BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS

Author: Nelofar Parvin

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/BIISSj2008v29n3a4

ABSTRACT

The role of public intellectuals in democracy has emerged as an issue of vibrant debate in Western societies. From ancient times, public intellectuals have played a significant role in transforming "People into public" by their writings, speech, and literary criticism. For this _ reason, public intellectuals were considered as the ‘moral guardian’ of a nation. Recently, the researchers in Western societies argue that the role of public intellectuals has been declining over time. Research ‘related to the declining role of public intellectuals encourages research in another area viz., the concept of public intellectuals based on the evaluation of their role in the West to flourish, (see Hughes and Hughes 1990, Lavine 2001, Wolfe 2002). As a part of civil society, public intellectuals can help to establish, deepen and maintain democracy in various ways. Over time, the functions of public intellectuals have increased with the remarkable progress of media. Public intellectuals are now able to communicate with public and play their role in the society very easily. However, it is observed that the idea of public intellectuals in mainly a West-centred concept. Consequently, very little research has been done about the role of public intellectuals from the perspective of developing countries. The paper argued that in or-der to understand the role of public intellectuals in the context of developing countries, proper analysis of the concept of public intellectuals is indispensable.