Public Administration in Bangladesh: Political and Bureaucratic Dimensions

Abstract

In a little over 50 years, Bangladesh, among the South Asian countries, has had the unique distinction of gaining independence twice. The first was in 1947 when British India was partitioned and the eastern wing of Pakistan (Bangladesh) became a providence of that country. The second occurred in 1971 when Bangladesh, after a bloody war of liberation, seceded from Pakistan in puissant rejection of years of political repression and economic exploitation.In 1996, Bangladesh completed twenty-five years of independence, a period highlighted by recurring political turmoils and unceasing economic predicaments. On the political front, the country experienced the displacement of parliamentary democracy and the imperious imposition of one-party rule, large-scale political assassinations, wanton military takeovers, a mass upsurge against authoritarianism, and finally the return to democratic rule. The economic domain, over the years, was influenced by the swift nationalization of state enterprises immediately after independence, the unfavorable impact of worldwide recession of the 1970s, the persistent external pressures towards economic liberalization, and the accompanying denationalization and privatization policies of successive governments. All these and the current trend of adopting principles of the market economy have had concrete influences, both positive and negative, on the system of governance, the bureaucracy, and the performance of the administrative apparatus.