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Rural Local Government and State Politics in Bangladesh

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Rural Local Government and State Politics in Bangladesh Durham E-Theses Rural local government and state politics in Bangladesh Nadiruzzaman, Md. How to cite: Nadiruzzaman, Md. (2008) Rural local government and state politics in Bangladesh, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2238/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Rural Local Government and State Politics in Bangladesh The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which it was submitted. No quotation from it, or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. This dissertation is submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Research in the Department of Geography. ^FDurham University Md. Nadiruzzaman, Department of Geography, University of Durham, January 2008. - 2 APR 2008 SUMMARY Decentralization has become fashionable in governmental development of the third world. Theoretically, it is the shift of sovereign responsibilities that includes the planning, financing and management of certain public functions to field units of government agencies, subordinate units or levels of government, semi-autonomous public authorities or corporations, or area-wide regional or functional authorities. Unfortunately, Bangladesh became dysfunctional due to rampant political corruption and successive political crises since its independence. Every regime has formed a local government commission under different names, without giving much real effort to decentralising their powers to the local level. Accordingly, every regime has accused their predecessors of uncontrolled distortion. The post-liberation experience of the local government (LG) of Bangladesh suggests that the national government uses the local government bodies to strengthen its own power base in the name of decentralization. The present research asks whether the policy and the formation of different structures can achieve decentralisation. It engages in a number of theoretical, methodological and empirical debates on rural local government institutions. The history of LG in Bangladesh can be characterised as a British-invented and Pakistani-installed centrally controlled local hierarchical system. Thus, because of extreme political corruption and violence in every sphere of Bangladesh, the radical potential of civil society organisations is being appropriated and they are being used to fill gaps in service delivery, allowing the state to withdraw, which is justified by 'roll-back' neoliberalism. However, this thesis argues that the restoration of law and order and assurance of transparency are prerequisites of efficient local government. Again, endorsing the traditional informal institutions can reduce the pressure on government in different affairs like dispute resolution, social awareness, health and safety and so on. In addition, delegating responsibility for service provision to other quarters like NGOs and civil society can help to address the development concerns of the people, as well as capacity-building in local level institutions. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iii-viii List of Tables ix List of Figures x List of Abbreviations xi-xiii Declaration of Copyright xiv Acknowledgements xv CHAPTER ONE: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1-12 Introduction 1 Objectives of the Study 3 Methodology 4 Study Design 6 Sample Design 7 Sample Design for Quantitative Survey 7 Sample Design for Qualitative Survey 7 Data Collection Instruments 8 Field Implementation of Quantitative and Qualitative Survey 9 Quality Control 9 Measures Taken to Collect Quality Data 10 Additional Information 11 Organisation of the Thesis 11 Conclusion 12 CHAPTER TWO: HISTORICAL POLITICAL CONTEXT OF LOCAL 13-40 GOVERNMENT IN BANGLADESH Introduction 13 The Historical Political Context 14 iii The British Period (1757-1947) 14 The Pakistan Era (1947-1971) 15 Independent Bangladesh (Since 1971) 16 Political Parties and Local Government: Decentralization or 16 Counter Decentralization? Key Developments of Local Government 17 The Ambiguous Central Politics and the Fate of Local Governance in 19 Bangladesh The Pre-Independence Situation 19 Post Independence 20 The Era of Seikh Mujibur Rahman (1971-1975) 20 Key Political Features during the Mujib Regime 21 Fragmented National Consensus 21 Corruption and Economic Collapse 22 Growing Dissatisfaction in the Armed 22 Services Political Rivalry and Violence 23 The Local Government under the One Party Rule - The BKSAL Concept 25 The Evolution of the Military Regime by Ziaur Rahman (1976-1981) 26 Zia's Successive Involvement with Power and Formation of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Zia's Political Rivals 27 Strategy Taken to Counter the Opposition 27 The Local Government under the first Military 28 Regime Politics of Gram Sarkar 2309 Ershad (1982-1990): Another Era of Military Regime 30 Formation of the Jatiya Party: From Military to 31 Political President Local Government Politics during the Ershad Regime iv The Khaleda Zia Regime (1991-1996): From Autocracy to ^ Electoral Democracy The Local Government under the Khaleda Regime 33 The Sheikh Hasina Regime (1996-2001) 34 The Local Government reform under Shiekh Hasina 35 The Four Party Alliance Government (2001-2006) 35 Reorientation of the Gram Sarkar 35 The Protest and Government's Response 36 Political Objectives of the Gram Sarkar Formation 36 Conclusion 37 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FARMEWORK 41-61 Introduction 41 Neoliberalism 42 Global Distribution of Power to Govern 44 Decentralisation of Local Government 48 Meaning and Concepts 48 Devolution 49 Deconcentration 50 Delegation 51 Privatisation and Deregulation 51 Dimension of Local Government 52 Administrative Dimension 52 Political Dimension 53 Financial Dimension 53 Elucidation of the Meaning 54 What Decentralisation is 54 What Decentralisation is not 56 Driving Forces of Decentralisation 56 What Can Decentralisation Do? 56 Considerations of Designing a Decentralised Plan 60 Conclusion 61 v CHAPTER FOUR: STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS IN RURAL 62-80 LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN BANGLADESH Introduction 62 Formal Local Government Institutions 63 Gram Sarkar 65 Structure of the Gram Sarkar 65 Function of the Gram Sarkar 66 Sources of Income 68 Union Parishad 68 Structure of the UP 68 Functions of the UP 69 Upazila Parishad 69 Structure of Upazila Parishad 70 Period of Upazila Parishad 70 Standing Committees 70 Functions of Upazila Parishad 71 Zila Parishad 72 Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh 73 Jahanara Begum: A Successful Story 73 Sajeda Khatun: A Failed Case 75 Conceptual Issues 76 Conclusion 79 CHAPTER FIVE: CAPACITY ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL 81-110 GOVERNMENT IN RURAL BANGLADESH Introduction 81 Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP) 81 Different Phases of RMP 83 RMP Phases I, II and III 83 RMP III - Stage 3 84 vi Different Components of RMP 84 Road Maintenance Component (RMC) 84 Income Diversification Component (IDC) 86 Capacity Strengthening Component (CS) 87 Experiences of the Participants 91 Proj ect Impl ementation 91 Trainings for RMAs 92 First Year Training 93 Second Year Training 93 Third Year Training 93 Fourth Year Training 94 Facts of Inactive PMC in RMP Operation 94 Road work Performance (RMA, PMC and UP) 96 Road List 96 Quarterly Roadwork Plan 97 Quarterly Review Session 97 Roadwork Assessment 98 Assessment of Financial Management Skills 98 Assessment of Supervision Skills 99 Supervision of PMC/UP Monitor 99 Supervision of RMA Members 99 Assessment of Reporting Skills of the UP 100 Financial Capacity and Development Activities of UP 100 Income Sources 100 Development Activities of UP 101 Participation of Women Representatives 101 Governance Issues 102 Upazila RMC Cell 102 Organization 102 Roles and Responsibilities 103 Project Management 104 Field Visits 104 Action against Field Findings 105 vii RMP Fund Management 105 Function of Upazila RMC Cell 105 Coordination Roles 106 Support to UP/PMC 106 Problems to manage UP/PMC 107 Facts and Recommendations for the Upazila RMC Cell 107 Conclusion 108 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 111-124 Introduction 111 Recent Political Turmoil in Bangladesh 113 Political Power Struggles: Constitution vs Democracy 113 Roll-Back Neoliberalism 115 Patron-Clientism 116 Emergence of Civil Society 118 Concluding Remarks 120 Restoration of Law and Order System 121 Assurance of Transparency 121 Social Mobilisation 121 Delegation of Responsibility 122 Consideration of Informal Institutions in Formulation of 122 Decentralisation Plan Installation of Democracy 123 Capacity Development 123 Devolution of Power 123 Summary 123 REFERENCES 125-134 viii LIST OF TABLES Chapter One Table 1.1 Sample population of Union Parishads, sample size, and related issues Table 1.2 Sample sizes Chapter Two Table 2.1:
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