Paper short abstract:

Land dispossession generated through establishing army cantonments is a missing aspect of the contemporary land grab debate in Bangladesh. In my paper I will focus therefore on two empirical cases where local people lost their land because of establishment of cantonments.

Paper long abstract:

Bangladesh has one of the highest population densities in the world and subsistence farming is still the primary way of life for the majority of people. Consequently, access to land and to natural resources is hotly contested and land expropriations in rural and urban areas by state and non-governmental actors are crucial to domestic politics. Urbanization and neo-liberal development programs massively contribute to this dynamic and are widely recognised causes of land dispossession. While land appropriation generated through establishing army cantonments is less discussed aspect of the contemporary land grab debate in Bangladesh.

In my paper I will focus therefore on two particular empirical cases in Bangladesh where local people lost their land because of establishment of army cantonments. The danger of losing further land is ongoing, since the cantonments are continuously expending. In the paper I will discuss what it means for local farmers and their families to live in close proximity to a military establishment. I will also analyse the role of the army in the contemporary politics of Bangladesh, and to show the latent and continuous influence of the army on politics and society in spite of the fact that a 'transition' from military regime to procedural democracy took place in 1990 in the country.