Politics-Bureaucracy Relations, Governance and Development in Bangladesh

438 Pages·2015·3.93 MB·English

Politics-Bureaucracy Relations, Governance and Development in
Bangladesh: The Case of Local Government

Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwurde der
Fakultat Fur Wirtschafts und Sozialwissenschaften der Ruprecht-
Karls-Universitat Heidelberg

Dissertation Submitted by

Muhammad Sayadur Rahman

Supervisors

Prof. Subrata K. Mitra, Ph.D. (Rochester)

Prof. Dr. Markus Pohlmann

October, 2015
Table of Contents

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………….ii
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................................ vii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...…………....ix
List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………...…...xi
List of Figures ............... ………………………………………………………………………………xv
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... xvi
Chapter – 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the Study .............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Review of Literature: Approaching the Problem in the State of the Art ...................................... 5
1.5.1 The Classical Outlook ........................................................................................................... 6
;1.5.2 The New-classical and NPA Thinking ................................................................................. 9
1.5.3 New Public Management Thinking ..................................................................................... 13
1.5.4 Emerging Inclination of Thinking ....................................................................................... 15
1.6 Rationale and Value of the Study ............................................................................................... 19
1.7 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................. 22
1.8 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................................ 23
Chapter – 2: The Theoretical and Analytical Framework .............................................................. 25
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 25
2.2 Analytical Framework for the Study .......................................................................................... 25
2.2.1 Conceptualization and Operationalization of Variables ...................................................... 26
2.3 The Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 39
2.3.1 The Major Paradigms and Theories in Public Administration ............................................ 39
2.3.2 Theoretical Paradigms in the Study of Politics-Bureaucracy Relations .............................. 41
2.3.3 Theoretical Modification: How do the Theoretical Models operate for this Study? ........... 43
2.3.4 Research Hypotheses ........................................................................................................... 50
2.4 Theory and Methodology: Designing the Research Method ...................................................... 53
2.4.1 The Theoretical and Methodological Debate in Social Science Research .......................... 54
2.4.2 Research Design and Method of Data Collection ............................................................... 58
2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 64
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Chapter – 3: Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in Comparative Perspectives .................................. 66
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 66
3.2 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in Ancient Societies.................................................................. 67
3.3. Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in Modern Western Democracies ............................................ 69
3.3.1 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in United States of America .............................................. 70
3.3.2 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in United Kingdom ........................................................... 74
3.3.3 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in France ........................................................................... 79
3.3.4 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in Germany ....................................................................... 85
3.4 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in Developing World Perspective ............................................ 90
3.4.1 Politics-Bureaucracy Relations in South and Southeast Asia: ............................................ 92
3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 101
Chapter – 4: Politics, Bureaucracy and Local Government in Bangladesh: Evolution, Structure
and Process of Governance from Historical Perspective ........................................... 103
4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 103
4.2 The Theories of Local Government (LG) ................................................................................. 103
4.3 Evolution of LG, Bureaucracy, and Politics-Bureaucracy Relationships ................................. 106
4.3.1 Ancient or Pre-colonial Period: Village Self Republic ..................................................... 106
4.3.2 C;olonial Period: Administrative State and the Foundation of Modern Bureaucracy and
Local Government ...................................................................................................................... 109
4.3.3 Pakistan Period: Military State – Civil and Military Bureaucracy Nexus ......................... 119
4.3.4 Bangladesh Period ............................................................................................................. 132
4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 149
Chapter – 5: Upazila Parishad (UZP) in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Institutional and
Regulatory Framework ................................................................................................. 151
5.1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 151
5.2: Local Government in Bangladesh: Legal and Constitutional Framework .............................. 151
5.3: Philosophy of Decentralization and Instate of Upazila Parishad in Bangladesh ..................... 155
5.4: Institutional and Regulatory Framework of Upazila Parishad................................................. 159
5.4.1: Structure and Composition of the Upazila Parishad ........................................................ 159
5.4.2: Roles and Functions of Elected Representatives and Bureaucrats ................................... 161
5.5: Elections and Democratic Practice in the UZP........................................................................ 162
5.6: Mechanisms of Central Control ............................................................................................... 173
5.6.1: Institutional Control ......................................................................................................... 173
5.6.2: Financial Control .............................................................................................................. 174
5.6.3: Administrative Control ..................................................................................................... 174
5.6.4: Controlled by Central Local Relation Structure ............................................................... 174
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5.7: Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 175
Chapter – 6: Politicians and Bureaucrats in Local Government: Analysis of Relationship
Underpinning Variables ................................................................................................ 177
6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 177
6.2 The Systemic or Organizational Factors ................................................................................... 177
6.2.1 Recruitment, Training and Motivation .............................................................................. 177
6.2.2 Politico-Administrative Culture and Values ..................................................................... 182
6.2.3 Legitimacy and the Style of Leadership ............................................................................ 183
6.2.4 Professionalism and Specialized Knowledge .................................................................... 186
6.2.5 Institutional Structure ........................................................................................................ 189
6.3. The Contextual Factors ............................................................................................................ 191
6.3.1 Social Background and Role Orientation .......................................................................... 191
6.3.2 Policy Formulation and Implementation ........................................................................... 198
6.3.3 Regime Types and Ideology .............................................................................................. 200
6.3.4 Politicization of Bureaucracy ............................................................................................ 201
6.3.5 Self-image and Mutual Interaction .................................................................................... 202
6.4 The Factors which underpins the Relations most significantly ................................................ 203
6.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 204
Chapter – 7: Local Politicians and Bureaucrats: Exploring the Prototype of Relations............ 206
7.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 206
7.2 Social Background, Role Perceptions and Relations ................................................................ 206
7.2.1 Normative Role Perceptions of Politicians and Bureaucrats ............................................. 207
7.2.2 General People‘s View on Politicians and Bureaucrats Roles .......................................... 213
7.2.3 Social Background and Role Perceptions ......................................................................... 214
7.3. Self-Image and Mutual Interaction and Politics-Bureaucracy Relations ................................. 219
7.3.1 Images and Outlooks ......................................................................................................... 220
7.3.2 Politicians‘ Perceptions to Politicians ............................................................................... 224
7.3.3 Politicians‘ Perceptions to Bureaucrats ............................................................................. 225
7.3.4 Bureaucrats‘ Perceptions to Bureaucrats ........................................................................... 227
7.3.5 Bureaucrats‘ Perceptions to Politicians ............................................................................. 229
7.3.6 General Peoples‘ Perceptions to Politicians and Bureaucrats ........................................... 231
7.3.7 Three Dimensional Comparisons of Images and Outlooks ............................................... 233
7.3.8 Contact Pattern and Mutual Interaction ............................................................................. 236
7.4 Conclusion: ............................................................................................................................... 243
Chapter – 8: Models of Relations and its Effect on Local Governance and Development:
Institutional and Functional Dimensions .................................................................... 245
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8.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 245
8.2 The Theoretical Models and its Governance Attributes ........................................................... 246
8.2.1 Dichotomous Model of Relationship ................................................................................ 246
8.2.2 Mutual-Interactive Model of Relationship ........................................................................ 246
8.2.3 Symbiotic Model of Relationship...................................................................................... 247
8.3 Exploring the Theoretical Model: The Gap between Theory and Practice .............................. 248
8.3.1 Role Performance, Neutrality, Competency and Relations ............................................... 253
8.4 Legal Institutional Changes after Introduction of UZP: Myth and Reality .............................. 258
8.4.1 Central Control by the Central Regulations: Myth of Autonomy and Self-Rule .............. 258
8.5 The Functioning of the UZP ..................................................................................................... 265
8.5.1 Domination in Governance ............................................................................................... 266
8.5.2 The Nature of Accountability ............................................................................................ 269
8.6 Local Politicians and Bureaucrats: Conflict and Cooperation .................................................. 270
8.7 Role of the Member of Parliament in Bangladesh: In Light of the Rules of Business and the
Constitution of Bangladesh ............................................................................................................ 274
8.7.1 Politics of Development and Decentralization: the way MPs were empowered in the Local
Government ................................................................................................................................ 275
8.8 Assessing the Relational Effects on Local Governance and Development .............................. 279
8.9 Case Dynamics: Explaining the Differences and Dominant Pattern ........................................ 289
8.10 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 292
Chapter – 9: Summary and Conclusion .......................................................................................... 295
9.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 295
9.2 The Problem Restated and Summarizing the Main Findings ................................................... 295
9.3 Prospective Theoretical Model: Symbiosis – A Fusion of Dichotomy and Mutuality ............. 306
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 312
Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 348
Appendix- 1: Survey Questionnaire for Local Elected Politicians ..................................................... 348
Appendix- 2: Survey Questionnaire for Bureaucrats .......................................................................... 357
Appendix- 3: Survey Questionnaire for General People..................................................................... 366
Appendix- 4: Demographic Characteristics of Studied Upazilas (2013) ............................................ 371
Appendix – 5: Average of Demographic Variables (Politicians) ....................................................... 372
Appendix – 6: Rural and Urban Upazila‘s Demographic Characteristics (By Number) .................... 373
Appendix – 7: Perceptional Survey Data of Respondents (N=280) ................................................... 374
Appendix – 8: Survey Data on Self-image and Mutual Interaction (N=280) ..................................... 376
Appendix- 9: General People‘s Perception on Politicians and Bureaucrats (Average) ...................... 378
Appendix- 10: Politicians and Bureaucrats Perceptions to each other (result counted N= 140) ........ 380
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Appendix – 11: Total Respondents Perception on Politicians (result counted N=280) ...................... 381
Appendix – 12: List of functions of Upazila Parishad (UZP) ............................................................. 382
Appendix – 13: Charter of Duties of UNO ......................................................................................... 383
Appendix- 14: Organizational Hierarchies and Functional Relationships in Bangladesh: From
National Level to Local Level (Executive) ..................................................................... 385
Appendix – 15: Various Acts and Ordinances of UZP of Bangladesh ............................................... 386

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Acknowledgement

Any research is a product of longitudinal and multi-actoral endeavor. Thus, this dissertation
is not merely a product of three years, rather an amassed of several years‘ professional and
academic understanding. Although this dissertation is solely product of my brain child
nevertheless, it is an effort and sacrifice of many persons‘ those who are either directly or
indirectly involve in the writing of this doctoral dissertation. For that, I would like to
acknowledge my debt conveying my heartiest thanks and gratitude to them to whom I am
indebted. In this regard, first of all, I would like to take the privilege to express my heartfelt
gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Subrata K. Mitra, Ph.D. (Rochester), for his kind and
scholarly supervision. Professor Mitra was not only my academic supervisor, he was more
than that. I was able to complete this academic journey because of his constant support and
guardianship. He was always with me and extended his supporting hand in other crises.

I also owe special gratitude to Prof. Dr. Markus Pohlmann, my second supervisor at
Heidelberg, who helped me a lot to develop my theoretical understanding on classical
bureaucracy and Max Weber. He examined the dissertation and made incisive observations
that helped me to develop my manuscript. I am also grateful to Prof. Dr. Stefan Klonner,
Prof. Dr. Hans Harder, Dr. Martin Gieselmann, Dr. Siegfried O. Wolf, Dr. Jivanta Schottli,
Dr. Yang Lu, Dr. Lion Konig, Dr. Markus Pauli, Frau Sabine Morawa-Gorlitz and Frau
Barbara Neef. I would like to express my special thanks to Dr. Jiva who provided me special
support during my admission to Heidelberg University as a foreign student, and Morawa was
my local guardian at Heidelberg life. I got special support from her in pursuance of this
higher study.

I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Shariff Enamul Kabir, former Vice-Chancellor of
Jahangirnagar University for providing me the opportunity to be the part of the university as a
faculty. I also want to acknowledge to the Jahangirnagar University authority for providing
me the study leave and partial financial grant to conduct this doctoral research at Heidelberg.
I am truly indebted to all my departmental colleagues and MPA students specially to
Jabunessa, Hore Krishno Kondo, Arjuman Naziz, Nusrat Jahan Arafeen, Monir, Sajeeb,
Razib, Uzzal, Tipu, and Siddiq for providing me academic support during data collection and
writing this dissertation. I would also convey my thanks to Graduate Academy of Heidelberg,
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and Heidelberg Bangladeshi community. Particularly, Malek bhai, Julias bhai, Khokon
Hossain, my student Suvo and my university colleagues Borhan and Taslima. Thanks are due
to my family members without whom this research would have been impossible. My special
thank goes to sister-in-law Munni, my wife Rupali Akter (Rupa), an Assistant Professor of
Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University and my only son Rafeed; one who had sacrificed her
academic life and took the responsibility of my family and other who had been deprived from
fathers‘ affection just after 30 days of his born. It is to them that this work is dedicated.

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Abstract

A long-standing issue in politics and administration is how politicians and bureaucrats
perceive themselves in their roles and relationships with their counterpart in the process of
governance and development and which factors affect or configure the orientation or
perception of the politicians and bureaucrats regarding politics-bureaucracy relationship in
the political system. Like many other developed and developing countries, bureaucracy is the
post-colonial reality of governance in Bangladesh. The elected politicians and non-elected
official bureaucrats are the integral part of the administration in both the central and local
government in Bangladesh. Probably the most elemental and theoretical debatable issue here
is that - what will be the apt relationship between politicians and bureaucrats? And what are
the relational effects on local governance and development?

Thus, this inquiry empirically investigates the views and perceptions of the elected politicians
and official bureaucrats to politics-bureaucracy relations and its effects on governance and
development of Bangladesh in the context of local governance and development following
the survey and case study methods. This study endeavored to undertake a theory based
empirical research to figure out the theoretical paradigmatic perspectives from the existing
literature on politics-bureaucracy relationship and an attempt has been made to identify
―dichotomy‖ and ―mutuality‖ as the major two models of the theoretical perspective by
discussing the key variations and effectual deficiencies among the existing models, providing
the argument that existing theoretical models are not identical and their characteristics are
overlapping with either dichotomy or mutuality. Consequently, it also wanted to propose a
logical modification of the existing relationship models by explaining some underpinning
variables which underpin the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats in the process
of governance.

This study tried to develop a prospective third model of politics-bureaucracy relations
focusing the light on symbiotic relationship between politicians and bureaucrats that is argued
in this thesis as an interface between dichotomous and mutual relation, and an essential
precondition or rational choice model of politics-bureaucracy relations for proper local
governance and development as the theoretical construct. The empirical data and observation
reveals that the theoretical models that already been discussed in the theoretical and
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conceptual framework cannot be found exactly in the context of politics-bureaucracy
relations at the local government of Bangladesh. According to the perceptions of respondents
and the empirical data, the relation is neither normatively dichotomous with political
neutrality nor abundantly cohesive or mutual-interactive. However, some conditions of both
dichotomy and mutuality are present in the relationship of local elected politicians and
bureaucrats. In spite of that, empirical data reveals that the relation between local elected
politicians and bureaucrats is conflicting and it is influenced by many components. The role
perceptions and the patterns of relationships varies with the degree of social characteristics,
alignment of interests, role perceptions, self-image and mutual interaction between local
elected politicians and the official bureaucrats, which ultimately influence the level of local
governance and development. The colonial and semi-colonial legacy, dominant attitude of the
politicians and bureaucrats, politicization, distinctive self-image and mutual interaction are
highly associated to the conflictual relationship.

Moreover, the increased fusion of the political and administrative roles of the bureaucracy
has complicated the perceptions of the bureaucracy in Bangladesh. The results of the
empirical observation and statistical analysis demonstrate that the relational perceptions of
politicians and bureaucrats are almost opposite and bureaucrats trend to dominate local
governance and development by marginalizing the local elected politicians and thus conflict
occurred between them which ultimately affect local governance and development
significantly. In this milieu, this research propose the symbiotic model of relation that would
be the rational choice for proper governance and development as the necessary conditions of
symbiotic model are existing in the perspective of politics-bureaucracy relations at the local
government in Bangladesh.

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