Ishtiaq Jamil

Talking back! Empowerment and mobile phones in rural Bangladesh: a study of the village phone scheme of Grameen Bank

The study assesses the efficacy of the Village Phone (VP) scheme in ameliorating the ‘information poverty’ of the villages that have obtained access to mobile phones in Bangladesh. More specifically, the study has sought to describe the ways in which the VP is operated, how the service is utilised and by whom, and the impacts of the service in terms of economic and social empowerment of individuals (especially phone ladies) and communities. The study found that at the individual level, the VP has indeed contributed significantly to income generation. Socially, it has given a new status and image to those women who are getting Grameen Banks support to start this venture both at the family and community levels. Moreover, at the community level, it has narrowed gaps between cities and villages by enhancing more communication between family members. Economically, it has increased business transactions and dissemination of information.

Citizens’ trust in public and political institutions in Nepal

This article examines patterns of popular trust in political and public institutions in Nepal. We ask to what extent such trust is linked, on one hand, to citizens’ social and political identities, and on the other hand, to citizens’ perceptions of institutional performance. Our findings demonstrate that trust in public institutions varies extensively. Trust is high for a number of professional institutions, such as schools and hospitals. It is also quite high for local government institutions. Trust in the parliament and the government is much lower. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a weak relationship between institutional trust and identity variables. Demographic and social characteristics of participants, such as caste, and religious and political affiliations, have little significance in explaining the level of citizens’ trust in political and public institutions. Such trust primarily depends upon how citizens assess the performance of these institutions. Hence, patterns of institutional trust depend on how participants evaluate the current macro-political situation in Nepal, whether recent political changes are judged to have gone in the right direction. In a more general and comparative perspective our findings from Nepal fit with a performance-based theory of institutional trust, while, to a large extent, they disconfirm identity-based explanations.

The state of bureaucratic representativeness and administrative culture in Nepal

The article compares the demographic composition of the Nepalese bureaucracy with the demographics of the general population, and, thereafter, maps the administrative culture in Nepal. With regard to administrative culture, it highlights, more specifically, the values and norms dominant among Nepali bureaucrats. In this regard, three relationships are focused upon: relationships among bureaucrats within the bureaucracy, the interface between the bureaucracy and politics, and the relationship between bureaucrats and citizens. Findings revealed that, in terms of demography, the bureaucracy in Nepal is gender biased, religion biased and caste biased, which means that the bureaucracy favors Hindu males who belong to the upper caste and come from an agricultural background. Therefore elitism, coupled with a rural background, has implications for the kinds of values and norms that evolve among Nepalese bureaucrats. From observations of its decision-making procedures and interpersonal relationships, both within and outside the bureaucracy, one may conclude that administrative culture is guided more by particularism than universalism, by ascription than achievement, by rule-orientation than result orientation, and by more authoritarian than participatory values. Most often, administrative decisions are taken on the basis of informal connections and close affinities than by formal and impersonal rules. Civil servants are often guided more by status orientation, ascription, hierarchy, and collective norms. These values are mere reflections of dominant societal culture based on caste and strict social stratification.

Understanding Governance in South Asia

The major purpose of this chapter is to categorize and map patterns of governance in South Asia. The questions that are asked are there similarities in governance patterns in countries of this region? Does a particular pattern is more dominant and influence politics, policies, and inter-organizational relations.

Inter-Organizational Coordination and Corruption in Urban Policy Implementation in Bangladesh: A Case of Rajshahi City Corporation

This article provides an overview of the state of inter-organizational coordination and corruption in urban policy implementation in Bangladesh. Based on a study carried out in one of the seven large cities in Bangladesh, the available data illustrate that there are major coordination problems between the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) and other government departments. This is due to a lack of formal coordination mechanisms, partisan leadership, and a fragmented organizational culture of patron-clientage, which dispenses undue favor and involves nepotism. These pathologies breed corruption and seriously impede inter-organizational coordination. Ordinary citizens suffer as a result.

In Search of Better Governance in South Asia and Beyond

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The Elusive Peace Accord in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the Plight of the Indigenous People

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, signed in 1997, promised to end a long-standing armed conflict and grant a host of benefits to the indigenous people occupying the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. After a decade the accord has yet to bear fruit; it remains unimplemented and the suffering, misery, subordination, and exploitation of the indigenous people continue. Our study reveals that the accord has failed to protect the indigenous communities from harassment and violence inflicted upon them by law enforcement agencies and Bangali settlers. Political instability and the lack of a firm political commitment have crippled the accord, thus the hopes and aspirations that accompanied it have withered. This has resulted in serious consequences for the indigenous people: intra-group rivalry and conflicts, fragmentation within the communities, a dwindling economy and stagnating social and human development due to the poor healthcare and education sectors. This paper describes the political situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts before and after the accord was signed, the political and social ills and suffering it promised to resolve, and concludes by outlining a possible way forward.

Transactional friction between NGOs and public agencies in Bangladesh: Culture or dependency?

Abstract The study analyses the relationships between public administration and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). What are its characteristic features? To what extent is the relationship a confrontational or a cooperative one? What are the factors that may account for the character of the relationship? It is of particular interest to investigate the impact of cultural factors since a sizeable proportion of NGOs working in Bangladesh is of foreign origin. In an effort to describe the extent to which NGOs reflect their national cultural norms, it is found that cultural differences are insignificant among NGOs. According to traditional cultural theory that Anglo‐Saxon and Nordic‐Dutch NGOs would be significantly less rule‐oriented than the Bangladeshi NGOs is not found to be true. Bangladeshi NGOs are culturally closer to foreign NGOs than to Bangladeshi bureaucracy. NGOs in general are significantly more democratic and result‐oriented compared to the Bangladeshi bureaucracy. This suggests that NGOs shar...

Citizens’ Trust in Public Officials: Bangladesh and Nepal Compared

Citizens’ trust in public officials is an indication of a political regime’s legitimacy and popular support for the political system. Public officials are representatives of public institutions. The more the distrust citizens’ display towards public officials, the direr the crisis of the regime and hence its viability to survive.

Understanding Administrative Culture: Some Theoretical and Methodological Remarks

The article highlights five aspects of administrative culture. It first describes different ways of conceptualizing administrative culture. The second aspect is the ontology of administrative culture, two views of which are presented. The first of these sees organizational culture as a dependent variable that can be manipulated and altered to reflect management and leadership preferences; the other views organizations as miniature societies reflecting broader societal culture. Change is more path dependent than rationally arranged at will. The third aspect of administrative culture concerns epistemology, focusing on how knowledge about culture is created, how a researcher may carry out inquiry, and what the inquiry is about. The fourth aspect – the axiology of administrative culture – concerns the appropriate administrative norms and ethical standards of public officials. Finally, the methodological aspect points to how to study and capture different aspects of administrative culture.