When the leadership fails to keep each aspect of good governance in check, particularly when it comes to ethnic and socioeconomic divides, the crises is an oblivious outcome.
Dhaka is now under crisis due to the Hassina regime’s downfall. Yet considering the disturbance following the fifth August revolution cum turmoil. Dhaka is embroiled in a political chaos that raises questions about both its political and economic futures.
There may be more extensive regional implications amounting to instability. It remains to be seen if the interim government headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus can save the nation from sinking into further serious difficulties. However, Bangladesh has risen economically and socially considerably faster than other South Asian nations, surpassing both India and Pakistan, in the ten years since that foresighted opinion was expressed. Non-economic elements have typically been disregarded, even though the social and economic variables that contributed to the expanding business cycle have been extensively recorded.
Likewise, how the BJP administration lost the 2004 elections despite “India Shining,” the Modi economic surprise in 2024 did not result in the more than four hundred seats the party had hoped for. “Success” is only achieved to a certain extent when economic expansion and perceived wealth are combined with concerns about inclusion and distribution.
Dhaka is embroiled in a political chaos that raises questions about both its political and economic futures.
There is much to learn from the Bangladesh development or crisis, which has generated a lot of discussion in academic and policy circles. Bangladesh is currently only the seventh most populous nation, having been able to lower the rate of population growth from 2.5 to 1% after gaining independence.
Although East Pakistan’s population was greater than West Pakistan’s in 1971, Pakistan now holds the disputed title of having experienced one of the world’s greatest rates of population increase (2.55 percent), ranking it as the sixth most populous nation.
Although Pakistan’s economy and per capita income have declined over the past few decades, the nation may nevertheless be proud of its remarkable achievements in terms of population growth. The main place that women have taken in both the economic and social realms is one of the main factors contributing to the achievement of the country’s model.
The effects of high rates of literacy and a workforce of educated women are twofold. As anticipated, women initiate the process of asserting their agency as wage earners and women once they join the labor force and start making their own money, independent of their husbands, fathers, brothers, or sons.
Even though women’s earnings are frequently lower than men’s, being able to prove an income enables them to become powerful individuals in both the social and economic spheres. Not only does economic activity flourish when there are a lot of women in the workforce especially educated ones, but women also benefit.
The World Bank predicted in 2013 that Bangladesh would emerge as the “next China.” Even while the central bank may had been concentrating on Bangladesh’s potential advantages over other nations in terms of population and economy, the nation nonetheless frequently adopted authoritarian policies with far less flair than was seen in other places.
The “next China” debate also surfaced when Bangladesh rose to become the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, partly because of its educated female labor force but also for other reasons. Over $60 billion is exported from Bangladesh, $44 billion of which is for ready-made clothing. Pakistan, the world’s fifth-largest nation, only exports $32 billion in total.
There are two other noteworthy elements of the Bangladesh model. First, Bangladesh elected to turn into a secular nation after gaining independence; but society and the state have developed in distinct ways. Nevertheless, the administration planned and a military dictator in Bangladesh annulled secularism from the constitution, the Supreme Court ruled that this was illegitimate and unconstitutional, reestablishing secular as one of the cornerstones of the state. Second, elected parliaments marginalized the military’s role and placed it under the control of elected legislators following military takeovers and martial laws.
In certain respects, the Bangladesh is success story also led to a plethora of inconsistencies of its own, as the educated and urbanizing middle classes demanded justice and fairness in civic engagement and citizenship, rather than only being content with uneven economic prosperity.
Events such as the 1,134-dead Rana Plaza collapse exposed numerous issues with Third World crony capitalism, which is corrupt. The Bangladesh model has included, though rarely emphasized, the Shah Bagh activity, machete assaults on secularists, and many other communal responses to injustice.
The one-party state, which is a repressive apparatus devoid of opposition and whose obedient official institutions muzzle dissenting voices, is another phenomenon that is frequently disregarded.
No development model, no matter how highly idealized be it Chinese, Malaysian, or Bangladeshi can be simply copied each has unique conditions that call for careful planning and execution. There is not an exportable blueprint available.
The same is true of revolution. When many Pakistanis rejoice, as they well should, over the dramatic revolution that occurred in Bangladesh and wonder when “we” will experience anything similar or when “our oppressors” will be driven from power, it is essential to stop and think about the many paradoxes that distinguish every revolution. Some have taken the Arab Spring caricature and used it as a model for revolution, ignoring the fact that one dictator gave way to another or that another nation was divided up into warlord mafias.
This is not considered advancement. It does not take a genius to see that the military’s resurgence as Bangladesh’s primary arbitrator may not be good for democratic politics.
Pakistan’s political economy arrangements must be questioned first, especially at a time when the country is suppressing rising and active opposition and unrest.
The writer is a PhD candidate at QAU and has worked at SDPI.