Bangladesh: Democracy and good governance are interconnected

The democratisation process is work-in-progress, contemporary intellectual engrossment has been to manifest gravely on how the dominating political statuses can promote the growth of good governance and sustainable development.

by Anwar A. Khan-Jan 19, 2018

“Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It
offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice,
exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.” – Ban Ki-moon

( January 19, 2018, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Good governance is characterised by democratisation, maintenance of law and order, accountability and transparence, responsiveness on the part of the government, due process, the rule of law competence separation and devolution of powers, respect for human rights. Other components of good governance are a free press and a free civil society environment, competition for power and the existence of a formidable opposition and respect for human rights. Good governance is the systematic application of government resources to enhance the living standard of a given society. One of the basic tenets of creating Bangladesh in 1971 from the arrant clasped Pakistani swayers is to ground democracy and good governance in the country. Bangladesh should make excogitation of its own but cosmically admitted approach path to democracy, make a bona fides crusade to exercise authority over wellspring and to have curricula of fermentation in a functioning effective forge, and strain for the ontogenesis of a finesse of democracy between the rulers and the ruled. . . . Perchance ameliorated exercising authority should take hold before democracy. We are liberalising, but it will take time, and one must be machinated to hang in for an unyielding lug.

Democracy, good governance and development are greatly gibed by the solid political transmutations that have been bechancing in Bangladesh. In countries like us, where the democratisation cognitive operation is work-in-progress, the noetic engrossment has been to excogitate a severe or serious degree on how the dominant allele of political atmospheric condition can buoy surrogate efficacious borecole and sustainable maturation. It distinctions that the currently happening crusades on the democracy-good governance-development nexus are an outcome of the liberalised political natural world that countenances duologue and meshing. However, the news of unpleasant, unfortunate or sad events is that after more than four decades of democratisation, the political leadership in the country is yet to clamshell with the development gainsay. It argues that the democratisation process has endured to the extent that the goal of good governance is not too far-fetched. Against the backdrop of subsisting reform policies, it may be said that the good governance melodic theme should be carefully weighed as work-in-progress. This work in progress must necessarily effloresce into an approximation of the forming a whole or aggregate hop field of Bangladesh’s people. To this point, the societal democratic pick – one that can set in motion a democratisation process that places special importance or significance on the people’s combat-ready participation in the development of cognitive operation.

The democratisation process is work-in-progress, contemporary intellectual engrossment has been to manifest gravely on how the dominating political statuses can promote the growth of good governance and sustainable development. These ruminations are meant to provide a wealth of information and absolutely essential to interrogate the democratisation process. Thus, contemporaneous argumentations on good governance and development became far-flung and extremely sharp or strongly felt following the kick-off of democratisation process in the Third World. In other words, the on-going exploits on this time-honoured articulate in many fields of societal development is extraordinarily excellent, beautiful or creative by the substantial political shifts that have taken place to a distinctly greater extent or degree than is common in Bangladesh.

The major reasons for hapless governance and bad politics are the personalised nature of rule, the failure of the state to advance and protect human rights, the tendency of fine gentleman individuals to withdraw from politics, and the extreme centralisation of power in the hands of few people.

Although the major objectives of these transformations are orchestrated at sending away the cosmos and grapheme of political leadership, there is also the evenly of great significance attendant objective lens of reconstituting the system of political leadership such that can savoir-faire the human problem. The human discommode itself finds expression in the many development gainsays that have made it growingly unmanageable for individual and group self-actualisation. This democratisation process hugs a whole lot of social alteration including but not limited to democratisation of governance institutions, capacity building and institutional refilling, rearing and braving out human relationship between the state, civil society and the organised private sector, promoting democratic good governance and interrogating the democratisation process in order to establish a reciprocally reinforcing link between good governance and sustainable development.

In democratising societies, the abstract vehicle that colligates the elements of social change delineated above is democratic practices which the political leadership must disperse widely across the institutional landscape of governance. Thus, democratised governance institutions would mean building institutions and rules that are not just efficient but also fair, and that are developed through a democratic process in which all people have a genuine political vocalisation. Foremost among these institutions are; independent but dependable electoral system to superintend democratic transition, and the institutionalisation of an enduring legislative system to provide the legal framework for democratic good governance.

The major reasons for hapless governance and bad politics are the personalised nature of rule, the failure of the state to advance and protect human rights, the tendency of fine gentleman individuals to withdraw from politics, and the extreme centralisation of power in the hands of few people. It may be pointed out also that democracy in our country has been badly hindered by many other ills which need to be addressed. Indeed more economic liberalisation, empowering ordinary producers, may well be an aid to political democracy.

It is necessary to point out that the concepts of democracy and governance are interrelated. Good governance entails the efficient and effective reciprocity between rulers and the ruled, with it incumbent upon government to be responsive. . . . It also entails the need for a broad consensus on values and procedures, the participation in the selection of ruling elites, and the accountability of leadership to the electorate. . . . Both concepts are related to processes in society within the context of reciprocity. In most countries, the small number of individuals with power has managed to erode any semblance of accountability, legitimacy, democracy, and justice, which has been a basis of considerable disappointment to the planners, economists and policy makers who want governments to introduce a reasonable and collective attack on poverty, disease, illiteracy, and other challenges to development. In the greater weighing, certain desperately needed elements of good governance should be identified, including popular participation in governance, accountability and transparency, the elimination of corruption, the protection of freedom of information and human rights, and the decentralisation and devolution of power.

Bangladesh’s people acknowledge that development must be revamped by a truly democratic approach based on the true spirits achieved by our glorious Liberation War in 1971 and employing the energy and devotion of its people who can make development sustainable. We affirm that nations cannot be built without the popular support and full participation of the people nor can the economic crisis be resolved and the human and economic conditions improved without the full and effective contribution, creativity, and popular enthusiasm of the vast majority of the people. After all, it is to the people that the very benefits of development should and must accrue. We are convinced that neither can Bangladesh’s incessant economic crisis be overcome, nor can a bright future for it and its people see the light of day unless the structures, pattern, and political context of the process of socioeconomic development are appropriately altered.

Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions.

The significance of ordinary people having power is important in any society moving toward democracy. When one examines existing democratic societies, one realises that they have succeeded primarily because they have involved people to help make it work. . . . Also, they have empowered those engaged in democratic projects. In short, they have succeeded by giving voice to those who have been voiceless. Poor governance adversely affects the efficient use of economic and social resources for development in a country like us. The misuse or diversion of assistance and domestic funds by corrupt officials, which was tolerated during the military regimes for more than 15 years which has still been remaining in force or being carried on without letup to receive support in the international system and this dingy status has to be subbed by a newfangled special importance or significance on good governance.

Governance is the way in which governments exercise power for the management and distribution of a country’s social and economic resources. It is the process by which a state’s affairs are managed effectively in the areas of public accountability, fiscal responsibility, administrative and the political responsibility, responsiveness, and transparency, all of which must show the interest of the governed and the leaders.

If the cumulative effects are non-attainment of good governance, the country experiences bad governance evident by poor service delivery and non- implementation of public policies. Consequently, the country is engulfed into socio-economic vices of bad governance including injustice, political and bureaucratic corruption, poverty, unemployment and ethno-religious crisis, The yearnings and aspirations of people in Bangladesh are also similar to that of other countries who already on the boat of democracy and good governance.

Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. Bill Moyers said, “Democracy works when people claim it as their own.” And Rebecca MacKinnon has aptly written, “Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.”

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