While voters across South Asia were once optimistic about the future of democracy, recent political setbacks in the region have dampened these hopes. However, most accounts of democratic backsliding focus on the strategies and tactics of regime incumbents, leaving little room for close study of opposition forces.

The dominance of powerful regime incumbents in South Asia, from the BJP in India to the Awami League in Bangladesh and the military in Pakistan, should not obscure the reality that the opposition space in the region is dynamic, fluid, and highly consequential.

The Maldives has sought to strengthen ties with India, yet the political opposition is seeking to wean the country off this relationship. Will the heated rhetoric have an impact?

Bangladeshi opposition parties have failed to support the country's democratic consolidation since 1990. Explanations can be found from the colonial era to the present day.

As political parties turn to the 2024 general election, much of the opposition has found itself in a crisis that began long before the present era of BJP dominance.

Sri Lanka’s momentous protests toppled an unpopular leader and could be a sign of more change to come, though the path forward will not be easy.

Over the last few decades, Pakistan’s courts have carved themselves a political role in addition to their legal one. As the country’s opposition looks to its next moves, the courts may have a key role to play.

The 2013 Karachi Operation has engendered lasting instability in Pakistan’s largest city. Religious, military, and political groups vie for power over a multiethnic and divided populace as the threat of violence lingers.

The Pakistan Peoples Party plays a critical role in opposition politics in Pakistan but must balance opposition at the national level with the cause of autonomy within its home province of Sindh. Now, the party is fighting to leverage its oppositional leadership toward these two goals.

The BNA demonstrators are the latest chapter in Nepal’s long history of citizen-led protest movements demanding greater accountability from Nepali leaders.

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has shifted the balance of power between the Pakistani government and the largest antistate militant group in the country.

The Bangladeshi government has used a vaguely worded law on digital security to crack down on its critics and dispel online dissent.