Electoral Violence in Bangladesh: A Study of Democratic Regimes (Published)
Elections are very common methods of peaceful transfer of power in democracy. Like many other developing countries, Bangladesh also follows a method of peaceful transfer of power by the elections. However, electoral violence in every national and local level election is a serious problem and hindrance to the democratic development in Bangladesh. Thus, this study attempts to explore the nature of electoral violence in national or parliamentary election in Bangladesh on the basis of secondary source of data following a qualitative method. Special attention has been drowned in the democratic regimes, particularly after the reintroduction of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh from 1991-2018. This study reveals that electoral violence after the every national elections has become as an event in which incumbent leaders and ruling party agents employ or threaten violence against the political opposition or potential voters before, during, or after elections – is common. The findings of the study reveal that different types of violence with different number of death and injury in pre, during and post-election time is a regular phenomenon in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Bangladesh, Democracy, Election, Politics, electoral violence
A Multivariate Analysis of Diversified Factors on the Living Standard of Farmers in Bangladesh (Published)
For effective management of agricultural policies, the determination of cur-rent status and impact of multiple factors on the livelihood of farmers is very important. In present study, multivariate technique analysis, Defriended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were used to visualize the impact and estimate the influence of these factors on the earning of farmers. Therefore, 400 farmers were selected from 20 villages in Sundry district of Northern Part in Bangladesh. The results indicated that four major clusters of villages on the basis of the information collected during the survey. CCA indicates that farmers having middle age with above secondary school education, medium landholding and obtaining information using computer, audio visual aids, wall chalking and television are highly associated with high income of farming communities. Cultivation of major crops encircles wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, maize, significantly improving the living standard of the farming community rather than fruits and vegetables. Hence, it is recommended that all stakeholders, electronic media especially agricultural department and television should effectively perform their role with innovative strategies regarding agricultural crops to the educated middle age farmers for sustainable livelihood.
Keywords: Agricultural information, Bangladesh, ICTs, Sustainable Livelihood, farming community
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND GOVERNANCE IN BANGLADESH: HOW FAR THE DREAM OF SUCCESS? (Published)
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the status and impact of reforms in governance which has been taken by various governments in Bangladesh since its independence. In doing so, the paper highlights on two reform packages New Public Management (NPM) of OECD member countries and Good Governance (GG) of donor agencies and its impact on Bangladeshi governance. Bangladesh was a colony of British and Pakistan over two centuries. As a result, at the initial stage of independence; the inherited administrative structure failed to manage the postcolonial economy and expectation of citizens of independent Bangladesh, which hinders to implement most of the reform efforts. Civil-military elitism dominated the bureaucracy that caused the lessening of accountability of the administration; as a result, corruption, inefficiency and ineffectiveness of administration appear to exemplify Bangladeshi governance. The learning lessons for public administration is lack of appropriate political leadership, unrealistic and ambitious reform initiatives, incapacity of government, chaotic political culture, absence of permanent reform institution, and lack of strong political will are responsible for futile to implement any reform initiative. Apart from these, some important elements of New Public Management (NPM) and Good Governance (GG) has been bespoke by recent past governments in governance process through policy initiatives to make the administration more accountable and citizen centric which is a very good sign of good governance in Bangladesh. Therefore, the impact of reform strategies of western world (NPM) and donor agencies (GG) influenced the third world countries like Bangladesh which ultimately transforming the literature of Public Administration to Public Management.
Keywords: Bangladesh, Bureaucracy, Governance, NPM, Public Administration, Reforms