1st Edition

Challenging Colonial Administrative Behavior in Bangladesh

By Hasanuzzaman Zaman Copyright 2024
    208 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    208 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    This book studies public policy and administration in Bangladesh. It studies how, despite recording high-levels of corruption persistently, some governments in least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh have achieved impressive online transformation level, through digital, electronic or e-Government implementation. The book investigates the historical and political context, and examines the different policies and strategies adopted by successive governments of Bangladesh for facilitating digital service delivery transformation of traditional, paper-based, circuitous public service delivery processes. It reviews public administration reforms introduced over several decades, and other initiatives launched with the specific objective of improving service delivery management. The volume also contextualizes the new e-Government development initiatives in light of the various approaches such as traditional public administration, new public management, digital era governance, new public governance, and design thinking.

    Drawing on a host of published and unpublished materials, interviews with senior public officials, academics, representatives of international donor agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organizations, and a survey of more than 400 plus bureaucrats, the book analyzes the progress of digital government in Bangladesh from a soft, behavioral perspective. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of public policy and public administration, politics, innovation, and South Asian studies. It will be an essential reading for bureaucrats and government officials, as well as think tanks and NGOs.

    Foreword by Jaideep C. Prabhu. Introduction. 1. Framing digital government paradox 2. Dual legacy of colonial rule and postcolonial military dictatorship 3. Rotation between political parties and military intervention (once again): 1991 to 2008 4. Digital government advancement: 2009 to 2021 5. Analyzing Empathy Training Program: A whole-of-government approach toward advancing digital service delivery innovation 6. Conclusion. Appendix I: Interview List

    Biography

    Hasanuzzaman Zaman is now working for the federal government of Canada. Hasan completed his doctoral studies at the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University in Ottawa in September 2021. He graduated with a distinction academic record in economics with politics from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom (UK). After completing his postgraduate studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in London, UK, Hasan started his research career at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In collaboration with the national statistical organization, Hasan led the first national-level census on the Union Digital Centers in Bangladesh, and co-authored the first background study on Digital Bangladesh for the Seventh Five Year Plan (2016-2020).

    He worked for Copenhagen Consensus Center where he successfully managed and oversaw the research and policy outreach activities in Bangladesh (with BRAC and BRAC University), Haiti (with Global Affairs Canada) and India (with Tata Trusts). As a South-South policy consultant at one of the world’s largest philanthropy organizations, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London, UK, Hasan led the first partnership on tracking global goals, between the governments of Bangladesh and Peru.