This paper examines the July–August uprising in Bangladesh as a critical moment of popular resistance
emerging from a prolonged crisis of electoral democracy. Over the past decade, Bangladesh has
experienced systematic democratic erosion marked by hollowed electoral competition, shrinking civic
space, and the consolidation of executive power through administrative control, securitization, and co-
opted institutions. Against this backdrop, the July–August movement driven primarily by students and
youth, constituted not merely a protest episode, but a form of collective resistance that challenged both
the legitimacy of electoral authoritarianism and the structural conditions sustaining it.
Drawing on qualitative interviews with Gen-Z student activists, civil society actors, and policy observers,
complemented by media analysis and political economy insights, the paper situates the uprising within
broader debates in Resistance Studies on everyday resistance, insurgent citizenship, and the limits of
institutionalized democracy. It argues that youth-led resistance in Bangladesh has evolved beyond
demands for electoral reform toward a more fundamental contestation of the political order, one that
rejects procedural democracy devoid of accountability, representation, and justice.
The paper advances three core arguments. First, it shows how electoral breakdown functions as a catalyst
for resistance, transforming political disengagement into mass mobilization when institutional channels
for dissent are foreclosed. Second, it demonstrates how youth activists strategically combined street
protest, digital mobilization, and symbolic acts of refusal to disrupt dominant narratives of stability and
development. These practices reflect a hybrid resistance repertoire that blurs the boundaries between
everyday resistance and overt confrontation. Third, the paper highlights the tensions within the movement
itself, between reformist and transformative visions, leaderless organizing and coordination, and
vulnerability to repression, revealing the fragile yet generative nature of resistance under authoritarian
conditions.
By centering youth as political agents rather than passive victims of democratic decline, the paper
contributes to Resistance Studies by foregrounding resistance as a process of political re-imagination, not
only opposition. It also speaks directly to activists and practitioners by reflecting on the strategic
dilemmas of sustaining resistance in highly repressive environments, where state violence, surveillance,
and co-optation remain persistent threats.
Ultimately, the July–August uprising illustrates how resistance can emerge from democratic failure,
creating new political subjectivities and solidarities even in contexts where formal democratic institutions
have lost credibility. The paper calls for Resistance Studies to engage more deeply with electoral crises as
sites of resistance, especially in the Global South, where the struggle for democracy increasingly unfolds
beyond the ballot box.