Political Settlements and Bureaucratic Reforms: An Exploratory Analysis Focusing on Bangladesh

This article attempts to analyse contemporary reforms of public bureaucracy in Bangladesh from the perspective of ‘political settlements’. After elaborating the concept of political settlement and identifying critical reform initiatives in the public bureaucracy, it argues that variations in the sta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Asian and African studies (Leiden) Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 235 - 253
Main Authors Sarker, Abu Elias, Zafarullah, Habib M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.03.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Bureaucracy
Coalitions
Political change
Political power
Power
Public administration
Reforms
Bangladesh
institutions
Political settlements
Bangladesh
incentives
bureaucratic reforms
developing countries
clientelism
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Summary:This article attempts to analyse contemporary reforms of public bureaucracy in Bangladesh from the perspective of ‘political settlements’. After elaborating the concept of political settlement and identifying critical reform initiatives in the public bureaucracy, it argues that variations in the state of the implementation of bureaucratic reforms are decidedly affected by the differences in the pattern of political settlements that the nation has experienced at various times since independence. Thus, in the process of consolidating dominant power coalitions, reform measures were subverted, and formal and informal privileges given to the public bureaucracy resulted in inefficient, ineffective and unaccountable administration.
ISSN:0021-9096
1745-2538
DOI:10.1177/0021909619871584