Principle of Constitutional Democracy: A Critical Analysis on Accountability of the People’s Representatives

Abstract

After the decolonization of the world, most of the newly independent countries became democratic regarding the governance policies. Since a newer concept emerged for development of democracy named Constitutional Democracy. Aspects of constitutional democracy emerged and developed by centering the people and participation of the people in the governance process. Accountability of the public office holders, specially the representatives of the people, elected by the people is acrucial core element of constitutional democracy. In this research, the legal framework of Bangladesh is analyzed under the focus of the accountability principle of the principle of constitutional democracy. In a qualitative way, this research aims to find out the existing legal mechanisms for ensuring accountability of people’s representatives and the extent of effectiveness of such mechanisms. This study also tries to find out the current practice of accountability of public office holders in Bangladesh, based on data collected from previously conducted surveys. At the end this study recommended the necessary adoption of laws and policies for ensuring accountability of public office holders in Bangladesh and for ensuring participation of people in the governance process.