Structural Dimensions of Malgovernance in Bangladesh

This paper attempts to trace the roots of the governance problem in Bangladesh to the structural features of its polity. These features include the existing politics of confrontation, weaknesses in the practice of parliamentary democracy, the malfunctioning of political parties, the role of money and muscle power in politics, and the rent-seeking collusion among the political parties, state machinery and vested commercial interests. Efforts for improving governance must be directed towards persuading political parties of the advantages of reforms in the existing political institutions. The paper also advocates civic actions in creating widespread awareness of the benefits of better governance, thus raising the political costs of malfeasant governance.