Serious issues, considered thoughts
Shahid Alam studies the Bangladesh paradox in a new work
"From ethnic and linguistic points of view, Bangladesh is one of the most extraordinarily homogeneous countries in the world. Yet politically she is so deeply divided that according to the assessment of Failed State Index, she is poised on the precipice of state collapse. With a fragile resource base, centuries of exploitation by alien rulers and recurrence of devastating natural calamities, she was dubbed as an 'international basket case' and a 'test case for development'. Yet in last three decades, she succeeded in doubling her per capita income in real terms and in graduating from low human development to medium development category. These positive developments took place against a backdrop of rapid erosion in governance." Thus does Akbar Ali Khan, in the curiously titled Friendly Fires, Humpty Dumpty Disorder, and Other Essays summarize the paradox that Bangladesh appears to people who take more than a cursory interest in that country. He explains the significance of his title in the Preface, and the reader will comprehend its relevance. In a series of self-contained articles (twelve in all), Khan, a former senior civil servant, elaborates on aspects of the paradox, although he does not confine himself to doing only that, since some chapters deal with other issues. In his words, "The main weakness of this volume is that there is no central thesis", although one is not sure if the absence can necessarily be labeled as a weakness. It all depends on the context in which the book was written, and, given the important topics covered, its varied motifs do not appear incongruous. One may detect a marked tendency on the author's part to be overly didactic with a plethora of panaceas for many of the ills afflicting this country, but, nonetheless, he has some shrewd observations for the reader to seriously mull over. And, with a strong sense of history thrown in for good measure, often in support of some sound analysis, Khan has come up with a book that should get the serious reader interested in the manifold political and economic problems of Bangladesh and get to do some serious thinking. Khan's acute sense of history manifests itself in one of his most compelling essays, "Administrative Reforms for Enhancing Efficiency of Judiciary in Bangladesh: A Survey of Policy Options" (Chapter 9). Let him introduce the focus of the article in his own words: "First, it questions the wisdom of transplanting the common law system in Bangladesh by alien rulers. Basing on available anthropological and historical research, it argues that the transplantation of winner-take-all legal system by supplanting traditional justice system based on compromise has converted courts into casinos. In transplanted alien legal system, professional lawyers emerged, in the perception of unlettered masses, as betting horses that can earn fortunes for their clients by defrauding the State and innocent citizens through forgeries and blatant lies. It also raises important questions about the viability of separation of judiciary without ensuring the accountability of the Police and Judges." And, he worries that "there is no system of appraisal of High Court Division judges in Bangladesh", although he acknowledges that performance appraisal of the judiciary is in shambles in most countries of the world. There are other thoughtful observations scattered throughout the book, like, "The real threat to Bangladesh's graduation to middle income status is political and not economic" (Chapter 7, "Prophesies Belied: The Paradoxes of Bangladesh's Growth"), and proceeds to analyze the country's dysfunctional political culture in "Political Instability in Bangladesh: Retrospect and Prospect" (Chapter 10). Khan delves deep into the past to show that "Political instability in Bangladesh is not a new phenomenon…." In this context, he takes up the issue of hartals, which "showed a trend of continuous increase between 1979 and 2006." And, very worryingly for the country, "ironically, political violence is more endemic in Bangladesh today than in the colonial East Pakistan, which fought a sanguinary struggle for independence against a brutal enemy." Khan, then, instructively for the politicians and political activists of the country, holds that, while "direct financial costs of hartal are scanty", there are "three significant indirect costs…political instability coupled with violence discourage foreign investments…, political violence is much more harmful for the poor than the rich…(and) it undermines democratic institutions." Khan prescribes the creation of political institutions that can survive in a hostile social environment like the one Bangladesh is prone to experiencing. In support of his contention, he brings up the case of France, which "despite low social capital has succeeded in recent decades in mitigating political instability." However, could the explanation not lie in the fact that, after struggling for years in the post-World War II economic doldrums and the trauma of losing her African colonies, especially that of Algeria following a bitter and protracted armed struggle, France has been able to attain political stability riding on the back of impressive economic prosperity? There is this other point he brings up that requires clarification in terms of its modus operandi. His proposition for improving the political climate through the introduction of "a mix of proportional representation with plurality rule by earmarking 50% seats for proportional representation and 50 per cent seats for first-past-the-post voting system" begs the question of exactly how is the mix going to executed in practice (like, which areas get proportional representation, which the other, and other such issues)? The author has these important thoughts in Chapter 3 ("Ethics in Banking") that actually portray a grim broader picture: "Ethical conduct with unethical persons cannot be sustained. Banks in Bangladesh cannot, therefore, function as islands of probity in a sea of unscrupulousness and immorality." And, "Theoretically, financial institutions in Bangladesh are well-regulated. In reality, there is a major gap in enforcement of regulations." This pervasive chasm between appearance and reality shows up in critical areas, as Khan observes in Chapter 2 ("'Humpty Dumpty Disorder' and Reform Strategies in Bangladesh"): "Most reforms in Bangladesh are zero-sum games where gains are made at the expense of those who do not gain." Khan takes up the issue of rural finance in Chapter 4 ("The Dilemmas of Rural Finance in Bangladesh: The Tragedy of the 'Missing Middle'") and reiterates what other scholars have also found: "A major puzzle of rural finance in Bangladesh is that the extreme rich and extreme poor have much better access to credit than those who lie in between these extremes." And those who lie there constitute a major segment of the country's population. In Khan's terminology, there are two major drawbacks of microcredit financing operations in Bangladesh: "First, though Microfinance Institutions have shown much promise in disbursing small loans to the poor, they did not succeed in making any significant headway in the credit market for the missing middle consisting of marginal, small and medium farmers and small and medium entrepreneurs. Secondly, it also highlights overcrowding in microcredit and consequent overlapping loans, which is corroding credit discipline." One of the most interesting chapters is number 5 ("The Rise and Decline of 'Indian Economics' (1860-1945) and the Victory of the Poet"), where Khan concludes that, "Modern India was shaped by Tagore's ideas and not by Gandhi's ideals. The debates on Indian economics ended in the unqualified victory of the poet." And, on a sobering, though realistic note: "…the relevance of Indian values to study of economics in South Asia is fast declining for two reasons. First, traditional values are withering in the face of globalization. Secondly, the standard tools of mainstream economics can easily take into account the distortion, if any, introduced in the economy by traditional values." The serious reader should find enough to engage his/her mind by going through Friendly Fires, Humpty Dumpty Disorder, and Other Essays.
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