Dhaka, Dec. 12 -- The Chief Election Commissioner's announcement of the election schedule is yet another milestone crossed for Bangladesh, on the road it is traversing to a renewed embrace of democracy. In case you didn't know, this is not very common in today's world, and so no one should expect anything from here on in to be easy, or straightforward. It is well-documented of course, that in the grand sweep of history, we live in an era of 'democratic backsliding'.

Today if you look around, and what you'll see more likely are countries with governance failures moving away entirely, from civilian rule. Who would fail to take note of what Ibrahim Traore is doing over in Burkina Faso, that is already starting to catch on in his neighbourho...