M. Shamsul Haque

The Diminishing Publicness of Public Service under the Current Mode of Governance

In this article, it is argued that while there has been an apparent eclipse in discourse regarding the publicness or public quality of public service, the recent transition toward a market-driven mode of governance has created a serious challenge to such publicness. More specifically, the contemporary businesslike changes in the objectives, structures, functions, norms, and users of public service tend to diminish its publicness in terms of its current trends toward eroding public-private distinction, shrinking socioeconomic role, narrowing composition of service recipients, worsening condition of accountability, and declining level of public trust. Based on the existing studies, empirical findings, and country experiences, this article delineates the basic criteria determining the publicness of public service, uses these criteria to demonstrate how the recent businesslike reforms have led to the erosion of such publicness, and makes recommendations for reviving the quality of publicness in public service.

Significance of Accountability under the New Approach to Public Governance

Introduction The public accountability of public governance1 has been a major concern in all societies and civilizations, although there are variations in the criteria, means, and agents of such accountability based on the nature of the polity ranging from traditional to modern, conservative to liberal, capitalist to socialist. Even the connotations of accountability often differ among societies depending on their unique sociohistorical formations, ideological inclinations, and cultural beliefs (see Haque, 1994). The liberal notion of accountability that emerged in advanced capitalist nations could be inconceivable in traditional India, imperial Japan, or communist China. However, during the post-colonial period, most Asian, African, and Latin American countries began to adopt the ideas, principles, and institutions of accountability representing the liberal democratic mode of governance found in advanced capitalist nations (Haque, 1994). In other words, despite the previous cross-national diversity in the modes of public governance and public accountability, the post-colonial period witnessed the convergence, at least in appearance, of these varying patterns of accountability into a common liberaldemocratic model. One of the most crucial features of this liberal-democratic framework is the existence of certain basic mechanisms of accountability such as legislative committee, parliamentary debate, public hearing, ministerial control, ombudsman, and media scrutiny. Despite the previous critique of these liberal-democratic means of public accountability — especially with regard to their ineffectiveness caused by overcentralized bureaucracy, complex state apparatus, incapable political leaders, and uninformed public (O’Loughlin, 1990) — such democratic means have been quite useful to ensure government accountability in terms of delivering goods and services, addressing public needs and demands, maintaining neutrality and representation, ascertaining citizens’ entitlements, and guaranteeing equality and justice. However, in recent years, there has emerged a unique set of challenges to

The Fate of Sustainable Development Under Neo-Liberal Regimes in Developing Countries:

Due to an enhanced global environmental awareness reinforced by dramatic environmental events, international conferences on the environment and development, as well as academic research and publications, have increasingly shifted the developmental discourse toward the concept of “sustainable development.” In developing countries, however, the realization of the notion of sustainable development has come under challenge due to the emergence of neo-liberal regimes and their pro-market policies. The current article addresses the following issues in this context: the origin, meaning, and problems of sustainable development; the major features and policy orientations of neo-liberal regimes in developing countries; and the critical implications of neo-liberal policies for the environment and development. The article also offers some recommendations with a view to overcoming the contemporary challenges to sustainability and ensuring a more genuine and effective mode of sustainable development.

The Role of the State in Managing Ethnic Tensions in Malaysia: A Critical Discourse

In most multiethnic developing societies, the state attempts to play a crucial role in managing ethnic tensions and reconciling diverse ethnic interests by undertaking relevant policies and programs. Malaysia is a classic case where there is a coexistence of some major ethnic groups with distinct identities and where the state has used wide-ranging preferential policies to manage ethnic problems. In fact, the formation of the state itself is largely founded upon ethnic politics and characterized as an “ethnocratic state” or “ethnic democracy.” This article examines the origin and rationale of ethnic preferences, major domains of ethnic contestation and state intervention, critical impacts of such ethnic preferential policies, and possibilities to replace such preferential policies by alternative policy measures in Malaysia.

The Changing Balance of Power Between the Government and NGOS in Bangladesh

In recent years, while the significance of the state has diminished, the role of non-governmental organizations (ngos) has increased in most developing countries. Although ngos are often identified with powerless groups, they themselves have become powerful and influential, especially because of their external sources of financial support, cooperation, and advocacy. More specifically, ngos have recently gained more prominence in comparison with government institutions. This article studies the case of Bangladesh where the number of ngos has proliferated and some globally known ngos have emerged. First, it briefly explains the structure of government, and profiles the major development ngos, in Bangladesh. It then illustrates the basic dimensions and indicators of change in the power relations between the government and these ngos. It also examines the major local and global forces enhancing the power and influence of ngos. Finally, it analyzes the critical outcomes of this changing balance of power between the government and ngos.

Governance based on partnership with NGOs: implications for development and empowerment in rural Bangladesh

In line with the current global trend of streamlining the role of the state, the governments in most countries have transferred some of their economic activities and basic services to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are now considered partners in governance. In the developing world, some of the largest and most well-known NGOs are in Bangladesh where the government has formed partnership with these NGOs in various sectors with a view to enhance human development and social empowerment in rural areas. But in reality, such partnership has been quite ineffective (and even unfavorable) to achieve this goal. This article briefly introduces the current debate on governance based on partnership between the state and NGOs; explains the forms and dimensions of such partnership in the case of Bangladesh; and evaluates this partnership experience in terms of whether it has achieved the stipulated objectives of development and empowerment. It also explores major factors and interests (internal and external) behind this partnership and offers some suggestions to rethink partnership and overcome its drawbacks in Bangladesh.

Governance and Bureaucracy in Singapore: Contemporary Reforms and Implications

In recent decades, there have been substantial reforms in governance and administration based on neoliberal assumptions, market-driven policies, and neo-managerial principles. These contem- porary reforms aimed at reinventing government and restructuring the state began in a few advanced capitalist nations, and gradually became a global model affecting countries around the world, including the interventionist developmental states in Asia. This article examines the case of Singapore in terms of the recent trends of reform in its public governance and explores the major local and global factors shaping this reform agenda. It also briefly considers the implications of these changes for the state, bureaucracy, and people in Singapore.In recent decades, there have been substantial reforms in governance and administration based on neoliberal assumptions, market-driven policies, and neo-managerial principles. These contemporary reforms aimed at reinventing government and restructuring the state began in a few advanced capitalist nations, and gradually became a global model affecting countries around the world, including the interventionist developmental states in Asia. This article examines the case of Singapore in terms of the recent trends of reform in its public governance and explores the major local and global factors shaping this reform agenda. It also briefly considers the implications of these changes for the state, bureaucracy, and people in Singapore.

E-Governance in India: Its Impacts on Relations Amongcitizens, Politicians and Public Servants

Introduction In all societies, the formation of public governance is largely dependent on its contextual parameters, including social structure, economic condition, political atmosphere, cultural pattern and technological trend. The nature of governance often changes depending on the intensity and speed of transition in some of these surrounding factors. In the current age, one of the most significant contextual phenomena affecting public governance is the revolution in information and communication technology (ict).1 Internationally, this revolution in ict has facilitated the globalization of the economy, business, finance and culture (Berleur, 1997; Heeks, 1999). Today ict constitutes the fastest growing component of the global economy and the revenue generated by the interactive information industry may have reached

The Intellectual Crisis in Public Administration in the Current Epoch of Privatization

3.5 trillion (Hariharan, 1999). Internally, within each society, the conventional forms of communication (print media, motion pictures, radio, telephones, records) are increasingly being replaced with digital and wireless technologies such as cellular telephones, satellites, electronic mail and, above all, the internet (Gudaitis, 2001). However, the most influential dimension of this revolution is the worldwide proliferation of access to the internet. It is observed that the number of internet hosts increased from 100,000 in 1988 to over 36 million in 1998; and the number of internet users rose from 26 million in 1995 to 143 million in mid-1998, and it might reach 700 million by the end of 2001 (UNDP, 1999; Norris, 2000). This contextual phenomenon, which has changed the nature of the workforce, human relations and public expectations, represents a considerable challenge to the state to adjust its public governance (Centre on Governance, 1999a, b). In response to this transition in the context of governance, in almost every country, the state has taken the necessary initiatives to restructure political and administrative institutions by adopting ict in order to enhance electronic interaction and service delivery (Menzel, 1998; Galbi, 2001). Today public servants are encouraged and trained to be familiar with the tools and languages of ict

Theory and Practice of Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Traditions, Directions, and Impacts

In the current epoch, due to the worldwide movement of privatization, public administration as a field of study has come under considerable intellectual challenge. The genre of intellectual crisis created by this historical phenomenon is different from and more disparaging than the previous modes of crisis, such as the paradigm crisis and identity crisis, in the field The newly emerging intellectual crisis in public administration takes three main forms: the credibility crisis, the normative crisis, and the confidence crisis. In this article, the nature and causes of this current crisis are explicated and alternative intellectual strategies to overcome such crisis are explored