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2013 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Understanding Governance in South Asia

Authors : Ishtiaq Jamil, Steinar Askvik, Tek Nath Dhakal

Published in: In Search of Better Governance in South Asia and Beyond

Publisher: Springer New York

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Abstract

The major purpose of this chapter is to categorize and map patterns of governance in South Asia. The questions that are asked are there similarities in governance patterns in countries of this region? Does a particular pattern is more dominant and influence politics, policies, and inter-organizational relations.

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Footnotes
1
Afghanistan has recently joined the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and is considered a South Asian nation. In this book, South Asia refers to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
 
2
Also known as Chankya was the chief minister to Chandragupta (321-296 B.C.), the founder of the Mauryan Empire in India. He was contemporary to Aristotle. He wrote Arthashastra, a treatise on good rule of the king. According to Modelski (1964, p. 549), “the literal meaning of Arthashastra” is Science of Polity; it has been rendered as the study of politics, wealth and practical expediency, of ways of acquiring and maintaining power.”
 
3
The Mughal Empire (1526–1757) which preceded the British Raj (1757–1947) in India was a patrimonial-bureaucratic empire in which the king was depicted as divinely aided patriarch where all political and administrative power revolved around the ruler who governed on the basis of traditional authority. It entailed obedience and loyalty to the king (as a person) and not to an impersonal office (Blake 1979, p. 94).
 
4
The administrative system created during British rule is still in operation in the Indian Subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). Other nations in South Asia such as Nepal and the Maldives almost follow the same administrative pattern.
 
5
After gaining independence in 1947, the Congress party has dominated Indian national politics except for the brief Janata interlude from 1977 to 1980 (Kochanek 1987, p. 1278) and the period between at the end of the 1990s to 2004.
 
6
In March 2013, the chief justice in Nepal was sworn in as head of an interim government to hold new election after months of bickering among major political parties.
 
7
For example, Administrative Reforms Commission in India, the Public Administration Reform Commission in Bangladesh and the Administrative Reform Commission in Nepal. Also in other South Asian countries such as Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, similar reform efforts have been undertaken (Haque 2003, p. 944).
 
8
Balochistan a province in the Western part bordering Iran and Afghanistan is the poorest region in Pakistan. The demand for more autonomy has now developed into a separatist movement and an ongoing conflict between the Baloch nationalists and the government of Pakistan.
 
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Metadata
Title
Understanding Governance in South Asia
Authors
Ishtiaq Jamil
Steinar Askvik
Tek Nath Dhakal
Copyright Year
2013
Publisher
Springer New York
Book
In Search of Better Governance in South Asia and Beyond

Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7371-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4614-7372-5

Copyright Year: 2013

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7372-5_2

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