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2018 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Inclusive Governance in South Asia

Parliament, Judiciary and Civil Service

Editor: Prof. Nizam Ahmed

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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About this book

This edited volume explores the state of inclusive governance in South Asia. It particularly examines the nature and scope of inclusiveness noticed in the parliament and civil service in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, and the judiciary in Bangladesh. Where previous literature has stressed the need for the inclusion of external stakeholders, this volume highlights the importance of the involvement of internal stakeholders. This includes ‘insiders’ such as opposition members and government backbenchers in parliament and specialists in the civil service. The main emphasis is on identifying the extent to which insiders in different institutions have the scope to participate in the governing process. Furthermore, this volume also seeks to assess the implications of inclusiveness/exclusiveness for democratic governance. By exploring the link between inclusiveness and accountability, its contributors are able to draw out the strengths and weaknesses of the existing mechanisms of accountability, particularly social accountability. This innovative collection will appeal to students and scholars of gender and development studies, public policy and administration, international relations, law and political science.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter explores the need for inclusive governance in South Asia, a region that, as a whole, is more democratic now than at any time in the past, but has the distinction of being misgoverned. Two important reasons that account for misgovernance are lack of accountability on the part of those responsible for governance and lack of any ‘real’ stakeholder involvement in the process of governance. It argues that although the issue of accountability has long been recognized, the issue of stakeholder inclusion in the governing process is of recent origin. Inclusion has two major dimensions: internal and external. Emphasis has so far been given to the external dimension; that is, the need for and difficulties with including outsiders in the governing process. This chapter explores the importance and implications of including those ‘insiders’ who have traditionally been neglected and relegated to secondary importance in the legislature (opposition members and government backbenchers) and the civil service (specialists). The two dimensions are not mutually exclusive; one can reinforce the other. The inclusion of insiders is needed in order to produce better outputs, while making outsiders (stakeholders) part of the governing process is likely to generate better outcomes. The chapter also explores the importance of social accountability as a means of supplementing the traditional methods of accountability.
Nizam Ahmed
Chapter 2. ‘Lobby Fodder or Fearless Champions?’ The Role of Backbenchers in Holding Government to Account
Abstract
What is the role and function of a backbench MP, and are there differences in approach in different legislative systems? What shapes their scrutiny role and work, and how are these factors affected by constitutional, electoral, personal and political circumstances at both constituency and legislative level? Drawing on examples from a range of parliaments in South Asia and beyond, this chapter explores what conditions enable backbenchers to exercise influence and conversely what constrains them. Looking at examples from the renaissance of backbench rights at Westminster in recent years, it identifies the kind of institutional reforms that can promote a more inclusive and accountable legislature. But it concludes that ultimately new procedural rules and powers cannot make backbenchers more effective if they lack the political will and determination to hold government to account. Backbenchers must be willing to use the procedures and powers at their disposal.
Ruth Fox
Chapter 3. Including the Excluded: Government Backbenchers and Opposition in the Parliamentary Process in Bangladesh
Abstract
This chapter explores the scope and limits of mechanisms used to include the excluded—government backbenchers and opposition Members of Parliament (MPs)—in the parliamentary process in Bangladesh. In almost all Westminster-derived parliaments including the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad, several mechanisms have been introduced in recent years, probably the most important being all-party parliamentary committees, to respond to demands for participation by backbenchers in the parliamentary process. Some other mechanisms, such as the provision for (short-lived) half-hour unscheduled debates at the end of each sitting day and the tradition of referring bills to standing committees for scrutiny, have also been devised to encourage cross-bench interaction on important matters. The extent to which this ‘policy of inclusion’ has any meaningful effect on the behavior of the two sets of parliamentary actors in Bangladesh is explored in this chapter. It also identifies other measures and policies for inclusion that have been proposed or adopted for making the two sets of actors active participants, and examines their effect.
Nizam Ahmed
Chapter 4. Parliamentary Opposition and Government Backbenchers in India
Abstract
The parliamentary opposition in India has not attracted systematic study or critical scholarship yet; neither has there been any focus on the distinct course this opposition has charted over time. Given the popularity of Kothari’s ‘one-party dominance system’ thesis, it is important to investigate the extent to which the ruling party encompassed its own opposition in the House. This chapter argues that such a response was more conjunctural than systemic. These conjunctures were marked by distinct modes of contentions within the ruling party, or party system, or the larger domain of Indian politics. Today, such a possibility has been curbed drastically owing to the Anti-Defection Law and changes in the party system. Further, India’s institutional politics—the committee system, federal structure of power, and local government—has ensured that the backbenchers do not emerge as an autonomous site of institutional power. The rise of the opposition itself is an interesting, but distinct, development in India, and today the opposition almost decides the working of parliament. The chapter explores the implications that such an opposition has for inclusiveness, not merely of diverse social constituencies and interests but political stances as well.
Valerian Rodrigues
Chapter 5. Government Backbenchers and Opposition in Unsettled Political Environment: The Case of Nepal
Abstract
Conventional democratic exercises without opposition are inconceivable. Such a government and opposition interface, which treats the latter as the government in waiting, is practiced in the parliamentary system. However, this has been altered beyond recognition in today’s liberal democracies. In Nepal, most changes are made in order to affect the existence of regimes rather than to pursue an evolutionary path to democratic development. Nepal is full of surprises and unexpected results. The end of monarchy, the metamorphosis of Maoist and other Left groups into liberal democratic exercises along with the agenda of federalism are the results of the “jump theory of politics,” showing a swing from one extreme to another. How is it possible to relate such uncertainties to the democratic process? The question of backbenchers does not arise in Nepal. Even backbenchers in a conventional sense have to validate the changes accepted by their respective parties’ leaders, and in a way they are responsible for this endorsement. The coalition politics which is a reality in the present context of mixed electoral systems (both proportional and first past the post) tends to erase the thin boundary between government and opposition. Even parliament does not function on the basis of strictly defined roles for government and opposition.
Lok Raj Baral
Chapter 6. The Inclusivity Role of the Judiciary in Bangladesh
Abstract
The issue of inclusiveness with reference to the judiciary is somewhat tricky in the sense that, unlike in the case of parliament or the executive, an inclusive judiciary may not necessarily mean the formal inclusion of “others” in the decision-making process. Inclusive judicial governance, nevertheless, requires a judicial system that should be not only internally diverse or representative but also functionally inclusive, protecting the minorities or those who are marginalized or remain excluded in society. It also means the wider public’s access to the justice system. A society cannot be equal without equal access to justice. While a diverse judiciary is inevitable for the establishment of a rule of law that is inclusive, an accessible judiciary is even more important to allow the justice system to reach out to the most disadvantaged people or to prevent minorities from being more marginalized. An inclusive judiciary also refers to the idea of an able and willing judiciary that will enforce the rules to ensure inclusiveness in the other two organs of the State. Although the Supreme Court has handed down certain important decisions that will promote inclusive governance generally, a discourse on inclusive judiciary has yet to emerge in Bangladesh. This chapter seeks to address this gap, albeit not comprehensively, by focusing on the inclusivity function of Bangladesh’s superior courts. The analysis is centered around three specific areas of judicial activity—attainment of social justice for marginalized people, participation of women in governance, and the protection of indigenous peoples’ autonomy or cultural diversity.
Ridwanul Hoque
Chapter 7. Inclusive Governance for Enhancing Professionalism in Civil Service: The Case of Bangladesh
Abstract
Public administration, as a field of study, has gone through a number of theoretical and practical challenges since its birth. And each time, these challenges have generated new questions and forced the field to search for its identity. Public administration has tried to be more democratic, more responsive and accountable, and in recent years, through focusing more on embracing private sector principles and methods, is trying to adopt a governance-oriented performance-based accountability system. This chapter acknowledges these trends and related challenges but draws attention to one specific issue, that is, a change in approach and new challenges that have not only contributed to the scientific advancement of the field but have also raised a number of “miss-questions” which have plagued public administration. These miss-questions have actually refused to die. This chapter focuses on one of these miss-questions, that is, the issue of specialists versus generalists, and makes an effort to explore how this has affected and is affecting the public administration system in Bangladesh. It shows that in Bangladesh, the issue of specialist versus generalist is still significant and has continued to play an important role in generating rivalry not only between the two groups, but also between different cadres in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS). It seems to have affected the morale of the specialists and people belonging to different cadre services and has posed a challenge to the country in terms of attaining its goal of “inclusive” governance. The chapter, however, argues that as the Government of Bangladesh is generally embracing the principles of New Public Management (NPM), focusing on multi-sectoral collaboration in formulating policies and implementing programs, an opportunity has been created to incorporate the perspectives of both specialists and generalists in policy formulation and implementation.
Asif M. Shahan, Rizwan Khair
Chapter 8. The Interface Between the Generalists and Professionals: The Indian Experience
Abstract
Bureaucracy is one of the major pillars of civil administration regardless of the nature of the political system. Despite being Weberian in character in view of its colonial roots, bureaucracy in South Asia, particularly in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, has undergone significant changes in the wake of economic liberalization and the processes of democratization. Conceptually speaking, bureaucracy is hardly the steel frame of the colonial era given the growing importance of instruments of external accountability; nonetheless, it cannot be said to have ceded its exclusionary nature presumably because of some well-entrenched characteristics which are associated with Weberian bureaucracy. The chapter thus makes two arguments: (1) the generalist characteristics of bureaucracy do not seem to be tenable given the growing complexities of governance in the light of the interplay between state, market and civil society; (2) suggestive of the interplay involving state, market and civil society, the chapter pursues the argument that professionals being suitably trained and engaged in specific activities remain critical to governance. In order to conceptually understand the interface between professionals and line bureaucrats at the higher echelon, the chapter focuses on three specific instruments of authority:
  • National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.
  • Three major regulatory authorities (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
  • District Planning Committees, which came into being after the promulgation of the 73rd Amendment Act in 1992.
The basic idea is that the mutual exchange of expertise of professionals and generalists is necessary to develop effective policy alternatives. This is where the modern post-colonial civil service, at national and local levels, is going, and rightly so. Modern governance is neither merely a technical act nor merely a Weberian making of rules. Governance is now a socio-cultural and technical act to realize certain well-defined societal and culture-specific ideological goals.
Bidyut Chakrabarty
Chapter 9. Generalists and Specialists Service Career: A Case of the Nepalese Civil Service
Abstract
The main objective of this chapter is to discuss the relationship between two types of bureaucrats, generalists and specialists, in the Nepalese Civil Service (NCS). The NCS was set up in the 1960s, based on the first Civil Service Act, 1956. The NCS at present incorporates administrative, economic planning, engineering, judicial, foreign, audit, forest, agriculture, education and miscellaneous services as provided by the amended Civil Service Acts. In addition, the Health Service and the Parliamentary Service are also part of the civil service, regulated by their own Acts. Overall, the NCS is influenced by the Weberian model of bureaucracy, with formal hierarchical structures, and rules and regulations to govern all behavior. In this chapter, generalists refers to employees who have overall managerial competencies. Specialists refers to employees who have a particular field of knowledge and skills. The NCS is made up of both generalists and specialists. Employees from the Administrative Service, Education Service and Judicial Service, having non-technical education, are called generalists. Employees from forestry, agriculture and engineering, having technical education, are called specialists. Whether relating to the generalist service career or the specialist service career, both categories are known as bureaucrats. Professionalism is expected from both types of bureaucrats. To ensure professionalism in the NCS, Adhikari, The 4th Amendment of the Civil Service Act, 1993 (2015) has created the six clusters of the ten civil services. Broadly, such clusters have been based on technical field or non-technical field (generalists). However, the NCS is dominated by generalists. Therefore, employees from specialist services seem to be in career tension, as they have limited opportunities for leadership roles in the NCS. Therefore, there is a conflict between these two types of bureaucrats, which may have hindered their joint contribution to policy issues, decision-making and service delivery. The data in this chapter is based on interviews with both categories of bureaucrats working in the NCS. The relevant Acts and Rules are also considered.
Bharat Raj Gautam
Chapter 10. Social Accountability for Inclusive Governance: The South Asian Experience
Abstract
Inclusive citizen engagement in which ordinary citizens and civil society organizations participate to demand accountability, commonly referred to as social accountability, has increasingly been recognized as a key strategy in enhancing government performance and improving access to quality public services on an equitable basis. Transparent and structured engagement between citizen and state actors prepare the ground for bolstering ‘answerability,’ and allow for direct input into ways in which government performance can be improved. Inclusion within the social accountability discourse means that citizen groups on the margins of society can address the inequity in their ‘voice relationship’ with the government and public institutions responsible for service delivery. However, citizen engagement on its own is not sufficient to improve service delivery outcomes, especially for the poor; it needs to be embedded in broader state-led reform.
Countries in South Asia have made impressive strides in expanding citizens’ access to governance and basic public service infrastructure, but issues of accountability remain a serious concern. Citizens are typically subjected to a persistent lack of responsiveness, corruption and overall weak accountability in almost all instances of engagement with the government. These entrenched practices are increasingly being challenged now by citizens’ groups, civil society organizations and independent media, using a broad range of tools and mechanisms to benchmark adequacy and quality of government service obligations; and engaging constructively with officials, public service providers and policymakers to exact answerability. There is encouraging evidence that points to the contribution of these efforts towards making public decision-making more transparent and mitigating accountability challenges at least to some extent; at the same time there is still a long way to go. These accomplishments, challenges and opportunities will be deliberated upon in this chapter, drawing upon experiences from select social accountability initiatives in South Asia.
Naimur Rahman
Chapter 11. Public Hearing for Social Accountability: Examining the Rationale and Realities in Bangladesh
Abstract
The conventional hierarchy-based accountability mechanisms have proved increasingly futile to hold public institutions and officeholders to account in Bangladesh over the past decades. New forms of social accountability practices have brought more hopeful options for citizens. Among many others, several civil society organizations have conducted public hearings as a new form of social accountability. Public hearings enable citizens to confront leaders of service-providing government agencies about their promises and obligations, which improves and sustains the quality of services. In general, public hearings have been effective but the level of effectiveness varies. This is a comparative case study, using empirical data from civil society organizations that have organized public hearings in recent years. It shows that an essential condition for the success of public hearings in holding officials accountable is the support of the political leadership and local elites. Another determinant of success is the effectiveness of intermediaries such as the civil society organizations.
Kazi Maruful Islam, Amir M. Nasrullah, Sheela Tasneem Haq
Chapter 12. Decentralized Planning and Budgeting as Social Accountability Tools: A Study of Social Accountability in Local Government in Bangladesh
Abstract
This chapter examines the scope and limits of mechanisms used to encourage social accountability (SAM) in local government in Bangladesh, particularly at the Union Parishad (UP) – the lowest unit of rural local government in Bangladesh. It focuses on two major mechanisms of social accountability – Participatory Planning (PP) and Participatory Budgeting (PB) – as provided for in the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009. The chapter particularly explores the extent to which there exists any gap between what has been prescribed in the statute and the way the role actors behave and examines the reasons that explain the divergence between rules and roles, if any. Many reasons – political, administrative, and social – account for the hiatus between the law and the reality. However, notwithstanding several drawbacks, PP and PB can be seen as beneficial from several standpoints. Direct fund transfer to UPs is now considered to be feasible, due to greater accountability and participation in spending such funds. The formal planning and budgeting practices have challenged the existing power structure in the local government institutions. UP officials have been rendered accountable and UP financial management has become more professional following the introduction of SAMs. The chapter has suggested some reforms to make PP and PB effective.
Shuvra Chowdhury
Chapter 13. Democracy, Inclusive Governance and Social Accountability in South Asia
Abstract
During the last few decades, democracy, as the most preferred form of government, has been repeatedly revisited. Considerable literature has grown up round the concepts of inclusive governance and social responsibility as essential elements of democracy. Besides the learned scholars, some international organizations such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme have become involved in this discussion. In the so-called developing world of South Asia and Africa, the fruits of freedom, rule of law and economic growth have been cornered by the few and not shared by all. The worst sufferers have been the most deprived and marginalized sections: women, tribals, people with disabilities, ethnic, religious or other minorities, the aged, social outcasts and the poor and least developed. For the debate on inclusive government and socially accountable democracy to be meaningful to ordinary citizens, the first categorical imperative is to shear it of much of its jargon. Democracy today is believed to be a system under which the people govern themselves, through the representatives they elect, under a system they choose. Yet representative democracy must graduate to participatory democracy, where the people are conscious of their rights and obligations, assume responsibilities and partake in decision-making processes. Furthermore, democracy has to be inclusive of the interests of all, equally and without discrimination. Special attention has to be paid to the disadvantaged and deprived. Good governance has to be democratic, citizen-friendly, clean and free of corruption. All the state functionaries, at all times, must be answerable and accountable to the ultimate masters in democracy: the people. Inclusive governance requires decentralization of power, equal participation of the people, equality of all before law and real empowerment of the people, with a bottom-up approach.
Subhash C. Kashyap
Chapter 14. Governance for Inclusive Development in South and East Asia: A Comparison of India and China
Abstract
China and India are two major political systems in the regions of. East and South Asia, and a comparison of their approaches in promoting inclusive development is illustrative. This chapter is grounded on the fact that the population of the two most populous countries accounts for more than one-third of the global population. Therefore, the plans and practices designed for inclusiveness have significance for improving the well-being of mankind throughout the world, and allow for lessons to be drawn by other countries in the two regions. A comparison of the initiatives in China and India provides a useful insight into explaining the extent of their effectiveness in achieving inclusive development and public engagement. This will also provide an opportunity to examine the validity of the important doctrine of inclusive development. This chapter finds that democracy and participation are important in many other respects, but they may or may not contribute to the goal of inclusive development. It also emphasizes that China’s economic success is not necessarily resulting in inclusive development. It is the institutions that produce smart social policies targeting development goals that matter more.
Bill Chou, Ahmed Shafiqul Huque
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Inclusive Governance in South Asia
Editor
Prof. Nizam Ahmed
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-60904-1
Print ISBN
978-3-319-60903-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60904-1