021).

Bangladesh has so far attempted to strike a balance between the difficulties that come with tight
economic connections with China and steady strategic ties with India. Bangladesh's security
environment would be shaped by the role of other international powers. Both the US and Japan
play important roles in the country's growth and security.

Keeping all these on tab, Bangladesh is initializing its deep seaport issue, getting Covid-19
vaccination help from key players, finalizing mega infostructure construction like Padma Bridge,
Dhaka Metro Rail Connection etc. Bangladesh would face a geopolitical dilemma as a result of
competition between China and India. Bangladesh's economic opportunity in China is apparent.
At the same time, Bangladesh's geographic location necessitates the maintenance of solid
relations with New Delhi.

d. Technological Aspect

Bangladesh faced a major cyberattack in 2016 and according to a study, the $81 million
Bangladesh Bank robbery was the result of a sophisticated malware exploit. This forced serious
changes in technological aspects (Kitten, 2016).

Following the same path of 2016, similar cyber attack took place on April 2021 on more than
200 organization including BTRC, Bangladesh Bank. But now information can be recovered,
and these attacks can be resisted. Using the Hafnium exploit file, companies may recover from
this attack (Irani, 2021).
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e. Ecological Aspect

Natural calamities such as cyclones, floods, storm surges, salt intrusion, rough seas, droughts,
and persistent flooding due to sea level rise pose serious dangers to Bangladesh's coastal belt
inhabitants. The country's coastal management strategy addresses a wide variety of concerns,
from economic growth to ecosystem protection, yet there is no clear plan in place to deal with
natural catastrophes. Though currently SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) is not needed,
to establish SEA as an acceptable instrument for analyzing and managing all environmental
risks, including climate change, at an earlier stage of the planning process, more advances in
SEA policy and practice are required in Bangladesh (Islam and Zhang, 2019).

VI. Analysis

This paper has proved that different strategic environment factors have forced, initiated our
nation to achieve its different goals which actually resulted in improving security and defense
sector. Strategic implication in security factors was directly related with security and defense
mechanism. Economic and political factors played their roles to sustain a certain goal but in
future they also added their significance in security, technology and cyber security is directly
linked with security and ecological factors talk about security from natural calamities and
climate change which is a war whole world is fighting together.

Different factors of strategic environment changed when it was needed and shaped different
aspects of Bangladesh but altogether shaped the security and defense mechanism and how
Bangladesh reacts to threats.
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VII. Conclusion

Bangladesh's strategic environment creates a system of mutual interactions and connections

between security, political, economic, technical, and other variables that influence Bangladesh's
defense system advancement in many ways. The defense system should be developed in such a
way that it is always in sync with the condition of the strategic environment. It is important to
conduct trend analysis in the context of strategic environmental elements in order to properly
develop the defense system.

The purpose of finding linkage between various factors and their ultimate goal of improving
defense system was shown in this research. In this analysis, scientifically based and practically
proven data was shown in perspective of Bangladesh to show its geostrategic and political stance
in the international platform and how these factors essentially play key role in defense system.
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VIII. References

Anwar, A., 2021. Bangladesh at 50: Navigating Strategic Survival - War on the Rocks. [online]

War on the Rocks. Available at: <https://warontherocks.com/2021/04/bangladesh-at-50-

navigating-strategic-survival/> [Accessed 23 June 2021].

Dugger, C., 2001. 16 Indian Soldiers Are Victims in Bangladesh Border Skirmish (Published

2001). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at:

<https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/26/world/16-indian-soldiers-are-victims-in-
bangladesh-border-skirmish.html> [Accessed 23 June 2021].

Irani, B., 2021. Cyber attacks hit over 200 organizations including Bangladesh Bank, BTRC.

[online] Dhaka Tribune. Available at:

<https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/04/02/cyber-attacks-hit-over-200-
organizations-including-bangladesh-bank-btrc> [Accessed 23 June 2021].

Islam, M., 2017. Changing Foreign Policy of Bangladesh: Evaluation from the Different Political

Regime. [online] Available at:

<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318570332_Changing_Foreign_Policy_of_Ba
ngladesh_Evaluation_from_the_Different_Political_Regime> [Accessed 23 June 2021].

Islam, M. and Zhang, Y., 2019. The potential of strategic environmental assessment to reduce

disaster risks through climate change adaptation in the coastal zone of Bangladesh.
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 11(1), pp.137-153.
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Kitten, T., 2016. Bangladesh Bank Heist: Lessons Learned. [online] Bankinfosecurity.com.

Available at: <https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/bangladesh-bank-heist-lessons-learned-

a-9064> [Accessed 23 June 2021].

Parnini, S., Othman, M. and Ghazali, A., 2013. The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Bangladesh-

Myanmar Relations. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 22(1), pp.133-146.

Parvez, S., 2016. Routledge handbook of contemporary Bangladesh. New York: Routledge,

pp.432-435.

Osac.gov. 2020. Terrorism in South Asia: Bangladesh. [online] Available at:

<https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/607a3a62-129a-4b76-91ce-17cad208a4c4>
[Accessed 23 June 2021].