Howard B. Schaffer

Howard B. Schaffer, U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh from 1984 to 1987, is deputy director and director of studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University. He spent most of his 36-year career in the Foreign Service in South Asia and in South Asia policy-making positions in Washington. He served twice as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia and was political counselor at the U.S. embassies in India and Pakistan. He is the author of Chester Bowles: New Dealer in the Cold War (1993).

January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1

South Asia Faces the Future: Back and Forth in Bangladesh

Recent parliamentary elections showed the continuing strengths and weaknesses of Bangladeshi democracy. Although the country does have strong political parties and a decade of democratic elections, the intense antipathy between government and opposition will continue to cause problems well into the future.