8/3/2019 Patron Client
2/2
inequality and stresses the factor of rural-urban migration as a
major cause of urbanimbalance. Heinz Bongartz in his inllo-duction
brings home the need for compre-hensive planning for both urban and
ruralareas with equal stress. The remaining authorsot Volume 1,
Sivaramakrishnan and Buch,engage themselves mainly in
implemen-tational problems of basic service projectsand call for
more efficient management.
The perspective thatemerges after readingthe volumes is
important. The focus is onthe need to look beyond policies and
projectstowards the level where decisions are takenin the framework
of agiven political economyfor which planning bypasses the
informalsector or tribals in Thane living only 40 kmaway from
Bombay die of gastroenteritisevery year indicating that any
inequality canbe claimed to have the implicit approval ofthe
system. Problems of financing urbanservice
projectsorempowermentoflocal bodiesneed to be examined from this
perspectivethat would help remove many ambiguities.
Message of such books and other similarworks of recent times [5]
is self-evident:
tackling of metropolitan or urbanconcentration, distortion in
their space-economies andtheassociated nequalities nthe quality of
urban ife calls for
integratedapproachesoregionalandnationalplanningin which the town
and country are viewedaspartsof an interactive
ystem.Thecriticalissue, however, showmanysocieties wouldrecognise
his viewpointaslegitimateas thatwould demand a structural
ransformationof the society itself.
Notes[1] Smith D M (1979): Where the Grass is
Greetner, The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, USA.[2] Harvey
David (1985): The Urbaniisation fCcapital.Basil Blackwell, UK.[3]
Peet Richard 1977): Inequality ndPoverty'in R Peet (ed), Radical
Geograplhy:AlternlativeViewpointson Contenlpo)rarySocial Issues,
Maaroufa Press. USA.[4] Pahl R H (1970): Whose City.
Longman,London.[5] KunduA(1993):Inthe Nanme fUrbanPoor:Accessto
BasicAmenities,Sage, New Delhi.
Politicsand Business in BangladeshThomas A Timberg
Patron-Client Politics and Business in Bangladesh by Stanley A
Kochanek;Sage Publications,New Delhi, 1993; pp 387, Rs
350.THEvolume underreview maybe themostinsightfulbookpublished n
recentyearsonBangladesh overnment olicy-making,bothbecause of its
own insights and the hugeamountof relatively
naccessiblesecondarymaterialon which it draws.This is a majorbook,
both in terms of the generalunderstandingofusinessandhow
itinteractswithpoliticsand ntermsof the elite politicsof
Bangladesh.This s more hecase, becauseit puts aside the major.
ssues that divideBangladeshipolitical parties and concernsitself
with the key economic policydecision-making.But the bookis
notlimitedto this sphere; it reports, inter alia, on theempirical
work of U A B Razia Banu onthe relationship between Islam,
behaviourand politics among the urban classes inBangladesh, and the
historical work ofRafiuddin Ahmed, etc.The volume is really three
books: anintroductorybook on Bangladesh politicalhistory and
culture, a second book on thehistoryandstructure f
businessassociationpolitics in Bangladesh, and, finally, a
moretheoreticalsection leading to two landmarkcase studiesof
economics policy-making nBangladesh.The second study, of
businesspolitics, is in many ways parallel toKochanek'searlierbooks
on business andpolitics nPakistan.Thecasestudiesconcern
thedeveloping privatisation nd thepoliticsthat ollowedthe
1982drugorder.Forgeneralbackground,afternationalisingalmost
thewhole of industry in 1971, successivegovernmentshavepermitted
largenumberof units to return o the formerowners ornew
purchasersand arenow committed toprivatisemanyoftheremaining nits
thoughthe actualpace has notbeen as rapidas
therhetoricmightsometimes eadonetoexpect.In1982,
thenewmilitarygovernmentpassedadrugorderwhichadopted
heWHOstrategyof strictly limiting the number of drugspermitted o be
producedandconsumed inthe country.Thechoice of issues is
particularly sefulsifnce hey give a nuancedview of theextentto
which Bangladeshhas gone in adoptingthegeneralpolicies advocatedby
theWorldBank and the IMF, and the limits to thatadoption. This in
turn bears on a seconddebate on whether economic growth
hasaccelerated,boththeBankand tscriticssayno,and f
not,whynot.Thegovernmentandmanyotherobservers ontend hat
mportantdevelopmentsareoccurringwhichareeithernot fully captured n
the official statisticalseries or only will be capturedwith the
lagconnectedwith hepublication fthoseseries.The optimists point to
items like theacceleration n investmentregistrations nd
theopeningof lettersof credit ortheimportofcapital quipment
verthe ast ewmonths.To theextentdevelopmenthas
notoccurreddifferentcommentatorsblamethe lassitudeof indigenous
entrepreneurs eg, their lackof the 'animal spirits' of their
Indianneighbours), the apparent slow growth ofrural investment and
production, theremainingdead hand of
regulationandtheimmobilisationof resources n
publicsectorcorporations,etc.One dynamic development has been
theconsiderable nflow of funds remittedbythethousands f
soldiersnowservingonvariousUnited Nations Missions around he
worldand receiving fantastic salaries in normalBangladeshi
terms.The politics of Bangladeshis unusual nSouth Asia both because
of its turbulencein the 1970s and because of the relativeimportance
of foreign aid donors. (Thischaracteristic it shares with Nepal.)
Thecountry's'Jfirst wo major leaders and thefoundersof its
majorpoliticalpartieswereboth assassinated. The country has still
tosee one elected government hand over toanother. But much of the
analysis clearlyapplies to other countries in the region.Despite
the changes of government,Kochanek characterises all of the
majorBangladesh regimes as having powercentralised ntheexecutive in
a unitary tatewith weak legislatures andjudiciary,
andgovernmentmanipulationof elections andthemedia.The lackof
businessassociationautonomywas accentuatedby thehistoryofthe
Pakistan period when
associationalactivitywasforciblychannelledntoalimitednumber of
state-sponsored chambers, asdistinguished from the pre-existing
Indiantype of pluralism.Despitethecommonfeatures,
hepoliticalpatterns escribed nthisbookarenecessarilyespecially
those of theErshadperiod,1982-1990, and may not do full justice to
whathas emerged since Bangladesh'sbloodlesstransition o the present
BNP government.The future of thatgovernment s now verymuch in
question.The two largeparties nthecountry, heBangladeshNationalist
artyfoundedby GeneralZiaurRahmanandledby his widow, and the Awami
LeaguefoundedbySheikhMujiburRahman nd edby his daughter, now have
manageableideologicaldifferences.Theyhaveacommoninterest in
sustaining a civilian politicalsystem to avoid military coups. But
theassassinationsandturmoilof the 1970sstillcast strong shadow on
their relations. Inrecentmonths,outsiders ikerepresentativesof the
Commonwealth Secretariat andinsiders ikethemembersof
theGanoForumled by KamalHossainhave triedto
brokeranaccommodation.But as Iindicated arlier,this all occurs on a
level largely separatefrom the politics dealt with in the
presentvolume.
Economic and Political Weekly November 26, 1994 3033
