A Philosophical Analysis of Civil Disobedience: Beyond Conceptual Absurdity to Good Governance (Published)
In getting their voices heard by the government, citizens engage in various conscientious and political actions which have been brought under the conceptual umbrella of ‘civil disobedience’. As a result of the successes of public actions in Western democracies in terms of expanding the scope of citizens’ participation in governance through communication, evaluation and determination of state policies and the resultant quality of governance, the idea of public action has become popular, desirable and fashionable across the world. Through critical analyses of various theories, debates and thoughts, the paper argues that civil disobedience fails as an appropriate action for individuals or groups to challenge or protest their perceived injustice associated with laws and policies of government because of the inherent ambiguity in the original conception of the idea of civil disobedience; the inability of its proponents to successfully justify the elevation of personal moral conviction (conscience) above State laws and policies and; the failure of the civil disobedients to critically delineate the boundary of civil disobedience and other forms of criminal actions. The paper affirms the important role of consistent citizens’ democratic engagement in public affairs and proposes the sovereignty of the rule of law within the civic space as the sustainable means to good governance.
Keywords: Governance, Law, Violence, civil disobedience, hobbes, thoreau
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
ISLAMIC POLITICAL ORDER AS A MODEL OF POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Published)
The continues encroachment by the US and its allies to challenge the Islamic form of government as alternative to the modern secular system coming at a time when both the West and Muslim scholars remain divided in their assessment of the Islamic system of democracy. Perhaps, unlike Christianity, Islam does not separate religion from state, and many Muslims argue it is a political Islam not political “Islam that requires explanation”. As such, many Islamist or Islamic political order (democratic parties) existed in almost every democracy with a Muslim majority. As a result, many Islamic groups are also working in different parts of world to adopt non violent resistance of Western political, social, cultural and technological ways of governance particularly so in Egypt, Algeria, Iran, and Turkey advocated and practiced “Westernization”. However, this has made them to become a disorder countries having deviated from the Islamic system of democracy. The pattern of western politics is completely different from the Islamic form of politics, where the mission and purpose are far ahead. While Islamic pattern of politics and other economic vices largely depicted in the Holy Qur’an and Sunna (tradition) of the prophet Muhammad (SAW), on the other hand, the western politics and other socioeconomic devices are purely derived from man-made laws which were designed only to perpetuate the interest of the West.
Keywords: Governance, Islam, Islamic Political Order, Politics, Secularism