The State of Governance in Bangladesh is the product of an ongoing long-term research program on governance in Bangladesh initiated in 2006. This report explores an uncharted yet integral new dimension – the role of external influence – in shaping Bangladesh’s policymaking process. Despite Bangladesh’s foreign aid dependency declining drastically, and the country making many economic and social strides, external stakeholders’ influence on the country’s internal policy making process is nevertheless significant. This report examined how external interventions in terms of aid conditionalities and policy prescriptions, among others, influence the country’s governance structure. In addition to the introductory chapter, the report has five chapters that present analyses and findings on: democracy and good governance agenda, public sector governance, economic governance, CSO/NGO governance and political governance. The report, among other findings, concludes that while external stakeholders’ influence has been prominent in Bangladesh’s socio-economic and political domains, its impact on the country’s development discourse is, at best, mixed. It, in particular, uncovers the reasons for the less than expected outcomes behind D&DPs-influenced reforms and reveals that in order for broader parameters of reforms to be successful, there is a need for proper implementation of economic and political reforms concurrently.
Author: Rahman, Ashikur; Rashid, Md Harun-Or; Islam, Mohammad Sirajul; Hasan, Munyema; Shams, Nermeen; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Hasan, Manzoor; Islam, M Shahidul; Fardosh, Jannatul; Razzaque, Farhana; Arifeen, Nazmul; Chakma, Rigan; Haque, Kazi Nurmohammed Hossainul; Hamid, Rubayet; Chowdhury, Faiz Ahmed; Khalid, Mariha; Zakaria, Sultan Mohammed
Type: Report
Year: 2012