Maladies and weaknesses in the bureaucracy
Niaz Ahmed Khan plumbs the depths of a new work
Interests and dilations about civil service have seen something of an upsurge in the recent years. Although the debate on the role and performance of civil service continues unabated, both its admirers and critics agree on the crucial significance of the civil service as a key institutional determinant of the success or failure of fledging democratic states especially in the developing world. Notwithstanding this broad consensus on its significance, however, the mammoth contextual complexities, structural heterogeneity, and functional diversity render the modern civil services no easy subject of research and academic exploration. Dr. Rashid, a senior civil servant himself, has ventured to explore, usually with verve and insight, a number of major challenges and issues surrounding the operation of civil service in Bangladesh with a special focus on such crucial aspects as recruitment, training, performance and prospects. Despite the growing emphasis and repeated attempts, ensuring an accountable, result-oriented, and people-friendly civil service that can foster and support democratic consolidation has thus far proved to be one of the most elusive goals for politics and administration in Bangladesh - for that matter, in many parts of the developing world. A few other practising civil servants have embarked on academic studies before. Dr. Rashid's work stands out for a number of reasons. Being an 'insider', the author proffers important insights into the functioning of the civil service. In doing so, however, he refreshingly maintains a distance from his professional identity, and takes on a relatively objective academic posture. The book contains many references and allusions to the maladies and weaknesses of the civil service. Some of the author's observations and suggestions are practical, down-to-earth; yet may not go very smoothly with his compeers in the civil service. One such example is the following: The bottomline is that the civil servants have to live with the fact that, unlike two centuries earlier in this sub-continent when they were in charge of the whole public affairs, they are no more the ultimate arbiters of things in a modern democratic statecraft. They have to work under the surveillance and encouragement of a vigilant political leadership selected through democratic means (p.346). The author's ability to maintain this impersonal, non-subjective stance makes this work an interesting reading. The author sets the scene by presenting the rationale of the study together with an overview the major secondary literature on various dimensions of the civil service in Bangladesh. After the general introduction, the subsequent chapters focus on a series of specialized dimensions of the structure and operation of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) Cadre. These include: Bureaucracy and Civil service; Genesis of BCS (Administration) Cadre; Recruitment; Training; Functions and Forces; Utility and Performance; and Prospects. The appendices contain rare governmental circulars, ordinances and other archival documents. The chapters are coherently arranged, and the flow of arguments, with a few exceptions, is generally smooth (this book originates as a doctoral thesis at the University of Dhaka). It is interesting to note the distinction the author proposes between the concepts of 'bureaucracy' and 'civil service': The civil service is more than a government institution. It stands for a spirit essential to the success of modern democracy, and it is an ideal of a vocation in public officials who devote their lives to the service of the community. It is here that civil service differs from bureaucracy, which very often sounds as self seeking and self-controlled or an instrument of a narrow oligarchy" (p.12). The concluding chapter recapitulates the arguments about the significance of civil service as a time-tested institution, and provides some food for thought for possible improvement and reform. The author emphasizes the urgent need for a reconcilement of interests and ethos of the civil service and political leadership for smooth functioning of democracy, and very realistically concludes: A fruitful twining of [the] two phenomena reorientation of administrative and political cultures combined with the inculcation of efficiency, neutrality, justness, transparency and accountability on the one hand and a forward-looking statesmanship on the other may prove its worth in ushering in a … brighter Bangladesh (p.346). It is a pity that the study does not go deep enough to delve into the mindset, worldview and culture of the bureaucracy in its Bangladeshi incarnation. Considering the author's status as a senior member of the civil service, it would have been useful for the readers especially the ones interested in the structural and cultural traits of public management organizations - to have more insights into the value systems and practical work culture of the public officials in their day-to-day settings. The implications of the findings of the study for future research also remain unclear. The analysis although very worthwhile per se - does not locate the principal findings and observations of the study in the broader context of public affair research and practices in the developing world. Overall, this engaging piece of work makes a substantial contribution to the current orthodoxy concerning role of civil service in modern socio-polity, and will be especially useful to graduate students, academics, researchers and activists in the broad fields of public affairs, politics, and development studies. This book thus deserves to be studied widely.
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