Civil Society in Bangladesh: Vibrant but not Vigilant

Civil Society in Bangladesh: Vibrant but not Vigilant
A Dissertation
Submitted to the University of Tsukuba
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science
Farhat TASNIM
2007

Dedicated to
My Father—Professor Muhammad Shahjahan
and
Mother—Mrs. Shirin Maqsuda
With love and gratitude for raising me in the way I am
ii

Abstract
Grassroots development in Bangladesh gained world recognition with the 2006
Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Professor Yunus and his Grameen Bank. On the
other side of the coin, Transparency International rated Bangladesh as the World’s most
corrupt country for five successive years from 2001-2005. Why then, can civil society
be so successful at the grassroots level, yet not have any strong role in producing good
governance and consolidating democracy? The present study particularly addresses this
problem and attempts to uncover the causes to such contradictory outcome of civil
society in Bangladesh. In this connection, the present research also qualifies the
normative assumption on the positive relation between civil society and democracy
asserted by the main stream Neo-Tocquevillean School that has profound influence on
donor policies on good governance and programs for strengthening civil society.
For investigation into the civil society of Bangladesh the study first develops a
simple analysis model where civil society is considered as a form of collective functions
distinct from state, market and family. Civil society organizations are taken as the basic
units of such civil society. Overall characteristics and functions of civil society are
divided into two broad aspects— vibrant and vigilant. Vibrant refers to density,
collectiveness and activeness while vigilant refers to the interactions of civil society
with the state and market, its participation in governance and strength to monitor state
actions. Civil society must be both vibrant and vigilant to be able to contribute to
democratic consolidation. The analysis model places civil society in constant interaction
with the other actors in the political system and democratic consolidation is achieved
together with a participatory civil society, political institutionalization, economic
development and democratic culture. Dahl’s Polyarchy is the ideal goal for democratic
consolidation. The thesis has made use of both survey data and secondary materials and
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has combined comparative, quantitative and qualitative method for analysis.
From a comparative discussion on contemporary India, The Philippines and
Pakistan with that of Bangladesh, it is the political actors that have been found to be the
determining factor to the strength of civil society and dimension of democracy. Further
investigation into the factors that influence the nature and strength of civil society in
Bangladesh has revealed that donor policy, economic situation and philanthropy culture
and simple registration rules have contributed to its vibrant nature which is marked by
density of collective functions, activeness in providing service and success so far in
social development. Thus far, from the Neo-Tocquevillean assumption, there exists a
reasonable condition for improving democratic institutions in the country. On the other
hand, political structures, particularly political parties, along with historical background
and vertical social relationship—clientelism, patronage, nepotism, corruption etc. have
contributed to low performance of civil society in relation to politics and democracy.
Empirical observation and survey on civil society organizations have supported
the inference on high civil society involvement in social service and welfare. Such
empirical data have also revealed a low rate of participation by civil society
organizations in actions like advocacy, policy making, lobby, exchanging opinions with
the government, sending representative to local councils etc. and their high tendency to
keep contacts with political parties. This implies that the civil society is hardly involved
in participatory actions concerning politics and democracy on the one hand, and on the
other hand, has a partisan tendency. Naturally their prospect in contributing to
democracy or emerging as a strong vigilant force is not encouraging.
To understand the reasons for low participation and partisan tendency of the civil
society, further analyses on their political relation in contemporary Bangladesh have
been conducted. The research reveals that instead of influencing the government and
iv

political actors, civil society itself has been penetrated, co-opted, politicized and divided
by the political parties. As the civil society organizations are vertically organized and
not democratic internally, they are easily prone to such politicization and polarization.
This has reduced their ability to generate democratic norms, articulate interest or
monitor state actions. So the civil society is yet to emerge as a vigilant force to uphold
good governance and consolidate democracy.
The study not only answers questions regarding the weak performance of civil
society in relation to democratic consolidation but also indicates the impracticality of
the donor policies for placing high targets for civil society in a political system that still
lacks political institutionalization, democratic consensus and economic development.
International and national policies on civil society should be formulated accepting the
social and political reality. Though the civil society may not be able to completely
overcome the influence of politicizations, lure of patronage, and vertical social relations
it has the possibility to improve and gain a stronger position. In this way, whatever
positive outcomes are produced may be considered as achievements.
v

Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to express my debt and thanks to a number
of individuals and institutions, continued support and encouragement of whom helped
me shape this thesis through its different stages.
Academically, I am specifically indebted to my Academic Advisor Professor
Yutaka TSUJINAKA for his continuous guidance and advice for the preparation of this
thesis with keen interest, stimulation and patience. I am particularly indebted to his
expert supervision in the field of civil society and survey-based analysis and for his
confidence in me to do such research on civil society in Bangladesh. Moreover, he
extended generous support from his special project–Civil Society, the State and Culture
in Comparative Perspective (CSC), to conduct my survey on civil society organizations
in Bangladesh.
It is my great pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to three other members of
my Thesis Committee. Special thanks to Professor Shigeo OSONOI for his kind advices,
generous support that helped me upgrade the standard of my research. I extend sincere
thanks to Professor Motoko SHUTO for her scholastic comments which helped me
improve my thesis to its present form. I am obliged to Professor Charles Covell, for his
intellectual cooperation, constant encouragement and assurance that gave me the moral
strength and academic confidence to continue my endeavor on civil society.
I would also like to show appreciation to all the members of the project team of
CSC under the leadership of Professor Tsujinaka. Particularly I am grateful to Dr. Jea
Young CHOE and Mr. Hiroki MIWA who helped me at all stages from organizing the
survey plan to analyzing the data in SPSS. I also thank the Japanese NGO –Shapla Neer
for extending their help to conduct the survey in Bangladesh and become the official
partner of the project in connection to the survey. While conducting the survey at the
vi

field, I received genuine support and cooperation from a good number of individuals,
particularly from my twenty sincere and dedicated surveyors—all graduate students of
University of Rajshahi. Among them I would like to mention the names of Momen
Khan, Jahangir Alam, Mustafizur Rahman, A.S.M. Sarwar and Selimuzzaman. They
also helped me in collecting newspaper reports on civil society from different libraries
in Dhaka.
Among other academicians who encouraged me greatly with my research
project, I would like to particularly mention the name of Professor Robert Pekkhanon of
Washington University, and Professor Nathan Gilbert Quimpo of Tsukuba University
for their constructive comments and suggestion on my thesis and also to Professor
Joseph Galaskiewicz of Arizona University and Professor Kazuko KOJIMA of Tsukuba
University for their constant encouragement.
I convey my heartfelt thanks to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports
Science and Technology of Japan for awarding me the Munbukagakusho Scholarship,
which has supported my study and stay in Japan.
I am grateful to my friends and fellow mates at the Public Policy Study Room
and Tsujinaka Seminar for their encouragement, support, intellectual comments on my
research and extended help in solving various difficulties I had to encounter being a
foreign student in Japan. Here, I would like to mention the name of Dr. Leslie M. Tkach
KAWASAKI, Dr. Lee JIYONG, Lee HYUNJU, Huang MEI, Pei Jung YANG, Hiromi
NAKAMURAH, Isamu OAKADA, Shahidul Islam and Shakil Ahamed.
I thank my teachers and colleagues of the Department of Political Science,
Rajshahi University, Bangladesh, for their cordial support during the study period.
Lastly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my husband Dr. Tofael
vii

Ahamed without whose constant support, cooperation, understanding and motivation it
would have been impossible for me to finish the journey. I also convey special thanks to
our unborn child for being the source of all my inspiration during the process of writing
and revising this thesis. I owe much gratitude to my parents— Professor Muhammad
Shahjahan and Mrs. Shirin Maqsuda and my elder sister Dr. Wardatul Akmam and her
husband Dr. Fakrul Islam for being a constant source of help, support and inspiration
throughout the entire research work. Besides, their dedication, contribution, advice and
guidance towards building my life are simply incalculable.
Above all, all praises to acknowledge immeasurable grace and profound
kindness of the Almighty Allah, the supreme ruler of the Universe to complete this
research work.
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List of Contents
Abstract
Acknowledgement
List of Contents
Abbreviations
List of Tables
List of Figures
iii
vi
ix
xiv
xv
xvii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Statement of the Problem 1
1.2 Research Question and Objectives of the Study 4
1.3 Critical Arguments 6
1.4 Conceptual Framework 8
1. 4.1 Civil Society Discourse 9
1.4.2 Analysis Framework 14
1.4.2.1 Operationalizing a Vibrant and Vigilant Civil Society 14
1.4.2.2 Steps of the Investigation 18
1.5 Implication 19
1.6 Brief Introduction to Civil Society in Bangladesh 22
1.7 Definitions 26
1.7.1 Participatory Civil Society 26
1.7.2 Politicization of Civil Society 27
1.7.3 Democracy 27
1.7.4 Transition to Democracy 29
1.7.5 Democratic Consolidations 31
1.8 Chapter Arrangements 34
Chapter 2 Literature Review and Methodology 38
2.1 Literature Review 38
2.1.1 Theories on civil society leading to the study of Third 38
World States
2.1.1.1 Neo-Tocquevillean School 38
2.1.1.2 Neo-Gramscian School 40
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2.1.2 Relationship between Civil Society and
42
Democracy and Development Policies
2.1.3 Studies on Third World Civil Societies from different 47
Perspectives
2.1.3.1 John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project 47
2.1.3.2 CIVICUS Civil Society Index 50
2.1.3.3 Project on Asian Civil Society 52
2.1.4 Researches on Civil Society in Bangladesh 54
2.2 Methodology 59
2.2.1 Use of Survey Method in Studying Civil Society 59
2.2.2 Description of the Survey Method Used 62
2.2.3 Application of Data 64
2.2.3.1 Quantitative Analysis Model 64
2.2.3.2 Qualitative Analysis Model 67
2.2.4 Description and Justification for Selecting the Study 69
Area for Survey
2.2.4.1 Rajshahi District 70
2.2.4.2 Justification for Selecting Rajshahi District as the Study 71
area
2.3 Limitations of the Study 75
Chapter 3 Political Structural Influence on Civil Society 78
3.1 Introduction 78
3.2 Influence of Political Structures upon Civil Society from 80
a Comparative Perspective
3.2.1 Stable but Partly Illiberal Democracy-India 84
3.2.2 Elitist Democracy- The Philippines 88
3.2.3 Failed Democracy- Pakistan 91
3.2.4 Position of Bangladesh Civil Society and Democracy in 95
Comparison to other Asian Countries
3.3 Bangladesh Civil Society from Vibrant and Vigilant 99
Perspective
3.3.1 Level of Vibrancy of Civil Society in Bangladesh 99
3.3.1.1 Philanthropy Culture 100
3.3.1.2 Donor Policy 101
3.3.1.3 Registration System 105
3.3.2 Level of Vigilance of Civil Society in Bangladesh 107
x

3.3.2.1 Confrontational Democracy in Bangladesh 108
3.3.2.2 Elite Composition-Politics and Civil Society 110
3.3.2.2.1 Civil Society Elites 111
3.3.2.3 Internal Characteristics of Civil Society Organizations 113
3.3.2.4 Political Party System in Bangladesh 116
3.3.2.4.1 Nature of Party Rule in Contemporary Bangladesh 119
3.3.4.2.2 Third Parties 121
3.3.4.2.3 Nature of Building Social Support 122
3.3.2.5 Political Parties Penetrating Civil Society 123
3.4 Conclusion 130
Chapter 4 Rich Grass-roots Actions but Poor Participation 134
4.1 Introduction 134
4.2 Nature of Civil Society in Bangladesh as Revealed 137
through the Survey Data
4.2.1 Self Categorization by the Civil Society Organizations 137
4.2.2 Policy Interest 139
4.2.3 Objectives 140
4.2.4 Geographic Level 141
4.2.5 Member 142
4.2.6 Resources 144
4.2.7 Volunteer 146
4.2.8 Employee 148
4.2.9 Budget 150
4.2.10 Cooperation with Other Actors 152
4.3 Civil Society Involvement in Grass-roots Action 155
4.3.2 Evaluation of CSOs and NGO Performance 159
4.4 Civil Society Involvement in Participatory Functions 161
4.4. 1 Relation with government 161
4.4.2 Advocacy 164
4.4.3 Policy Making 169
4.4.4 Lobby 173
4.5. Summary and Conclusion 178
4.5.1 Summary 178
4.5.2 Concluding Remarks 181
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Chapter 5 Civil Society and Political Relation in Bangladesh 184
5.1 Introduction 184
5.2 Civil Society and Political Relation as Revealed in the 188
Survey Data
5.2.1 Most Influential Actors 188
5.2.2 Personal Relation with Actors 190
5.2.3 CSO’s Relation with Political Parties 194
5.3 Civil Society and Politics: Qualitative Analysis 197
5.3.1 Civil Society and Politics from News Paper Analysis 198
5.3.2 Sector Wise Analysis of Civil Society and Political 205
Relation in Bangladesh
5.3.2.1 NGO Sector 205
5.3.2.2 Primary School Teacher’s Movement 2006 210
5.3.2.3 Labor Unions and Trade Organizations 215
5.3.2.3.1 Labor Union 215
5.3.2.3.1.1 Rajshahi Sugar Mill Labor Union 217
5.3.2.3.2 Trade Organizations 218
5.3.2.3.2.1 Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce 220
5.3.2.4 Cooperatives and Small Welfare Groups 221
5.3.2.4.1 Cooperatives 221
5.3.2.4.2 Local Social Welfare Groups and Cultural Sports Club 226
5.3.2.5 Intellectuals, Think Tanks and Citizens’ Group 229
5.3.2.5.1 Intellectuals 230
5.3.2.5.2 Think Tanks and Citizen Groups 232
5.3.2.5.2.1 Rajshahi Rakkha Shangram Parishod-RRSP (Movement 233
to Protect Rajshahi)
5.4 Summary and Conclusion 235
Chapter 6 Conclusion 242
6.1 Introduction 242
6.2 Answer to the Research Question 243
6.3 Ability of Civil Society in Consolidating Democracy 248
6.4 The Neo-Tocquevillean Theory and Donor Policies: 252
Implication of the Case of Bangladesh
6.5 Matters Remain Uninvestigated 255
6.6 Conclusion: ‘Vibrant but not Vigilant’ 257
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Appendices 263
Appendix -A Map of Bangladesh 263
Appendix -B Map of Rajshahi District (Survey Area) 264
Appendix -C Survey Questionnaire 265
Appendix -D Survey Report on Civil Society Organizations in 279
Bangladesh, Rajshahi District
Appendix E-I List of Designation of Resource Persons Interviewed 286
Appendix E-II List of Observatory Notes used for the Describing and 287
Analysis the Cooperatives and Small Welfare Groups in
Chapter Five
Appendix E-III List of Libraries visited for Newspaper Searching 288
Appendix-F Case Studies of Civil Society Organizations 289
Appendix- G Profile of two Major Political Parties 301
Bibliography 305
xiii

Abbreviations
ADAB
AL
BNP
BRDB
BRAC
Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Awami League
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Bangladesh Rural Development Board
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Commission
BGMEA Bangladesh Garments Manufactures and Exporters Association
CBA
CSO
CSI
CPD
FNB
NGO
PKSF
PO
RRSP
RSS
TNO
TMSS
Collective Bargaining Associations
Civil Society Organization
Civil Society Index
Centre for Policy Dialogue
Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh
Non-governmental Organization
Palli karma sahayak foundation (Foundation for Assisting Rural Activities)
Peoples Organizations (a prominent form of civil society organization in the Philippines)
Rajshahi Rakkha Shangram Parishod (Movement to Protect Rajshahi)
Rastriya Swamsewak Sangh (National Volunteers Corps)
Thana (Sub-district) Executive officer
Thengamara Mahila Shobuj Shongho
xiv

List of Tables
Table 1.1 Statistics of Registered CSOs in Bangladesh 24
Table 1.2 Statistics of CSOs and Total Population of Selected
Countries in Asia
24
Table 2.1 CSOs targeted and surveyed 63
Table 2.2 Indicators of basic nature, grass-roots action and
65
participatory action of CSOs
Table 2.3 Methods used to sample newspaper reports 68
Table 2.4 Sector wise discussion on civil society and political relations 69
Table 3.1 Comparative table showing democracy and civil society
level in four countries
96
Table 3.2 Freedom House rating for four countries in 2006 97
Table 3.3 Professions of parliament members 1973 to 2001 110
Table 3.4 Percentage of share of seats and votes secured by parties in
general elections
117
Table 4.1 Objective of the Civil Society Organizations (CSO) 140
Table 4.2 Funds providing sources for CSOs other than membership 145
fees
Table 4.3 Cooperation ranking with other social, political and market
actors
153
Table 4.4 Nature of involvement in grass-roots actions 156
Table 4.5 Selected grass-roots action among foreign funds receiving
and non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and national
level
158
Table 4.6 Grass-roots performance evaluation 160
Table 4.7 Nature of formal relation with government 162
Table 4.8 Selected government relationship among foreign funds
receiving and non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and
national level
163
Table 4.9 Nature of advocacy among different types of CSOs 166
Table 4.10 Democracy related advocacy among foreign funds receiving
and non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and national
level
168
Table 4.11a
Success in policy making and policy breaking among
different CSOs
Table 4.11b Participation in PRSP Policy process by different CSOs. 170
170
xv

Table 4.12a Policy making and breaking among foreign funds receiving 171
and non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and national
level
Table 4.12b Participation in PRSP policy process among foreign funds 172
receiving and non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and
national level
Table 4.13 Nature of lobby by different CSOs. 174
Table 4.14 Selected lobby performed by foreign funds receiving and 176
non-receiving CSOs engaged at the local and national level
Table 5.1 Influence ranking of different actors upon the political 189
system
Table 5. 2a Personal relation between different CSOs and important 192
actors
Table 5. 2b Personal relation existing between important actors and CSOs of 193
different sections
Table 5.3a CSOs having contact with political parties 194
Table 5.3b Political party relations with CSOs belonging to different 195
sections
Table 5.4 Sampled news papers 199
Table 5.5 CSOs types and mention of different attributes in the news 202
reports
Table 5.6 Politicization, corruption and violence among labor unions as 215
revealed in news paper reports
Table A-1 Sampled civil society organizations belonging to different 280
categories
Table A-2 Questionnaires filled in each day 281
Table A-3 The statistics of all three steps-Population, sampling and 283
interviewed CSOs
Table A-4 The CSO under affiliated ministry of institutions 283
Table A-5 CSO’s classification 284
xvi

List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Integrated model to study civil society in developing 17
countries
Figure 1.2 Democratic transitional phases towards consolidating 30
democracy
Figure 1.3 Simplified model of democratic consolidation taking 33
place through the combined forces
Figure 3.1 Model for Comparison 97
Figure 3.2 Rise of NGOs receiving foreign funds since 1990s in 102
Bangladesh
Figure 3.3 Flow foreign grant through NGO Affairs Bureau in 103
Bangladesh
Figure 3.4 Year of establishment of Civil Society 104
Organizations(CSO)
Figure 3.5 Vertical reciprocal relationship between civil society and 125
political parties (elaborated model)
Figure 3.6 Simplified picture of the civil society and Political Party 127
Relation in Bangladesh
Figure 4.1 Self categorization by the civil society organizations 138
Figure 4.2 Policy Interests of Civil Society Organizations(CSO) 139
Figure 4.3 CSOs acting at different geographic level 142
Figure 4.5 The pattern of individual members of the CSOs surveyed 143
Figure 4.6a Pattern of volunteer among local and national CSOs 147
Figure 4.6b. Pattern of volunteer among foreign assistance receiving 147
and non-receiving CSOs
Figure 4.7a Pattern of employee among local and national CSOs 149
Figure 4.7b Pattern of employee among foreign assistance receiving 149
and non-receiving CS0s
Figure 4.8a Amount of budget among local and national CSOs 150
Figure 4.8b Amount of budget among foreign funds receiving and 151
non-receiving CSOs
Figure 4.9 Lobby through political parties and coalition formation 178
–five country comparison
Figure 5.1 Relationship with ruling party and opposition 196
xvii

Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Statement of the Problem
Grassroots developments in Bangladesh gained world recognition with the 2006
Nobel Peace Prize having been awarded to Professor Yunus and his Grameen Bank 1 . On the
other side of the coin, Transparency International rated Bangladesh as the World’s most
corrupt country for five successive years from 2001-2005 2 . Why, then, can civil society be so
successful at the grassroots level, yet not have any strong role in producing good governance
and consolidating democracy? Not only Bangladesh, but also other developing countries that
have embraced democracy during the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., in Thailand, The Philippines,
Indonesia, Nepal and other parts of Central Asia, Latin America and Africa) are experiencing
frustrating outcomes and political instability. However, international development
organizations and donor countries influenced by the Neo-Tocquevillean school, regard civil
society as the best instrument for good governance and democratic consolidation in third
world countries. The policy of applying Western experiences and theories in non-Western
societies while neglecting indigenous settings, local circumstances and histories has
provoked controversy. Often civil societies with large number of associations, having good
reputation in social development and staging mass protests for democratic change have been
1 The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to
Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below
(source: http://muhammadyunus.org/NobelPrize/press_release.html internet access 10 February, 2007).
Grameen Bank is the pioneer institution for the modern practice of micro-credit often used in development
programs for poverty alleviation. The Grameen Model of Bangladesh is currently used to financially empower
the poorest families in more than a hundred countries across the globe through savings and loans (Dowla and
Barua, 2006).
2 Corruption Perception Index, 2006, Transparency International Bangladesh, available at http://www.tibangladesh.org/CPI2006.pdf
(internet access on 12 June, 2007).
1

found to be ineffective in influencing government policies and consolidating democracy.
High profile of NGOs and the large number of development projects may partially lead to a
vibrant civil society but not necessarily guarantee a participatory vigilant civil society.
Prominent scholars like Robert Putnam, Larry Diamond have emphasized on
associational culture to make democracy work. They have argued for the strong relation
between the autonomous, local based, citizen groups and democracy. Higher the number of
associations in a country, the higher the likelihood that, democratic institutions will improve.
So they pursue that efforts should be made to strengthen such groups to bring democratic
transition where there is none and consolidate democracy where there is already an existing
one. Efforts to produce democracy through civil society and civic engagement is believed to
bring changes in three ways, (a) changes at the micro social level will produce macropolitical
results, (b) in a society, disposition and practices shaped in one association will have
spillover effects in other circumstance and (c) the same associational structures will operate
in similar ways in different socio-historical contexts (Armony, 2004:7).
The idea that strong civil society fosters democracy 3 , holds the state in check, and in
turn contributes to development (Howell and Pearce 2001: 40), has influenced formation of
donor policies on good governance 4 and greater cooperation with NGOs in the third world.
3 After the failure of the policy of state reform during 1980s-commonly known as structural adjustment, donors
became more interested in civil society to overcome the problems in the developing world. The neo-
Tocquevillean school supplied the necessary arguments about how active associations and civic engagement
contributed to democratic polities and how this facilitated economic progress and prosperity (Howell and Pearce,
2001,41).
4 Theoretically, good governance involves an efficient public service, an independent judicial system and legal
framework to enforce contracts; the accountable administration of public funds; an independent public auditor,
responsible to a representative legislature; respect for law and human rights at all levels of government; a
pluralistic institutional structure, and a free press (Leftwitch 1994). Good governance marries the new public
management to the advocacy of liberal democracy (Rhodes, 1997: 50). Through their good governance agenda,
World Bank, ADB and other development agencies seek to encourage competition and markets; privatize public
enterprise, reform the civil service, introduce budgetary discipline; decentralize administration, and greater use
of non-government organizations in the third world. Good-governance agenda suggested that a virtuous circle
could be built between state, economy and civil society which would balance growth, equity and stability. To
2

International aid policy embracing such liberal, organizational view of Neo-Tocquevillean
school intend to promote an ‘ambitious vicious’ circle between state, economy and civil
society in developing countries. Civil society organizations have been highlighted both as
service providers and as promoters of good governance and democratization.
However, the notion of civil society that has been accepted by the donors is
normative and based on Western experiences overlooking the political and social background
of the developing countries. In most cases, third world states are weak, limited in their
capacity and have social relations that are embedded in a vertical clientelistic manner.
Imposition of a new idea in a very different social-historical setting may lead to ramifications.
Often third world political systems and societies have been found to be immature in institutional
development, lacking necessary conditions for proper functioning of civil society. Despite the
fact, Neo-Tocquevillean scholars, particularly Diamond (1989, 1996) have emphasized civil
society for the development and maintenance of secure democracy in developing countries.
Diamond has mentioned several functions of civil society in consolidating democracy and
particularly for developing countries—check and balance the power of the state, ensure
pluralism, increasing political participation, teach democratic norms, recruit and train new
political leaders and resist authoritarian rules (Diamond, 1992: 6-12). For all these functions
civil society requires necessary democratic atmosphere where the market needs to be stable
as well as the other state institutions to be well institutionalized. Diamond has pointed out
conditions for civil society groups— they must have democratic goals as well as internal
democracy, organizational institutionalization, pluralism with out fragmentation etc.
this end civil society has been considered as the best tool to balance the state and the market in political terms
by reducing abuse of power, and in economic terms as by becoming a third source of social service provision
(Lewis, 2004:302-303).
3

(Diamond, 1996:212, 1999). These conditions are also normative so as the democratic tasks
that have been expected from civil society.
No society, particularly in a developing country can conform to these conditions. In
fact, where political institutions have emerged in a non-democratic atmosphere and social and
political relations are based on kinship and clientelism, civil society can hardly emerge as an
autonomous, pluralistic force. On the other hand, they may be found to be weak, polarized and
controlled by the more powerful political forces. If the civil society organizations (CSOs) act in a
clientelistic manner, if they are dependent on and are placed under the powerful local elites and
politicians in the social stratification, if their organizational strength is overpowered by the state
and political forces and autonomy is compromised, vigilant civil society can never be achieved.
Foreign donations and loans and supporting state policies can easily encourage and lead to large
number of civil society organizations, this may bring development and vibrancy but not
necessarily vigilance. Only when vibrancy and vigilance together is found in a civil society it
may contribute to democracy. Practically combination of both the attributes is hardly found in
civil societies in developing countries.
1.2 Research Question and Objective of the Study
Bangladesh represents the most likely case to show the simplicity in the Neo-
Tocquevillean assumption and impracticability in the donor policies to strengthen civil society to
ensure democracy. Bangladesh society and state which is a formal democracy possess least the
important caveats 5 that Diamond has warned about (1996:213). At present there is free market
5 Diamond (1996: 213) has mentioned a good number of caveats that may impede the democratic role of civil
society. They are – history of authoritarian state corporatism, low level of economic development or the absence
of a fully functioning market economy, lack of state autonomy; a hyperactive, confrontational and relentlessly
rent seeking civil society; angry, anomic civil society; civil society trying to substitute coherent political parties.
4

system in Bangladesh. Formal parliamentary system of government has been reintroduced here in
1991. The state does not lack any autonomy in relation to other internal actors or institutions
within the political system. Moreover the civil society here is not hyperactive and relentlessly
rent seeking, trying to penetrate the state. Civil society organizations are also not alienated from
the state and the interest groups do not have the power or objectives to substitute the political
parties. Rather the state and political forces have emerged as the most powerful actors. In spite of
a clientelistic, kinship-based social setting, there is a vibrancy of social organizations most of
which may be considered as civil society organizations from a broad definition. These
organizations are mainly local based and welfare oriented. However, contribution of civil society
in democratic consolidation is hardly observed. Though they have strong presence in the service
providing sector and social welfare, civil society organizations have been found to be rather weak
and ineffective in relation to politics, policy making and democracy. The important role by civil
society may not be denied in different movements for democracy before and after independence
in 1971; however, in the day to day life, influence of civil society in government policy and
protecting and representing people’s interest and rights can hardly be observed. The present
research tries to find the answer to the core question— despite its well recognized contribution in
social development why the civil society in Bangladesh can hardly contribute to democratic
consolidation?
With the aim to answer the research question, the present study is based on three
broad objectives:
The first objective is to explore factors that influence the nature, strength and actions
of civil society, to identify the most influential factor that contributes in impeding civil
society’s vigilant role in contemporary Bangladesh.
5

The second objective of the study is to empirically investigate civil society
organization—basic units of civil society, to reveal types of their functions and nature of
activities that are related to politics, participation and democracy.
The third objective is to investigate the civil society and political relation to verify the
inferred causes to the weak and less participatory role of civil society which is found to be
hardly contributing to democratic consolidation in Bangladesh.
The study starts its journey by taking the civil society in Bangladesh as the dependent
variable and the factors that contribute to the development and participatory nature of civil
society as the independent variable in their broad senses.
1.3 Critical Arguments
Neo-Tocquevillean scholars and donors have emphasized organizational activities
and group work through forming associations, particularly at the community level. Such
policies have lead to proliferation of grass-roots organizations, i.e., NGOs in the third world
societies. However, proliferation of civil society organizations generated through internal and
external pressure and policies, just like in Bangladesh, may not always lead to democratic
success. The present research attempts to argue with empirical observations that unless the
civil society is autonomous, enjoying strong network and is participatory that is, involved in
formal interaction with national and local governments, taking part in policy making,
advocates on important issues and lobby to form pressure on the government, it can hardly
contribute to democracy though it may have a high profile of success in social development.
In case of Bangladesh, though social development activities of civil society are significant,
its participatory rate is low.
6

Strengthening civil society may be a policy of the donors or international
development agencies, parliament may also legislate laws to regulate CSOs. Such internal
and external institutional matters do shape the nature of civil society to some extent, but may
not be considered as the prime influencing factors. Present research through exploring most
of the external and internal dynamics, shows that nature and function of civil society in
developing countries, like Bangladesh is determined through combinations of factors like
globalization, donor policies, as well as historical development, social culture, and political
institutions. Though the influencing factors act in a combined way, they may differ in their
intensity at different levels of political development and vary from country to country. In
most cases political and vigilant strength of the civil society is highly influenced by the
political actors.
CSOs developed at the community level are mostly concerned with the local
problems of the area. In developing countries poverty is one of the biggest problems;
naturally most organizations are concerned on welfare and economic empowerment.
Financial assurance from donors, lead to more civil society organization and better nongovernmental
services which is ultimately thought to bring better citizenry and more
participation in political decision making. Such participation related goals often remain
unrealized. In case of Bangladesh too, large number of civil society organizations active at
local and meso levels is mostly concerned with social welfare and poverty alleviation.
Majority of CSOs are engaged in service related functions than advocacy and other
participation related matters. In spite of its vibrant nature, civil society is mobilized at a very
low rate towards political and democracy related matters.
7

From the political perspective, with the Bangladesh case, the study argues that,
instead of influencing the government and political actors, the civil society itself has been
influenced by the powerful social political factors that have weakened its potentials to
generate democratic norms among the citizens, articulate interests and watch on government
actions. Only a few civil society leaders, elites and a few factions have personally gained
from such politicization.
1.4. Conceptual Framework
The present study relies on two overlapping approaches— Comparative Politics and
New Institutional Approach, to study and explain the civil society in Bangladesh.
Comparative politics explains different political systems and their institutions and norms,
through identification of similarities and differences. It helps us develop explanations and
test theories on the way in which political systems work and in which political processes
occur. Political scientists cannot design experiments to control and manipulate political
arrangements and observe the consequences. However, it is possible to describe and explain
the different combinations of events and institutions found in the politics of different
societies (Almond and Powell, 1966:26). One of the important questions to apply on political
systems is the attitude of the principal organized groups toward each other and toward the
system itself. The answer may be found in the studies under the broad heading Political
Dynamics as termed by Brown and Macridis (1996:197). It basically includes the
performance of political parties and other institutions that influence the public policies. Civil
society has been brought under this broad heading. Naturally, studying civil society under
such umbrella approach provides flexibility to understand the empirical fact in comparison to
other countries as well as to other institutions within the same political system.
8

For a further understanding and explanation of the role of civil society in political
system and influence of the state and other actors on civil society, this study also takes help
of multi-faceted Institutional Approach. Contemporary Institutionalism in political science is
concerned with the political collectivities. It studies reciprocal relations between politics and
socio-economic environment, that is, both the options of politics shaping the society as much
as society shaping politics. Institutions may be formal or informal structural features of
society or polity. Institutions transcend individuals to involve with groups of individuals in
some sort of patterned interactions that are predictable based on specified relationship among
the actors. Such institutions are stable, based on some shared values and meanings, and affect
individual behavior (Peters 1999:17-18). Institutional Approach provides the convenience to
study the actions and interactions of formal structures like legislature, bureaucracy, legal
framework as well as informal or popular structures like political parties, interest groups, or
even a set of shared norms or cultural traditions under the same heading as institutions. This
provides scope for explaining combined influences of structures on the other structures. So
under the one institutional approach, international trends, state policies, laws, historical
events as well as social norms and cultures may be explained in analyzing the reciprocal
interaction civil society has with the political and social system in its own process of
development.
1.4.1 Civil Society Discourse
The roots of the idea of civil society are various and scattered and its history may be
traced in different streams of Western political thought over the past two millennia—for
example in classical liberalism, liberal egalitarianism, critical theory, pluralism, Marxism,
and democracy. Again, civil society has found its place in the religious traditions of the East
9

and the West- Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Confucianism (Allagappa 2004, 27). In the
thoughts of Aristotle (384-322 BC) as well as of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), John
Locke (1632-1704), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),
civil society was considered as synonymous with the state or political society. Civil society
in this conception expressed the growth of civilization to the point where society is civilized.
Nonetheless, there was always a connection between citizenship and society in the early
thoughts (Kumar, 1993: 376-377).
In the later half of the 18 th century ideas, society has been distinguished from the state
by thinkers including Adam Ferguson (1723-1790), Adam Smith (1737-1809), Thomas Paine
(1805-1859) and Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859). While they continued to use the term
civil society in its classical sense, their arguments in fact established the separation that
brought radical transformation in the meaning of the concept. Among them, Adam Smith
came closest to identifying civil society with the market while reserving an essential role for
the state. Civil society was founded on self-interested economic activity and the division of
labor with a separate minimal but active role for a sympathetic state (Davis and McGregor,
2000: 49). Ferguson argued for a commercial state to end feudal system and ensure liberty
and personal freedom. He relied on moral sentiment of the society to defuse to the negative
effects of the market (Allagappa, 2004: 26).
Later on, G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) conceptualized civil society as a sphere of
market relation, regulated by civil law, intervening between family and the state (Alagappa,
2004: 28, Hegel, 1991:220). It is more a market mechanism, where material interest is the
center of associations of members as self-subsistent individuals. Moreover, it also includes
classes and corporations concerned with social, religious, professional and recreational life
10

(Kumar, 1993:378). As opposed to Hegel, Marx saw civil society and the state not as
counterbalancing forces but implicated together in promoting the interest of capital (Davis
and McGregor, 2000:50). For Marx, therefore civil society was a problem that had to be
overcome, not by the state, which was its captive, but through a revolution that would put the
proletariat in the driver’s seat. With the workers’ party in power, civil society would dissolve
into state, which would represent the true public good (Alagappa, 2004:29).
Contemporary civil society and democracy studies on Asia mainly comply with two
civil society arguments Neo-Tocquevillean school (liberal democratic model) and Neo-
Gramscian School (New left-model). Though they differ in diagnosis, purpose, and strategy,
both new left and liberal democracy school share a positive take on civil society (Alagappa,
2004: 28). Alexis De Tocqueville (1805-1859) crafted his conception of civil society as a
sphere of mediating organizations between the individuals and the state. He showed that
associationalism and civil activity preserves individualism, act against despotism and foster
democratic culture (Howell and Pearce 2002, 44). Mostly American scholars for example,
Robert Putnam, Larry Diamond, Lester Salamon belong to Neo-Tocquivellean School. They
advocate that coexistence of liberal market and civil society ensures and enhances democracy.
The Gramscian (1891-1937) Model argues that civil society is the arena, separate from but
enmeshed with the state and market, in which ideological hegemony is contested, implying
that civil society contains a relatively wide range of organizations which both challenge and
uphold the existing order (Lewis 2004, 303). Such civil society is capable of energizing
resistance to a tyrannical regime. European scholars like Andrew Areto, Jean Cohens belong
to this group. Bangladesh civil society may be discussed in a combination of these two
models. Traditional civil society in Bangladesh is always honored for its glorious
11

contribution for the social political movement for independence and democracy (Gramscian
model). Again, new modern western modeled NGOs are contributing to generate social
capital and bring empowerment and social development (Neo-Tocquevillean Model). Both
arguments, lead to assume that, the combination of the traditional and modern civil society
organizations in Bangladesh are to contribute enormously in democratic consolidation.
However, recent studies on civil society in Asia, Africa and other non-western
countries do not support such thesis and show that, nature of civil society is socio-politicospecific
and the boundary between the civil society and political society is porous. Though it
is a necessary condition, it is not sufficient for democratic development in these non-Western
countries (Lele and Quadir, 2004; Allagappa, 2004: Armony, 2004). Every region and
country has its indigenous political norms and social relations that influence the political
institutions as well as the nature and performance of civil society. Donor policy to assist civil
society programs ignoring such local circumstances may bring some social development but
may not be able to ensure democracy in the developing nations.
Nonetheless, researches done so far, have hardly addressed the problem in its full
scale. Western scholars and development agencies are more interested to inquire the out
come of their aid projects contracted to the NGOs. On the other hand, Asian researchers are
more concerned with the indigenous nature of civil societies in Asia and the developing
world. The case of, Bangladesh has attracted researchers from both sides. While a group of
scholars are interested mainly with the NGOs and donor projects in Bangladesh (Stiles: 2002,
Holloway:1998, Amin: 1997, Ahmed:2000, Blair: 2000, 2005, Davis and McGregor:2000, S.
C. White: 1999, Lewis: 1998, 2001, 2004) others prefer to trace the development and role of
the traditional civil society from the perspective of local movements and political
12

developments excluding the modern trend of NGOs (Mamoon:1998, Siddiqui: 2001 ). In
most cases researches are based on historical documents, secondary data, or empirical
observation, case study surveys. Some are based on urban areas while others on rural society.
There is hardly any research on labor unions (Azam and Salmon, 2003), cooperatives, small
welfare groups (Ahmed and Jahan, 2002), business organizations or professional groups as
parts of civil society. Lewis (2004:301, 318) admits that there has been little research on civil
society in Bangladesh, either as an idea or as an empirical reality, through ethnographic work,
theoretical analysis or historical study. This study attempts to contribute to minimize the
existing gap and develops a more integrated model to study civil society empirically,
focusing as far as possible on all relevant factors that contribute to a participatory civil
society and analyzing different dimensions of civil society, including its different segments.
The present study accepts a broad definition of civil society that has given the
opportunity to target civil society organizations of different types both rural and urban,
national and local, traditional as well as Western oriented, both service providing and
advocacy groups. Small local clubs, cooperatives, as well labor unions; interest groups have
been studied as part of the same civil society in Bangladesh. The investigation has been done
empirically with the help of a large N scale survey on civil society organizations first of its
type in civil society studies in Bangladesh. The survey data analysis is also complemented by
interviews, case studies and news paper reports. These all make the study unique and new in
comparison to civil society researches done so far on Bangladesh. However, ultimate goal of
the study is to understand the participatory nature of civil society in relation to democratic
consolidation.
13

1.4.2 Analysis Framework
With the aim to identify the important factors influencing civil society and its
participatory nature and democratic potential, the present study develops a framework for
analysis that tries to investigate civil society empirically identifying it in the interactive
setting with other international, social, political and economic actors (figure1.1). The
analysis framework forms its simplified model of civil society to contribute to democratic
consolidation, identifies its characteristics and the actions, and then fixes the strategy for
investigation.
1.4.2.1 Operationalizing a Vibrant and Vigilant Civil Society
Civil Society: Present research accepts the broad and contemporary definition of civil
society by Susan Pharr (2004), referring to that section of the society consisting of sustained,
organized social activity that occurs in groups that are formed outside the state, the market
and the family. However, civil society is not confined within a non-political, non-market,
non-family atmosphere; rather, a constant interaction between the state, market and civil
society is taken for granted. That is a sort of function within the political system which is at
the same time separate as well as interrelated with the different sectors of the system. Such
civil society must be both vibrant and vigilant to be able to contribute to democratic
consolidation.
Civil Society Organizations: Civil Society Organizations are considered as the basic
units of civil society. The definition used for the present research includes a variety of
organizations as civil society organizations (CSOs), such as, clubs, local cooperatives, labor
unions, sports associations, trade organizations, business groups, charity groups, social
welfare groups, religious groups, citizens’ organizations, professional groups etc. Civil
14

society organizations are considered active in both types of functions—service providing and
advocacy. This notion of civil society complements to Neo-Tocquevillean school and
Gramscian School as well as the idea of civil society adopted by the International
Development agencies and donors.
Vibrant and Vigilant Nature: It is very rare for a civil society to possess all the
democratic, vibrant 6 and strong characteristics that have been depicted by the Neo-
Tocquevillean scholars such as density, autonomy, self regulation (Feinberg, 2006:22) as
well as internal democracy, compromising attitude, institutionalization, pluralism (Diamond,
1999: 227) etc. Presence of a few expected characteristics like density, collectiveness,
pluralism may also bring about some positive outcomes to some extent, for example in social
development or empowerment of the citizens, but may not ultimately lead to democratic
consolidation. The present study divides the overall nature of an ideal civil society in two
broad attributes—vibrancy and vigilancy. These two characteristics together are considered
to give the civil society the ability to bring democratic consolidation with other necessary
conditions being active.
Vibrancy refers to rich associational or group activity. Here the number of different
types of CSOs at the periphery, meso and central levels, irrespective of their objectives shall be
high. In their own arena, these CSOs shall try to play a dynamic role to achieve their goals and
act for the interest of the people they represent and generate social capital. These few
characteristics may bring positive results to society on particular matters.
6 That is in the commonly used meaning- strong, active, autonomous, horizontally networked, dense etc. by the
civil society experts, particularly those belonging to the Neo-Tocquevillean school. The present study has its
own operationlized meaning of vibrant nature of civil society from the context of developing countries in Asia,
particularly for Bangladesh.
15

Vigilant attribute refers to the political dimension of the civil society. CSOs in the
process of civic engagements, network building and interaction with political and market
actors are expected to contribute to democracy. A vibrant civil society in a developing
country may contribute to democratic consolidation in mainly four ways, civic education,
interest articulation, monitor state apparatus and market and ensure better participation and
representation of all segments of society in decision making, besides the polls. These are
more related to the participation related actions and advocacy functions of the civil society.
Though civil society is the prime target, present study, considers it in a broader
setting, as this sector has constant reciprocal interaction with the state, market, culture and
society. The model also reveals the fact that civil society alone cannot lead to democratic
consolidation (figure 1.1). What it can do is generate the process, influence other sectors
towards such goal as well as involve in more participatory activities and ensure
accountability of the state. Naturally in its process of interaction, the civil society itself is
also influenced by the total socio-economic and political environment which may enhance its
functions and influence towards democratic achievements or vice versa.
To understand the situation of civil society in Bangladesh and in its relation to
democratic consolidation the present study proceeds in three broad steps.
16

Figure 1.1 Integrated model to study civil society in developing countries
External Factors
a. Globalization
b. Donor Policy
Internal Factors
(c)
Market
Low level of
economic
development but
began economic
reform
accepting free
market system
(c)
(a) 1. State
2. Constitution & Law
3. Political Structures
and Institutions
Civil Society
Working through service & advocacy
Active in both vibrant and vigilant
dimension
Market
Legal & Political Institutionalization
Participatory Civil Society
(b) 1. History of
Colonial Rule and
autocratic regimes
2. Cultural Norms &
Social Tradition
Democratic Culture
Consolidated Democracy
Stable economic growth
17

1.4.2.2 Steps of the Investigation
At the first level the study identifies the most important group of factors that
influence civil society in developing countries. With the aim to understand the situation in
Bangladesh, it comparatively discusses the relation between civil society and politics in
India (stable democracy), The Philippines (elite democracy) and Pakistan (failed
democracy) with that of Bangladesh. The study argues that development and performance
of civil society is determined by a combination of historical, international, cultural and
institutional factors. In the case of Bangladesh, since 1990s, political parties have
emerged as important institutions in determining the participation of civil society and
their role in consolidating democracy. Personalized clientele and corrupt, nondemocratically
behaved political parties have been found to be playing a negative role
through penetrating the society and co-opting and dividing the civil society to achieve
their own political ends.
After identifying the group of factors that influence the nature and development of
civil society as well as the most important factor that contributes to the participatory
function of civil society, at the second level, the study empirically investigates the nature
of civil society organizations—the basic units of civil society, their basic attributes,
objectives and types of their functions, both service and advocacy and rate of their
involvement in participatory activities, besides their endeavor for social welfare and
service. Through such investigation directly at the field level in a wide scale, it is possible
to infer more precisely how participatory the civil society is in relation to democratic
consolidation.
Through the empirical investigation of civil society organizations it had been
found that, participatory rate of civil society organizations are comparatively very low in
18

contrast to their welfare and service providing actions as well as their network activities.
Moreover, they have a tendency to seek help from the political parties directly on
organizational matters. This is incongruent to democratic consolidation. So lastly, to
understand the reason for such low participatory rate of civil society and tendency to have
direct contact with the powerful political actors, the present study investigates further into
the civil society and political relations. This time the analysis is based on interviews,
observations, and newspaper reports on civil society. Consistent with the inferences made
about the powerful role of the political parties upon civil society and survey output
revealing low rate of civil society participation in politics and democracy related matters,
at this stage of analysis it becomes evident that civil society in Bangladesh has become
politicized, divided and co-opted by the political parties. This is impeding the civil
society to play any effective role in interest articulation, state monitoring as well as
ensuring the representation of all segments of the society in policy making. At all stages
of analysis, tendencies of civil society revealed have been compared and contrasted to the
Neo-Tocquevillean school as well as the Gramscian School.
1.5 Implication
The nature of civil society has often been explained through mono dimensional
factors. Putnam (1993) argues from a political cultural point of view to explain the
contrasting political performance of Northern and Southern Italy, Pekkanen (2006) argues
the prominent role of the state policies and laws in shaping the civil society in Japan, civil
society of developing countries have been explained through donor polices and
globalization (Stiles, 2002, Quadir and Lele, 2004 ) by a group of scholars, again, through
history and political development by others (Alagappa, 2004). While not underestimating
the value of such highly distinguished researches, my argument is that, in case of shaping
the nature and strength of civil society in developing countries, multi dimensional factors
19

like, donor policy, globalization, history, cultural norms as well as political institutions
(not only the state and law but also political organizations and political elites) have a
combined effect. Civil society and its nature is the reflection of all these factors. To
concentrate on one factor in expense of the other may not properly answer to inquiries on
civil society actions, strength and contribution to democracy. However, the proportional
combination of these factors and their influence may be time and country specific.
The present study clarifies Neo-Tocquivellean argument on the positive and
direct connection between civil society and democracy. Putnam’s theory has already been
contested and critically examined by scholars (Foley and Edwards, 1996; Putzel 1997,
Levi 1996, Tarrow, 1996); however, very few with case studies (Berman, 1997;
Mcilwaine,1998) and with empirical data (Armony, 2004) . Not only Putnam (1993) but
Diamond (1989, 1996) also advocates introduction of such Western style civil society in
the developing states. The present study points out the weakness in relating the theory to
the policy of development practitioners and uses the case of a South Asian State—
Bangladesh. It is based on the most recent data (year 2006) that is, after a decade and half
since such civil society strengthening policies have been adopted by the donors for the
developing countries. Naturally, it provides the opportunity to observe if there is any
effect of such policy on civil society and democracy along with other cultural and
institutional factors in Bangladesh.
The study does accept the advantages of horizontal associational relations through
trust, cooperation, reciprocity, social network generating from organizational
memberships (Putnam 1993, 2000) as well as the possibility for civil society to contribute
to democracy (Diamond, 1996) in the developing countries. However, it shows that,
unless civil society organizations are participatory, that is more involved in matters
related to politics, rights, state policies and democratic vigilance and act through
20

advocacies, lobbies etc. in a horizontal and peaceful manner, they are unable to contribute
to democratic consolidation in Bangladesh. If majority of the civil society organizations
remain politicized and divided by political actors, civil society cannot act autonomously.
Initiating and supporting only a few advocacy organizations overlooking the existing
traditional civil society organizations and other political institutions like the political
party may not ensure good governance and democracy as expected by the donors.
At the level of Bangladesh, this study is first of its type to be based on a large N
size survey on civil society organizations that targets a variety of CSOs under one study.
The study empirically inquires the status of civil society at the local and meso level and
their relation to state and politics. It inquires into the participatory nature of civil society,
while most of the prominent surveys on civil society organizations focus on the social and
economic welfare aspects. As the survey is also a part of the broad project named Civil
Society, State and Culture in Comparative Perspective, surveying on eleven countries of
different continents, the research has the potential to proceed into further comparative
study with other civil societies of the developing world, such as The Philippines, Brazil,
and Turkey etc.
Moreover the present study for the first time has studied and surveyed
cooperatives, small welfare groups, local clubs and labor unions as part of the civil
society. Though such organizations exist in a large number at the local level and meso
level in Bangladesh these traditional and indigenous CSOs have been kept outside the
study of civil society and social development. Inclusion of these organizations gives a
better picture of the nature and level of group activities in Bangladesh and brings the
study nearer to reality. Study and observation on such CSOs also reveals the fact that only
group activities are not enough to bring good citizenry. Economic solvency, education,
democratic norms in dealing group activities, and autonomy from the political powers
21

which often the local CSOs of Bangladesh lack, are also essential to generate civic
engagement that may lead to participation and representation of interests.
1.6 Brief Introduction to Contemporary Civil Society in Bangladesh
Bangladesh civil society is internationally recognized for its effort for poverty
alleviation and social development (Amin 1997, Dowla 2006, Dowla Barua 2006, Ullah
Routary 2003, Goon 2002). This is mostly due to the famous micro-credit system
introduced by Grameen Bank and the education and other welfare programs of BRAC
and other large NGOs. The success of Bangladesh in micro-credit and social development
at the grass-root level is the outcome of combined effort of indigenous initiatives and
donor assistance. The 1971 war marks the beginning of NGO activities in Bangladesh.
Moreover, since its inception in 1971, Bangladesh economy and politics is very much
dependent on donors’ aid and directions. She has gone through the donor prescribed
structural adjustment process and is adjusting policies to new good governance agenda
since the 1990s (Quadir, 1999). Bangladesh is often cited in description of large-scale
Donor-NGO relations (Stiles, 2002:34). According to International Development agencies
like UNDP, World Bank, now Bangladesh scores higher than India on several key
barometers of social development, e.g., infant mortality (5.6% in Bangladesh while 6.2%
in India), child vaccination (77% in Bangladesh 56% in India), employment of women,
enrollment in primary school (108% in Bangladesh, 116% in India) 7 . Government
policies and laws also provide necessary legal framework for NGOs and other social
welfare groups to register and function easily. Bangladesh ranks among the top Asian
countries in terms of intensity of NGO activities (Shigetomi, 2002:30).
7 Times, 3 rd April, 2006, Websites of World Bank http://devdata.worldbank.org, access date 20 April, 2007
and UNDP, Micro-credit Summit, 2006.
22

Group based credit activities and large size of social welfare organizations; clubs
etc. in Bangladesh indicates the rich abundance of social capital generated through
horizontal membership. A few statistics of registered or enlisted civil society
organizations shown in Table 1.1 may give an idea of a large vibrant third sector in
Bangladesh. Besides these statistics, there are a good number of professional groups
registered with their respective institutions and ministries. Moreover, there are numerous
registered and unregistered regional groups and clubs. The NGOs that are registered with
the NGO Affairs Bureau are large and medium size NGOs that have national coverage or
at least cover a particular region of the country. These NGOs in each union 8 organize the
formation of hundreds of groups made of 20 to 50 members among their beneficiaries for
providing services. The number will proliferate if unregistered and informal organizations
are included 9 . At all social levels and classes among different sections of the civil society
the tendency to form a group or small organization is very common in Bangladesh.
The relative vibrancy of Bangladesh civil society in relation to number becomes
more distinct if we compare the statistics with that of other developing countries in Asia.
Table 1.2 has been developed based on the statistics gathered from country profiles in the
website of ‘Philanthropy and Third Sector: In Asia and Pacific,’ 10
though exact and total
statistics of civil society organizations or non-profit groups in none of the countries were
available. It must be mentioned that this table may not provide the reliable statistics of
each country, but it does give us some idea of the facts.
If we compare the situation of Bangladesh to other countries considering the
number of civil society organizations and the total population of each country, then
besides The Philippines,
8 Unions are the smallest administrative units ranging 10 to 12 natural villages run by an elected council.
Bangladesh is divided into 4484 unions at present. (Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh 2004).
9 Unfortunately, statistics of unregistered organizations is not available in Bangladesh. No census has been
conducted in the late nineties and afterwards on the social organizations.
10 http://www.asianphilanthropy.org/countries/index.html access date 28th November, 2007.
23

Table 1.1 Statistics of registered CSOs in Bangladesh
Type of CSOs
Foreign funds receiving
Development NGOs
Voluntary welfare
organizations
Number of registered
CSOs (2004 or 2005)
Affiliated Ministry or Institution
1997 NGO Affairs Bureau- Prime Ministers Office
45508 Ministry of Social Welfare
Registered women groups 8271 Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
Youth organizations 6607 Ministry of Youth and Sports
Trade organizations 465 Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms
Labor unions 6,780 Ministry of Labor and Employment
Registered cooperatives 189,847 Ministry of Local Government, Rural
Development and Co-operatives
Chambers of commerce 299 Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of
and trade/ industrial
Commerce and Industries
associations
Total 259774 Registered CSOs
Source: The table is developed by the author, based on the Statistics on different types of civil society
organizations that have been collected from the booklets of respective ministries and institutions and their
websites.
Table 1.2 Statistics of CSOs and total population of selected countries in Asia
Country
Number of registered Nonprofit
Total Population 11
Groups (Year)
India 604800 (2002) 12 1094600000
Bangladesh 259774 (2004) 145000000
The Philippines 249000 (2002) 13 84600000
Pakistan 12000 (2001) 14 155800000
Indonesia 12000 (2000) 15 223000000
Source: The table formed by the author based on the information from the websites of
http://www.asianphilanthropy.org/countries/index.html access date 28th November, 2007 and World Bank
Data base http://devdata.worldbank.org access date 28 th November, 2007.
11 World Bank Data base http://devdata.worldbank.org. access date 28 th November, 2007.
12 The website based on PRIA 2002 mentions about 1.2 million non-profit organizations and also mentioned
that 49.6% of them are unincorporated. So excluding the 49.6% from the 1.2 million the actual number
comes to 604800.
13 In the website it is said that the non-profit groups of The Philippines ranges from 249000 to 497000, but
it is not particularly mentioned whether these organizations are registered or not. So the lowest estimate has
been accepted.
14 This is the statistics of CIVICUS (Sattar and Baig, 2001:6) the data of 45000 non-profit group as
mentioned in the website includes unregistered organizations too.
15 Also supported by the statistics given by Shigetomi (2002: 164).
24

Bangladesh’s position seems to be in most vibrant position from the consideration of
number of civil society organizations comparing to its population.
So from the point of view of international acknowledgment of the performance of
NGOs and statistics of large number of different social organizations as well as
comparison with other countries indicate rather a vibrant image of the civil society in
Bangladesh.
Conversely, performance of the civil society from the aspects of politics and
democracy is rather insignificant. The civil society has been termed weak fragmented
(Westergaard 1990), poor (Holloway 1998) and partisan (Quadir 2003) in terms of
ensuring pluralism, political participation and democracy. Organizations that are
conventionally known as civil society in Bangladesh, like the labor unions, chambers of
commerce, professional groups, bar associations, student groups and even small local
clubs and recently development NGOs, have been accused of partisanship and being
engaged in manufacturing and maintaining an elite dominating hegemony rather than
advancing the genuine interests of the groups (Stiles 2002, Quadir 2003, White 1999,
Jahan 2005). Some of these organizations are also scarred by corruption, clientelism and
other misdeeds. The traditional civil society organizations may be superficially seen to be
working in a democratic way following formal organizational structure and
constitutions 16 ; practically they are found to be run by the wish of the leader or group
leaders who are again blessed and controlled by the political parties. Horizontal
democratic norms may not always be found in the leader member relationship of such
organizations. Again the development NGOs that is the CSOs who claim to be the voice
of the poor in Bangladesh often don’t follow democratic practice in their relation with
16 For example in most cases, the executive body of labor unions or professional groups is formed through
regular elections and there are a lot of campaign and competition before each election. These groups do
exert their demand to the authority and sometimes appear in the press with their opinions. All these are
done using the formal rules of the organizations. However, in practice, the panel which support the
governing party wins most of the elected posts and implement the ruling parties control within the CSOs.
25

their poor beneficiaries. The relationship is more like a service provider or credit giver
and receiver than horizontal members possessing the same power to exert and implement
their opinions and wishes. The internal governance system of the NGOs are often accused
to be corrupt, non-accountable and influenced by nepotism, patronage etc.
Civil society seems to have reflecting the political and social situation of
Bangladesh. Beginning from the top political executives, administration, political parties
and down to the local government and informal social institutions in Bangladesh, it is
clientelism, patronage, nepotism, corruption that appear as the operative practices. Formal
democracy is yet to be institutionalized; rather it is facing interruptions and deadlocks
from time to time due to non compromising attitude of the major political parties. While
civil society is expected to fight against such negative forces within the society and
politics, they are practically found to be entangled within the current trend of politics. The
associational culture that exists in Bangladesh and the organizational strength that has
shown success in poverty alleviation, have not yet reached the level so as to act as the
watch-guard to state performance.
1.7 Definitions
To avoid ambiguity, this section defines the key concepts used in the dissertation.
1.7.1 Participatory Civil Society
Civil society becomes participatory only when it is able to enter the process of
political interaction and influence policy decisions and implementation through the
conventional, horizontal and formal ways. This study will consider four types of actions
of the civil society as indicators of participatory civil society—(1) Nature of formal
relations with the government; (2) Advocacy on different issues; (3) Influencing policy
making decisions and budgets; and (4) Lobby. Besides, information on nature of
membership, financial strength, geographic level of activity, policy orientation, objectives,
26

autonomy of civil society organizations determine the ability of a CSO to become
participatory and influence democratization process. Such participatory attribute of civil
society is directly related to its vigilant nature.
1.7.2 Politicization of Civil Society
Politicization is a common concept often used in a negative meaning to describe
the political involvement or exertion to control an institution, organization or an
administrative process, which is ideally thought to be neutral and free from political
influences. When a civil society organization takes politically motivated decisions as
directed by a party or government and is politically colored by the political affiliation of
its members, withholding original objective and interest on which it was formed, we may
term it as a politicized civil society organization. Partisanship of the members of the
organizations has a role to play in the politicization process. Partisanship is the party
identification of a citizen. Such identification has predictable relationships with their
perceptions, evaluations and actions of the political process. Faced by a new issue or
political controversy, the knowledge of what position is favored by one’s own party is a
valuable cue in developing one’s own position (Dalton and Wattenberg 2000, 20).
Moreover government dictates and strong party control upon the organization challenging
its autonomy is another feature of politicization. Most often, politicization takes place
through ideology, patronage, corruption and clientelism.
1.7.3 Democracy
Dahl’s (1971, 1991) Polyarchy is regarded as the ideal type democracy for the
present study. It is the target for the transitional or fledging democracies to achieve
through institutionalizing their democratic institutions and practices. The donor’s
27

concerned in democratic consolidation through the civil societies also recommend
polyarchy as the goal for the developing world. The most important seven features of
such democratic polyarchy are, 1. Control over government decisions on policy is
constitutionally vested in elected officials; 2. Elected officials are chosen and peacefully
removed in frequent, fair, and free elections in which coercion is absent or quite limited;
3. Virtually all adults have the right to vote; 4. Most adults also have the right to run for
public offices in these elections; 5. Citizens possess a right, effectively enforced by
judicial and administrative officials, to freedom of expression including criticism of and
opposition to the leaders or party in office. 6. They have access and effectively enforced
right to gain access to sources of information that are not monopolized by the government
of the state, or by any other single group; 7. They possess an effectively enforced right to
form and join political organizations, including political parties and interest groups (Dahl
1991, pp 73-74).
These seven conditions imply three main dimensions of political democracy—
competition, participation and civil and political liberties (Sørensen, 1993:13). In such a
democracy institutional power holders are elected by the people and are responsible to the
people (Vanhanen, 1997: 31). It ensures power sharing by all major groups where
common people have some kind of control over decision making (Quadir, 2004: 88).
Dahl (1971) emphasizes the responsiveness of government to the preferences of citizens
considered as political equals. Democracy with such a high value may be achieved only
through stages and transitions, particularly in a developing country.
So, democracy is concerned with political rights as well as the preferences and
interests of the people. Citizen’s preferences in a democratic state are not only the
political rights and liberty but also the fulfillment of their varied interests that may
include basic needs like food, clothes, shelter as well as a raise in salary, tax cut and other
28

public services from the government. So a democracy with responsive state may have two
broad aspects that can be termed as interests and rights.
From the aspect of interest and public service in democracy, civil society
organizations may be found in a positive position— acting for group interests, community
welfare and sharing in functions for public services. In this way, in the age of
privatization and liberal economy, civil society may be rather contributing to democracy
by helping the transformation to a smaller state, where different types of public services
are contracted out to different non-profit groups. This is also considered as a way of
private participation in state actions, particularly in the Western world like USA, UK and
other parts of Europe. Again in the developing countries, different welfare programs of
civil society organizations, particularly NGOs and welfare groups are making
constructive contribution by facing the immediate interest and need of the poor and rural
people for their economic empowerment and social development.
Interest and service may be crucial to citizen satisfaction and socio-economic
development. However, without the insurance of wide scale civic education, participation,
equality, political stability and accountability, a political system can hardly reach the goal
of polyarchy. For this, civil society organizations need to be not only welfare and service
providers but should actively participate in actions to protect, ensure and enhance the
rights of citizens and their control over the decision making process as well as on
governance.
The present study in its focus on democracy and civil society relation is concerned
with the aspect of rights which is more related to vigilant nature of civil society.
1.7.4 Transition to Democracy
There are rich literatures on democratic transition and consolidation (Przewoeski,
1991, Hansen 1996, Sørensen 1993, Gunther 1995, Power and Gasiorowski, Linz and
29

Stepan, 1996). Accepting the views of Hansen (1996) and Sørensen (1993), the stages for
democratic transition turns out to be the following four with democratic consolidation as
the last stage:
1. Background condition—Authoritarian regime where national unity is strong among the
political communities;
2. Early transition— Political opening where the authoritarian regime gives concessions
and a consensus has been developed among the citizens and leaders for democratic
change;
3. Late transition—At this stage the regime is more democratic than the pervious ones but
not fully democratic. Political actors and governance institutions are yet to fully conform
to the democratic rule and democratic consolidation. These changes in phases do not
occur in a negotiated and linear manner. Often democracies in developing countries are
found seesawing between authoritarianism and frail democracy (Sorensen 1993:41);
4. Democratic Consolidation—It is the last and final phase of democracy. In the ideal or
strict form, at this stage of democracy all the democratic institutions are formed and the
new democracy has proved itself capable of transferring power to an opposition party
(Sørensen 1993:45).
Figure 1.2 Democratic transitional phases towards consolidating democracy
Back ground
Condition
Early Transition to
Democracy
Late Transition
to Democracy
Time
Consolidated
Democracy
Source: Based on George Sørensen’s (1993: 42) model on Transitions toward Democracy
30

Bangladesh in 2006 may be identified as being located at the stage of late democratic
transition. Bangladesh had gone through British colonial rule (1757-1947) and then had
been under the dictatorial rules of the Pakistani Military (1947-1971). During these
periods there have been movements for autonomy, democracy and independence where
civil society had played a significant role (Mamoon and Roy, 1998). Though Bangladesh
emerged as an independent democratic country in 1971, it soon went under authoritarian
rule. From 1974 to 1990 Bangladesh was directly or indirectly ruled by military (Tasnim,
2002: 62). During the last half of the 1980s, movements for democratic rule, lead by
political parties and supported by civil society gained voice and at the end of 1990 the
authoritarian regime was ousted by a mass-movement. Quadir (2004:95) terms the
process as a negotiated transition to democracy. Since 1990, Bangladesh began its first
phase of democratic transition. The fledging democracy is experiencing ups and downs
marked by political instability, confrontation and economic inflation. However, in the
meantime three peaceful free and fair elections had been held that always led to
ascendancy of the alternate political coalition to power. Now democratic rule of games
are understood by all political actors; however, the culture to adhere to democratic norm
and accept the uncertainty of the democratic institutions are yet to be reflected in the
performance of both the ruling power and opposition block, which often leads to political
deadlocks. So the democracy is still marked by instability and confrontation.
1.7.5 Democratic Consolidation
The challenge for democratic consolidation is to ensure the seven characteristics
of poliarchy not only through legislation and constitutional amendments but through
practices ensuring political stability, equality and representation of all segments of the
society in state governance. The idea is very broad and the process requires involvement
and coordination of a good number of actors and factors.
31

Gunther (1995: 7) is of the opinion that democratic consolidation is achieved
when a consensus is reached among the key political actors to adhere to the democratic
rules and accept political institutions as the only legitimate framework for political
contestation. This means an agreement towards democracy from above. Preworski
(1991:51) observes democratic consolidation in a situation where all political conflicts are
solved through democratic institutions and all players accept the uncertainty of the
democratic game. This means that not only decision by political elites, but also
democratic practice among the political groups are essential. Ultimately democratic
practices are to become an established part of the political culture (Sørensen, 1993: 42).
Democratic rules are to be transformed into democratic norms, that is, democracy
becomes the only game in town (Linz and Stepan, 1996: 14). Linz and Stepan (1996)
also discuss the five major arenas of a modern consolidated democracy that combinedly
contribute to a consolidated democracy— civil society, political society, rule of law, state
apparatus and economic society. All the five arenas have their specific influence and type
of interaction towards and within the democratic system. Such democratic consolidation
takes place in a combined way and is not dependent on only one factor. The Linz and
Stipan (1996) model is based on the experiences of democracies in Europe and Latin
America.
For the case of Bangladesh, I show that democratic consolidation may be achieved
through the combination of four major factors that is political institutionalization, stable
economic growth, development of a democratic culture and a participatory civil society.
32

Figure 1.3 Simplified model of democratic consolidation taking place combindly
The State & Law and Political Institutions
(Enabling legal and political institutionalization)
Economic liberalization
(Leading to stable economic
growth)
Civil Society
(A better participatory civil society)
Consolidated Democracy
History, Tradition and Culture
(Generating democratic culture)
None of these sections will work independently but together, where civil society interacts
with all sections. The present thesis shall concentrate on civil society in its ability in
consolidating democracy in Bangladesh. The four objectives or tasks for civil society in
consolidating democracy in Bangladesh are the following:
1. Civic education on political and human rights;
2. Generating interest and values of the civil society groups to the political society—
interest aggregation;
3. Monitor the state apparatus and economic society and
33

4. Ensure better participation and representation of all segments of society in
political decision making besides the poll and ensure better partnership between
government and civil society.
1.8 Chapter Arrangements
Following this introductory chapter, the present dissertation develops its research
base and reveals empirical findings, supplementary analysis and reaches to the conclusion
through five more chapters.
Chapter two covers literature review and methodology used in the research. The
literatures that have been reviewed have been brought under four broad headlines. It
begins with the liberal model of Neo-Tocquevillean theory and the new-left model of
Gramsci both of which have influenced the study of civil society in Third World states.
The second section critically examines research works and arguments for and against
Neo-Tocquevillean and donor policy that embrace such civil society arguments. The third
section focuses on research projects on civil society from different perspectives (John
Hopkins Third Sector Project, CIVICUS civil society Index, Project on Civil Society in
Asia) that included researches on civil society in Asia and developing countries. The
fourth section particularly focuses on literatures on civil society on Bangladesh analyzed
from different viewpoints by researchers from home and abroad and points out the
necessity for further research and investigation on civil society in its broad meaning and
in relation to mainstream politics and democracy and also taking into account the history,
culture, tradition that may be unique to Bangladesh or South Asian region. Second part of
the chapter discusses how this inductive empirical study has combined both qualitative
and quantitative method to verify the assumptions and establish its arguments on the
vibrant but not vigilant nature of civil society in Bangladesh. Detailed discussion is
34

provided on the survey conducted and the other supplementary information and
secondary data that were gathered.
Third chapter identifies factors that influence civil society of Bangladesh. This
chapter is mostly based on previous literatures, researches, reports, reviews and personal
observation and interviews. With comparative discussion on the civil society and political
relation in three other developing countries in Asia—India, The Philippines and Pakistan,
who have experienced democracy with various level of success— the powerful influence
of the political actors on civil society and democracy has been identified. For Bangladeshparticularly
the political party has been recognized as the prime influencing factor upon
the vigilant nature of civil society in Bangladesh. The situation has been discussed in the
last half of the chapter.
Chapter four is based on the survey data, numerically discussing the basic
attributes of civil society organizations, their grass-roots activities and nature of
participation. First section focuses on the basic characteristics like classifications,
organization objectives, policy interest, geographic level of activity, membership,
resource sources, budget, volunteers, employees etc. of the CSOs. Besides, structural
strength of the civil society has been compared between CSOs working at national and
local levels and CSOs receiving and not receiving foreign funds. The second section is
concerned with the grass-roots action of the civil society and reaffirms the prevalent
assumption about high tendency of civil society involvement in grass-roots actions. The
third section concentrates on the participatory role of the civil society by analyzing in
detail the involvement of CSOs in having formal relations with the government,
influencing policy making and budget, advocating for certain issues and lobbying for
certain interests. The chapter reveals high participation of the CSOs grass-roots activities
but a very low rate of involvement in functions that is termed ‘participation related
35

functions’ that are more related to politics and democracy. Moreover, high tendency
among the CSOs to rely more on political party contacts than forming coalition among
them has been pointed out in this chapter.
Chapter five concentrates on the relationship between civil society and politics in
Bangladesh. This chapter is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative analysis
using survey data as well as newspaper reports, observation note of the surveyors,
interviews with resource persons and other information gathered through annual reports
and formal and informal conversation with the members of civil society and government
officers. The first section of the chapter, using the survey data shows the powerful
existence of political parties in perception of the CSOs and their high rate of contact with
such parties as well as political leaders. The second section is based on a sample of
newspaper reports during 2001, 2006 and 2007 that reveal the evidences of civil society
penetration and politicization by the political party and party government through
patronage, corruption, pressure, violence etc. Third section combining news paper reports,
observations, interviews and other sources of information focuses on selected civil society
events and discusses the most important civil society sectors narrating how government
and politics have penetrated and divided civil society, weakening their horizontal strength
and negotiating ability.
The concluding chapter explains how each chapter has contributed to the
conclusion that civil society in Bangladesh may be well recognized for its contribution in
development and social welfare, but it can hardly contribute to democratic consolidation.
It also points out the implication of the study findings in relation to democratic
consolidation in Bangladesh and for the Neo-Tocquevillean assumption on civil society
and donor policies based on such assumptions. The research identifies political actors as
the decisive factor to democracy and emphasizes the need to have deep understanding of
36

local circumstances, history, culture and political trends before adopting development
policies that are related to civil society and democracy. Finally it argues for avoiding the
high expectation of democratic consolidation from civil society activities and trying to
formulate policies to improve its participatory functions accepting the social and political
facts. The chapter ends indicating the further researches that may be conducted for better
understanding and solving the problem.
37

Chapter 2
Literature Review and Methodology
Among the two objectives of this chapter, one is to review the studies and literatures
on civil society that have influenced the researches on civil societies in developing countries,
beginning from the contemporary notions of Tocqueville and Gramsci up to the research
trends on civil society in Bangladesh. The other objective is to discuss in details the
methodology used and their relevance to the present study.
2.1 Literature Review
Literatures in relation to the present research have been reviewed dividing them into
four broad sections. The first section focuses on the two modern formulations-- the Neo-
Tocquevillean School and the Neo-Gramscian School. The second section reflects on the
contemporary literatures along the Neo-Tocquevillean school that have influenced
development policies of international donor agencies. The third section reviews international
research projects that have also focused on third world countries along with other developed
countries in different continents. The fourth section particularly reviews the trends in the
study of civil society in Bangladesh.
2.1.1 Theories on Civil Society Leading to the Study of Third World States
2.1.1.1 Neo-Tocquevillean School (Liberal Democratic Model)
De Tocqueville crafted his conception of civil society as a sphere of mediating
organizations between the individuals and the state (Tocqueville, 1873:190). His conception
of civil society is based on the limited state that would confine itself to the political sphere
and guarantee the legal framework and other conditions (such as socio-economic equality)
38

necessary for the effective functioning of civil society (Alagappa 2004, 30). Tocqueville,
based on his observation of the 19 th century American society established the importance of
free human association to a society that claims to be democratic not only in theory, but also
in practice. Though he did not mention the term ‘civil society’ in his two volume book on
‘Democracy in America’, he argued that associational culture and civic activity preserve
individualism, act against despotism and foster democracy (Howell and Pearce, 2001:44). He
found the associations participated by different sections of the society as the check to
supremacy of the majority, the direction towards mass society and end of political inequality.
Mutual interest among the members of the associations led to less reliant on the government.
This ultimately checked against despotism of the government and preserved individualism.
Associational culture also taught the peaceful means and arts for demanding material equality,
which ultimately nurtured democratic culture. Through such public civic engagement the
citizens of America actually became self-ruled (Howell and Pearce, 2001:44). Moreover,
Tocqueville had found the high potential in the right to association and practice of group
networks in forming strong political parties that may represent the people at the central
legislatures (Tocqueville, 1873:190).
Mainly American scholars like Robert Putnam, Larry Diamond, and Lester Salamon
espouse this doctrine. They advocate that coexistence of liberal markets and civil society
ensures and enhances democracy. Putnam (1993) in his distinguished research on Italy, has
reinforced the importance of social capital and its positive connection to democracy. Here he
strongly supports Tocqueville’s idea on associational life. Following Tocqueville he showed
how associations and civic relations have direct contribution to stable and effective
democracy. Internally, it is the cooperation, solidarity and public spiritedness that generate
39

through group activities and externally it is the network, enhanced process of interest
articulation and aggregation that contributes to democracy (Putnam, 1993: 11, 89-91). He
ultimately goes to the extent of saying, ‘Tocqueville was right: Democratic government is
strengthened, not weakened, when it faces a vigorous civil society’ (Putnam 1993:182).
Reflection of the same idea may be found in the writings and arguments of Larry Diamond
(1989, 1992, 1996). These two Neo-Tocquivellan scholars not only argued for the positive
link between civil society and democracy but also advocated for building civil society where
it was absent and strengthening civil society where it is existent in order to bring about
democracy and ensure good governance in third world countries.
However, there also remain some differences in the idea of Tocqueville and that of
the Neo-Tocquevillean school. While Tocqueville saw civil society as the key site for
governance, decentralization for democratic governance, Neo- Tocquevilleans see the civil
society as a supporting structure to democratize the state. Associational life is thought to
provide social infrastructure for liberal demcoracy, supply the means to limit, resist, and curb
the excesses of the state and market, present alternative when they fail, facilitate service
delivery at the local level, assist in conflict management, deepen democracy, offer a voice to
disadvantaged groups and promote economic development (Alagappa, 2004:41).
2.1.1.2 Neo-Gramscian School (Alternate model or New-left Model)
The alternate model or the European model for civil society is another attempt within
the civil society to retrieve the right of the people to reclaim how they should live. It includes
search for ways to reconcile socialist solidarity and self-management (Howell and Pierce,
2001: 55). It was Gramsci who had strong influence on European scholars and activists like
Jacek Kuron, Adam Michnik as well as Areto, Jean Cohen, Robert Cox and also in the
40

literatures on the process of redemcratization in Latin America. The core idea of the Neo-
Gramscian school is that civil society is a sphere of action that is independent of the state and
is capable of energizing resistance to a tyrannical regime (Foley and Edwards, 1996:38).
Drawing from but differing from Marx, Antoneo Gramsci (1891-1937) viewed civil
society not in counter to socioeconomic base of the state, but placed it at the political
superstructure. Gramsci’s hegemony means both the consensual basis of an existing political
system within civil society and advancement to a class consciousness where class is
understood not only from economic point of view but also in terms of a common intellectual
and moral awareness, and a common culture (Adamson 1980, 170-171). Gramsci’s conception
of civil society includes all social institutions that are non-production-related, non
governmental, and non familial, ranging from recreational groups to trade unions, from
churches to political parties. So there is both a separation and overlapping between the civil
society and political spheres. However, the Neo-Gramcian scholars in their way of
distinguishing between civil society, state and economy, see the civil society as an important
site for counter hegemonic struggle and assign it key role in defending society against the state
and market and in formulating the democratic will to influence the state (Alagappa, 2004: 29-
30).
Researchers studying the development, functions, actions and outcomes of civil
society in Asia have found relevance in explaining their studies from both the frameworks.
Most development policies initiated by the international agencies are based on the Neo-
Tocquevellian school. However, in assessing the applicability and outcome of such policies in
the developing countries, Neo-Tocquevillean model often becomes inadequate. A combination
of both the liberal democratic model and the new-left model provides a reasonable explanation.
41

This is because, the liberal democratic model has been found to be very normative, over
looking the local history, culture, norms and political circumstances while emphasizing civil
society and connecting it directly to democracy.
2.1.2 Relationship between Civil Society and Democracy and Development Policies
Putnam (1993) and Diamond (1989, 1992) are considered as the proponents of the
mainstream Neo-Toquevillean school who argue that social capital and organized citizenry
are the keys to make democracy work. Trust, cooperation, generalized reciprocity and
networks generated through civic engagement and association are the core ingredients to
economic and institutional success. These traits define civic community. Societies rich with
such traits have shown affluences and democracy, while other societies that lack such
attributes but marked by vertical networks, patron-client relation, force, kinship, patronage
etc. have shown lower performance in development and good governance (Putnam, 1993).
Diamond (1989) believed that developing countries require autonomous, local based
citizenry for the development and maintenance of secure democracy. Harbeson (1994:1),
another proponent of civil society in developing countries, went to the extent of identifying
civil society as the missing key to political reform, legitimacy and governance in those
political systems.
These ideas have provided the theoretical basis to the development paradigm called
good governance agenda where it is suggested that a virtuous circle could be built with the
state, economy, and civil society which will balance growth, equity and stability (Lewis 2004,
303). Since the 1990s International Development Organizations (IDO) have taken big
projects to foster development through civil society initiatives in the South. Researches show
42

donor initiative to support civil society has lead to grass-roots development, social
mobilization, and empowerment (World Bank reports, Fisher: 1998; Stiles: 2002, IOB: 1998,
Amin: 1997, Tasnim: 2005, Dowla and Barua: 2006). But donor projects have hardly
succeeded in pushing forward the issues like participation, democracy, and good governance
through civil society effectively. The very idea of the Neo-Tocquevillean school as well as
policy arguments of the donor agencies have been criticized and pointed out to be weak and
expedient.
Putnam’s idea to bring about macro-political outcome (democracy) through microsocial
effect (civic engagement) (Foley and Edwards, 1996: 6) has been criticized mainly
from three aspects— its simplicity, overlooking the political gap between civil society and
democracy and ignoring the other forces simultaneously active in the political system that
influence both civil society and democracy. Levi (1996:51) directly term Putnam’s image of
community generating social capital as romanticism. Historically it has been proved that
close network blocks, innovations reinforce traditionalism and create distrust about those
outside the social network. Another weak point of Putnum’s theory is down playing the
political associations and movements (Foley and Edward 1996). Development practitioners
have also been found to be ignoring the political institutions like political parties as well as
the traditional CSOs and concentrating only in forming and supporting new social
organization like development NGOs. Moreover, case studies have shown that often, political
institutionalization turns out to be more important for democracy than civic engagement and
political penetration may cause opposite effect through civic engagement (Berman, 1997).
Arnomy (2004:3), based on his empirical and historical observation, argues that, sociohistorical
context influences the nature, dispositions, orientations, and impact of civic
43

engagement. Institutional and societal conditions establish the cost threshold and enabling
conditions that determine the democratic potential of associations and movements.
More the less, to avoid social cleavages, Putnam’s ‘civic associations’ do not advance a
cause, and rather pursues policy changes (Foley and Edward, 1996) that are more like choral
clubs, bird watching groups, soccer clubs. Democratic roles that citizens are able to play
from such non-political and often closed membership are under question. According to Max
Weber, the quantitative spread of associational life does not always go hand in hand with its
qualitative significance (Berman, 1997:407). Tarrow (1996:396) is concerned with Putnam’s
work as it goes beyond Italy and advices the policy makers the Tocquevillean idea as a
prescription to build social network and arrange cooperatives in the Third World states.
Tarrow (1996:396) also warns that such top down policy of encouraging associations for
social capital would be attacking symptoms but not the causes of problem.
In fact, this is what has actually happened. Since 1990s, civil society organizations
began to be highlighted both as service providers and in their role in promoting good
governance and democratization (Davis and McGregor, 2000:53). Such interest of the
international development agencies in social capital, civil society and participation may be
interpreted as another way of building on the micro social foundation of market solutions
(Angeles, 2004:187). With the end of the cold war, it had become necessary for the Western
donors to democratize the South as soon as possible to make away for the new thrust of trade
liberalization. They believed that a democratic and accountable state could foster economic
growth and development and allow the market to operate freely. To make a way for
accelerated entry of goods and services, financial services, protectionist or authoritarian
regimes had to be removed or forced to democratize. For the same cause they have attempted
44

to strengthen weak governments in the South emphasizing the policies for transparency, and
decentralization but against corruptions. Often they have equated democracy with capitalism
(Rocamora, 2004:199).
Donors began with the assumption that civil society was an important check on the
government; so civil society assistance could encourage external pressure on the states for
reform. With the falling budget for development this strategy had also been considered the
best way to achieve large-scale effect through low-cost projects. It is the Neo-Toquevillean
scholars who provided the necessary theory to such strategy plan of the western donors
particularly the USAID and World Bank in 1990s (Howell and Pearce, 2001:43). The
influence of such civil society theory and democratic assumption was pervasive upon the
development practitioners. However, questions arise about the applicability of such theories
developed from the experiences of the Western societies, in very different socio-political and
economic setting of the developing countries.
Researchers agree that associational revolution in developing countries is
significantly influenced by external factors including donor enthusiasm for NGOs as agents
of economic and political change. Nevertheless, criticisms to introduce such Western notion
of civil society in non-western settings have gained considerable attention in recent scholarly
writings due to the ramifications observed in different countries. This may be discussed from
two overlapping viewpoints, that is, imposition of a new idea in a very different socialhistorical
setting and from the consideration of immature institutional development or lack of
necessary conditions for proper functioning of civil society.
Without careful and sensitive prior analysis of needs in the social and political
contexts, donor intervention in local civil societies can end up distorting and weakening the
45

local processes of association and problem solution (Howell and Pearce 2001, 121). Such
projects based on preconceived notions of civil society and neglecting indigenous settings,
local circumstances, and histories, provoke controversy. There is no guarantee that the liberal
democratic model of civil society will necessarily bring positive outcomes across nations,
cultures, history and political system.
This may be considered as a similar endeavor of exporting modernization theory from
the developed North to the developing South. Sardamove (2005, 391-394) is of the opinion
that failed efforts of social modernization for decades, attempts to create Western-style
nation-states, and inter-communal conflicts have paradoxically produced; in his words, a
partial ‘retraditionalization’ of social life in the developing world. In these societies, most
individuals have remained embedded within face-to-face and quasi-kinship networks and
have tended to pursue social goals through informal associations based on personal or
factional loyalty. As a result, beneath the successive social and political changes, societies
have remained dominated by tightly-knit ‘mafias’ pursuing narrow agenda. Strong influences
of such trends have caused clientelistic and parasitic characteristics among the modern NGOs.
Civil society organizations have brought tangible benefits like social welfare, empowerment,
education etc. but they have been generally unable to exercise the multiplying effects often
expected of them like pluralism and democracy.
The necessary institutional development and environment for a civil society to move
for pluralism and democracy is in most cases absent in those societies. Often, high rate of
violence, marketization of rule of law, privatization of law enforcement, and the wide gap
between the poor and the privileged (Oxhorn: 2003), concentration of political power in the
highest political office constrain civil society’s democratic potential in Third World countries.
46

These have caused periodic setbacks to the democratic development in countries like
Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia that do have vibrant civil societies (Alagappa, 2004:493).
These constraints to the performance of civil society and ultimately democracy, remind the
strong presence and influence of indigenous vertical social forces such as clientelism,
patronage, nepotism, corruption, and violence all working within political system as well as
low level of political institutionalization.
The challenge for development practitioners is to understand the meaning and role of civil
society in specific cultural and political contexts.
2.1.3 Studies on Third World Civil Societies from different Perspectives
At this stage of our discussion, I would like to focus on the style, dimension,
methodology used by civil society researchers at the international level. Here I highlight
three noted international projects on civil society that have focused on Asian as well as
developing countries besides other developed countries. These projects differ in their
objectives, methodology and theories. None of these three projects to be introduced and
reviewed have targeted the civil society of Bangladesh for their research and analysis.
2.1.3.1 John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
The most famous and oldest project on civil society in the third sector is the ‘The
John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project’ that began during the early 1990s and
continuing to date 1 . It is a systematic effort to analyze the scope, structure, financing, and
role of the private nonprofit sector in a cross-section of countries around the world in order to
enhance the contribution these organizations can make to democracy and the quality of
1 http://www.jhu.edu/~ccss/ website of the centre for civil society studies in John Hopkins University and
http://www.jhu.edu/~cnp/ website of the comparative nonprofit sector project. Access date 16 August, 2007.
47

human life. This project also finds its theoretical base in the Neo-Tocquevillean Stream and
advocates liberalization and globalization considering civil society as the third sector that
mediates between the extreme of profit making market and unresponsive state in matters of
social, economic and environmental crises (Salamon and et.al., 2003:2). Up to 2003, the
project had published data and analysis on over 40 countries. The third sector, according to
this project includes not only NGOs, welfare groups, professional groups, pressure groups,
advocacy groups and grass-roots organizations but also hospitals, clinics, universities,
schools, day care centers, religious congregations. The project concentrated in gathering data
mainly on structural and particularly economic side of the nonprofit organizations like their
volunteers, paid employee, source of income, budget, contribution in the national economy,
percentage in the economically active population etc. Though empirical, the data is mostly
collected indirectly from different census and surveys, only in the case where data was not
available from reliable sources, surveys were conducted.
Among the 40 countries, 14 are from the developing world. In an overview analysis
of the 40 countries, the project reports the third sector as a major economic force taking its
social and political importance granted. Another finding is that the number of paid staff is
higher than volunteers and the higher the number of paid staff, the higher is the number of
volunteers. The study compared the situation with both developing and developed countries,
showing that developing countries have fewer volunteers. In case of types of functions, it has
been found that service providing actions are much higher in number than expressive
functions 2 and it is same for both developing and developed countries. However, in
developed countries the paid staff is engaged in providing services while the volunteers do
2 By expressive functions, the project not only means advocacy for rights and politics related matter but also
expression of cultural, religious, professional values interests and beliefs.
48

the expressing activities. In developing countries it is mostly service functions that claim a
lot of volunteer workforce other than that of the paid staff. The fourth key finding of the
research in 2003 was that private philanthropy accounts for a smaller share of finance while
fees are the dominant source of revenue. And in the developing countries large share of the
third sector revenues is spent for development in comparison to other developed countries.
The study has also attempted to compare the third sectors of both the developing and
developed countries using the same simplified structures and definition developed in the
context of developed countries, particularly USA. Analysis in Western framework have lead
to the inferences on less voluntary activity rate in developing states where the society
structure and connections are very much different from the Western nations and are based on
informal relations and networks. Volunteer participation also takes place in rather informal
fashion than it happens in the Western countries. In its regional discussion on the third sector,
from the same analytical framework, the socio-economic settings and historical development
of the developed countries have been termed as infertile for the growth of civil society
institutions.
Though the data may have been gathered from the viewpoint of the local
understanding of the civil society as it is explained in the project reports, the analyses have
been done based on an American framework. This may give an over all idea on the Third
World’s civil societies and their comparative position in relation to the Western block but
may not reveal genuine tendency existing in particular regions that may lead to further
analysis. Moreover, the project is mostly concerned with gathering data on the economic and
structural side of the civil society. Unless the civil society is studied in the context of other
two sectors-state and market and focuses on the interaction that takes place between the civil
49

society and state and market, democratic contribution of the third sector can hardly be
assessed.
2.1.3.2 CIVICUS Civil Society Index
A more advanced and recently finished project on world civil societies is the
CIVICUS Civil Society Index on 44 countries. The first volume of CIVICUS Global Survey
of the State of Civil Society: country profiles have been published at in May 2007, based on
the project reports and findings revealed from 2003 to 2006. The project was conducted by
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation— an international alliance of civil
society organizations centered at South Africa. The organization is dedicated to strengthening
citizen action and civil society throughout the world. Though CIVICUS has good relation
with other Western, particularly American research organizations and development agencies,
its approach may be considered as post-liberal democratic model. It has almost come out of
the spell of Neo-Tocquevillean model of early 1990s where civil society has been considered
as a myth to ensure democracy. With grave concern about the performance and effects of
unchecked civil society in development and democracy and the growing call for
accountability of civil society organizations and lack of agreement on the definition of civil
society, the Civil Society Index (CSI) has aimed at self-critical assessment about civil society
actors throughout the world. Directed towards exposing the real world of civil society, the
CSI is the result of rigorous self-examination by civil society actors around the world.
To assess the civil society it has utilized Anheier’s (2004) civil society diamond tool
that analyzes the state of civil society into four key dimensions: structure, environment,
50

values, and impact 3 . The implementation of the project at country level had been conducted
by local prominent civil society organization or research institutes focusing mainly on five
types of primary and secondary data—secondary data review, consultation with regional
stakeholders, population surveys, media reviews and desk studies.
Specific themes, patterns and trends have been revealed through such comprehensive
research. A wide diversity in civil society organizations that satisfy the broad definition of
civil society— an arena that exists outside of the family, the state, and the market where
people associate to advance common interest, with community driven forms of civic life--
has been found. The problems of legitimacy, accountability and transparency of the CSOs
have been highlighted across nations. Contrary to the Neo-Toquevillean theory, the research
has revealed that often volunteering, charitable giving or any non-partisan community
participation are not coupled with a strong organized civil society in terms of levels of
organizations, networks, infrastructure, and resources, and vice versa in many countries in
the South (Heinrich, 2007:xxvi). Alike the findings of John Hopkins centre, CSI also found a
global pattern in stronger civil society roles in service providing than advocacy which
indicates that participatory governance was yet to become a reality at the national level. It
mentioned the inability of civil societies in influencing policies. Ultimately the strong
influence of the state has been reinstated. It had been found that a strong civil society
coexists with a well-governed and strong state. A more comparative analysis based on the
findings is yet to be published in the forthcoming second volume of the book.
3 The indicators for structure-were nature of citizen participation, diversity within civil society, level of
organization, inter-relations, resources; environment- political context, basic freedoms and rights,
socioeconomic context, socio-cultural context, legal environment, state civil society relations, private sector
civil society relations; Values-democracy, transparency, tolerance, nonviolence, gender equity, poverty
eradication, environmental sustainability; Impact-influencing public policy, holding state and private
corporations accountable, responding to social interests empowering citizens, meeting societal needs.
51

CIVICUS CSI project provides information on 44 countries belonging to the North
and South, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa as well as Latin America. So the tendencies of civil
society noted here represent the whole non-western block. Civil society index measured
through the civil society diamond model only provides an over view or summary of the real
situation of the civil societies in those countries. However, unless there are further
investigations into the state-civil society relation and democracy, the underlying causes to
such tendencies revealed in the findings can hardly be understood. More in depth study into
the civil society and political relation as well as on democracy has become essential if any
effective way to ensure participatory democracy is to be ensured through civil society.
2.1.3.3 Project on Asian Civil Society
Alagappa’s (2004) project on civil society focuses on civil societies particularly in
Asia and its political and democratic dimensions. Due to the diversity of culture, religion and
political ideals in Asia, often it had been argued that, civil society study has hardly any
relevance in Asia. However, Alagappa’s project on civil societies in twelve Asian countries
begins with the assumption that civil society, albeit weak and penetrated, does exists and
does affect political development in those countries (Alagappa, 2004:15). Unlike, John
Hopkins Centre or CIVICUS Project, Alagappa uses qualitative case studies for each country
strongly grounded on conceptual framework with comparative perspective to develop
inferences. Civil society is the independent variable while democracy is the dependent
variable. The analysis is based on both Neo-Tocquevillean framework as well as the
Gramcsian model. It has been found that, when the state goes through revolutionary periods
and movements for democratization the Gramcsian model shows more relevance in
explaining civil society. The more the state and democratic transformation finds peaceful
52

means and proceeds in a stable way, the better the Neo-Tocquevillean framework finds
relevancy in explaining civil society. Though this study also fails to lead to a general theory
on civil society and democracy in Asia, it does develop a good number of overlapping
propositions, which begin with arguing that there is no necessary connection between civil
society and democracy. CSOs have both expanded and contracted democratic space. Civil
society may be necessary but is not a sufficient condition for democraic development. The
boundary separating the political and civil society is porous. On state-civil society relations,
the findings reveal that the state had a strong impact on the development of civil society and
state and civil society relation may not always be confrontational. Though the state continues
to be placed in a dominant position in relation to society, civil society activities have been
able to limit its power to some extent. A good number of conditions have been mentioned for
civil society to emerge as a strong force and contribute to democracy. For example, the
dominant discourse of civil society must be rooted to democratic ideals with pro-democratic
CSOs. Political opportunity and constrain, stage of political development and strength,
orientation, role of the state and political society influences the democratic potential of civil
society. Deepening of democracy requires a strong and responsive state, strong issue based
political parties and independent and effective judiciary as well. Nonetheless, the project is
based on two or more in depth case studies for each country, which may not always reflect
the total civil society of the respective countries. Wider database, formed on empirical
observation may have lead to more concrete inferences and a strong conclusion.
All the three international projects on civil society are concerned with the relation
between civil society and democracy though with varying approach and methodology.
Certain, trends and style in civil society and its influence on state and democracy have been
53

evealed through the wide researches with some of the findings confirming each other, like
low participation and performance of civil society in developing countries, higher service
providing functions than advocacy, strong civil society goes with strong, democratic state etc.
Moreover, Alagappa (2004) in his in depth case studies has shown that for Asia, civil society
may not necessarily lead to democracy or enhance democratization; it is contingent to other
internal and external conditions.
Therefore, it has now become necessary to study why the civil society is often unable
to contribute to democracy in Asia and particularly in developing countries, despite the
strong reliance and huge effort of the international donors to strengthen the civil society in
those countries. Simply studying civil society and its direct, indirect influence may not
always guarantee a satisfactory answer. Civil society needs to be understood within the
political system where it not only influences other sectors but is often influenced by the
market, state, political institutions, history and culture. Further investigation into its nature of
functions and political relations and dealings may provide a better answer to our query on
civil society and democratic relations in developing countries in Asia.
As I have mentioned before, none of the three large projects on civil society have
focused on Bangladesh. Though the country receives, high international attention in
development literatures and by international agencies, for certain policy reasons the country
has been left out from these studies. However, from different perspectives, the civil society
of Bangladesh has attracted researchers at home and abroad.
2.1.4 Researches on Civil Society in Bangladesh
As pointed out in Chapter 1, a good number of research works on civil society have
been carried out in Bangladesh. However, they have been conducted from different
54

perspectives and with very different objectives and in most cases have addressed only a
section of civil society. Very few researches on Bangladesh 'civil society' accept the term in
its broadest meaning. This section shall focus on the findings and ideas revealed by four
national and international scholars on civil society in Bangladesh that have relevance to the
present study. Among them Kendal Stiles (2002) and David Lewis (2004) are Western
scholars, specialists on South Asia, civil society and particularly NGOs. Though their
researches are mostly on NGOs, they have interpreted the NGOs in relation to other civil
society actors, the state and the traditional social structure and political culture based on their
field visits, observation and qualitative analysis. Fahimul Quadir (1999, 2003) is a
Bangladeshi scholar specialized in civil society and arguing against the positive relation
between political democratization and economic liberalization. Professor Rehman Sobhan
though an internationally reputed Bangladeshi economist, fighting against aid dependency
and donor directions on national policy, is also a prominent figure in the arena of civil
society. His writings, speeches and the programs of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CDP) he
chairs are often considered as the voice of the civil society by the media. Though standing in
against donor domination, CDP proceeds in the New Liberal ideology. Critical assessment of
research finding and comments by these scholars on civil society in Bangladesh is the main
concern of this part of literature review.
For a good number of civil society researchers in Bangladesh, for a long time, NGOs
were the synonym to civil society. The four scholars under review also have contributed to
NGO research. They have exposed through their findings that the NGO sector in Bangladesh
is large and powerful, though donor dependent. Most of these NGOs are actually indigenous
though nurtured by foreign donations. Naturally, foreign donation is an important factor for
55

Bangladesh civil society. But it also have been revealed that only handful of large NGOs
enjoy the lion share of foreign donation (Stiles 2002, Lewis 2004). Moreover, though the
NGO sector is active and often successful in bringing social development it has very little
contribution in policy making as the state is very sensitive in advocacy and politics related
participation of the NGOs. This is why NGOs are seen mostly as aid contractors and
concerned only with micro-credit and welfare services (Sobhan 2004, 2006). Fahimul Quadir
(1999) in his empirical study has termed the NGO activities and projects to be rigid,
hierarchical and commercial. Moreover, it has been found that without economic assistance,
NGO projects for people’s awareness and advocacies do not show any positive effect. Lewis
(2004) has further commented that, modern NGOs have the potential to become new patrons
to the poor beneficiaries.
In fact literatures on NGO activities and projects are rich in Bangladesh. However,
the researches on the participation and influence of NGOs in policy paradigm are rare and
mostly based on observation and comments. Rigorous analysis and field observation or
surveys on the participatory nature of NGOs as well as other CSOs are yet to be conducted.
NGOs are only a part of the civil society, which may be termed in the words of Lewis
(2004) as the 'new civil society' of Bangladesh. He terms the political social movements as
the old civil society that emerged before independence and against the authoritarian regimes
for autonomy and democracy. However, such movement led by the intellectuals, students’
groups, professional organizations, trade unions still exists in Bangladesh. Movement
orientation of the civil society is often reflected in the activities of such civil society
organizations (Sobhan 2006). This section of the civil society has been termed as politicized,
co-opted by political power (Stiles 2002, Lewis 2004, Quadir 2003). So the boundary
56

etween the civil society and political society is always changing. Again though not based on
hard evidences, Lewis (2004) thinks that patronage is a dominant force in Bangladeshi
society and politics.
However, there is hardly any analysis or discussion on what led the political actors to
politicize the civil society in Bangladesh, in spite of adopting the ideologies of democracy
and liberalism. CSOs have been just hinted in the previous researchers to be linked to the
political actors through patronage, nepotism, corruption. Albeit, these matters are facts of the
day, no research based on concrete data with hard evidences is yet to be conducted. Intra civil
society relations and network among the CSOs have also been found to be weak by all of the
observers of Bangladesh civil society.
Moreover, a large portion of the civil society, remain outside of the researcher’s
attention till date. Though Stiles (2002), Lewis (2004) have mentioned the high potential of
local level community groups and philanthropy, such organizations have hardly been
investigated as part of the civil society. Traditional voluntary and religious groups, village
clubs, sports clubs, cooperatives etc. working at the local level attract civic engagement, are
outlets to form public opinion and on the other hand are considered valuable units to control
vote banks by the political parties.
To sum up in a few sentences about civil society in Bangladesh, first it is to be said
that though Bangladesh has a notable history what can be readily described as civil society, it
can hardly fit in to the Neo-Toquevillean model of civil society powered by horizontal social
capital and civic engagement contributing to democracy. This fact has also been observed by
other researchers like Lewis (2004), Davice and Mcgregor (2001). Practically the civil
society organizations, except a few large NGOs, are not well organized internally and lack
57

institutionalization. Moreover, Bangladesh fails to provide the necessary conditions for
proper functioning of the civil society, e.g., strong responsive state, independent judiciary,
and widely represented issue based political parties etc. In the administrative system, there
are very few regularized mechanisms for the CSOs to lobby or influence the politicians and
administration. As a civil society leader, Sobhan (2006) has also commented that the citizens
of Bangladesh at the grass-roots level are unaware of policy regime and have no participation
in policy making.
In reality, civil society is country specific. All the scholars have stressed the need to
understand the civil society in Bangladesh from its local circumstances, history, political
development, state society relations and composition from their real and practical aspect that
has not been done in its full scale. Rather than using a presumed framework for analysis, it is
necessary to find a new model to study civil society accepting the vertical social relations,
blurring boundaries between civil society and family life as well as political life and on the
on going conflict and contestation of these forces. It has been urged to study civil society not
only as a system of structures and practices but also in relation of values and beliefs.
In order to succeed in forming a new model, to analyze, the civil society in
Bangladesh more perfectly and that of other developing countries in Asia and other parts of
the world, first it is necessary to systematically answer why the civil society do not fit in to
the presumed models and are unable to contribute to democracy. For this we need to focus
not only on the civil society but the factors that influence the civil society and interaction of
civil society with other actors and sectors in the political system. Moreover, comprehensive,
methodical and authentic information on the actual state of the civil society organizations and
their activities are essential to assess its potential in democracy and development.
58

2.2 Methodology
Present research on civil society in Bangladesh uses both primary and secondary data
and makes use of both quantitative and qualitative methods for analysis. The factors that
influence the nature, development and strength of civil society in Bangladesh have been
based on previous literatures, researches, reports, reviews and personal observation and
interviews. Moreover, comparative discussion on other civil societies has been added to
develop and strengthen the arguments made on the influential factors of civil society. The
basic characteristics of civil society organizations in Bangladesh and their nature of activities
and relation with different political and social actors have been investigated empirically with
the help of a large N-scale survey and analyzed quantitatively. Moreover, supplemented data
gathered through interviews, field visits, observations, and from newspaper reports have been
collected focusing on civil society and its political relations. These data have been processed
and analyzed in a qualitative manner.
2.2.1. Use of Survey Method in Studying Civil Society
Survey is a widely used tool for gathering primary data in empirical social science.
Through a survey new data are created through surveying or inquiring directly at the field. A
survey design provides a quantitative or numeric description of some fraction of populationthe
sample-through the data collection process of asking questions to the people. This data
collection, in turn, enables a researcher to generalize the findings from a sample of responses
to a population (Creswell: 1994, 117). In most of the inductive studies, enough information
and data may not be available at the data resource centers like statistical bureau, national
archive etc. In such cases, it becomes necessary to create fresh data from a sample population.
Moreover, to test a theory or to prove a new hypothesis survey on a sample population
59

ecomes indispensable. Researchers usually ask about things at one time in surveys, measure
many variables (often with multiple indicators), and test several hypotheses in a single survey
(Neuman, 2004:162). Survey may be conducted using a structured questionnaire or openended
questions. Again it may be conducted by personally approaching the respondents or
through telephone conversation or by sending the questionnaire by postal mail service. In the
recent days internet surveys have become popular in the developed countries.
Survey in civil society research is a widely accepted method. Though civil society is a
very old term, research on civil society, particularly on civil society organizations is
relatively contemporary phenomenon. Often necessary information and data are not available
from reliable data sources. Again, as civil society, its activity and influences are changing
from time to time, to keep trace to such changes, periodic survey becomes essential.
Moreover, in case of developing countries, feedback and success of different NGO projects
are often inquired and assessed through surveying the NGO beneficiaries. So, different
aspects of civil society and CSOs may be surveyed. Survey may be conducted upon the
participants/beneficiaries of civil society organizations, the members or the CSOs themselves
or their umbrella organizations. In the large worldwide projects of John Hopkins Centre on
comparative nonprofit groups as well as CIVICUS civil society index, the survey method has
been used extensively. The John Hopkins project is mostly based on gathered data from
government and other private sources around the world. But when existing data sources
could not be tapped to locate relevant information, special surveys were carried out. Those
surveys became essential mostly in case of civil society sectors with less developed data
system and with less formal organizations. In Africa and Southeast Asia, hyper network
sampling and snowball sampling were used where surveyors visited from house to house and
60

from organization to organization in a particular area to build a sample list and gather
necessary data (Salamon, 2003:11). Again in case of CIVICUS CSI project, among the
multilevel process of information gathering, a population survey was conducted in each
country asking the respondents about their involvement in civil society and their experience
with CSOs in their community.
In case of Bangladesh survey on NGOs and particularly on NGO beneficiaries is a
common phenomenon (Amin, 1997, Ullah and Routary 2003, Tasnim 2005 and so on);
besides every NGO for their self-assessment conduct regular survey on the beneficiaries. The
NGO beneficiaries have become used to respond to such structured questionnaire and
interviews by researchers and consultants from time to time. However, such surveys on
particular section of the civil society and their beneficiaries have not been able to contribute
in developing any large data base on CSOs of all categories along with other necessary
information that are often inquired and analyzed in academic civil society studies. Except
NGOs, integrated or systematically organized information on the profile and activities of
CSOs like community groups, cooperatives, social welfare groups at the rural level and labor
unions, trade organizations, professional groups, citizens and cultural groups at the meso or
urban level are not available in Bangladesh. The name and address of only those
organizations that have registered themselves with a ministry or enlisted them with any
umbrella organization do exists, though may not always be accessible by the researchers.
Under this situation, for conducting any comprehensive study on civil society in its broadest
meaning it becomes necessary to conduct direct survey on CSOs of different types, inquiring
about their basic information, activities and relation with state and other actors.
61

2.2.2 Description of the Survey Method Used
The present research is first of its type covering a broad portion of civil society, new
and traditional, urban and rural in Bangladesh. Naturally, the survey conducted for the
present research has focused on a sample that represents civil society organizations both
small and big, active at local and national levels, famous and infamous, representing different
sections of society far from the capital.
504 civil society organizations (CSO) in Rajshahi district in Bangladesh were
surveyed in September and October, 2006. Rajshahi district was selected as it best represents
Bangladesh civil society at the periphery and local level, from urban rural distribution, social
composition, education, economy, and administrative importance. All registered or enlisted
CSOs of eight categories (cooperative, voluntary social organizations, NGOs, youth groups,
labor unions, trade organizations, professional associations and Rajshahi University centered
organizations) totaling 3,768 in the district were regarded as the total population. The sample
size was selected through random sampling process; 1,227 organizations were selected
randomly representing 30% of each category. Ultimately representatives of 504 CSOs were
interviewed making the return rate 41%. The following table 2.1 precisely shows the
statistics of the sample.
62

Table 2.1 CSOs targeted and surveyed
Categories
Total
Population
Sample Size Interviewed CSOs
(% to the total
population)
1 Different Types of Cooperatives 2540 838 193 (7.6%)
2 Registered Voluntary Social Welfare 793 260 243 (31%)
Organizations
3 NGOs based on ADAB Directory 129 35 22 (17%)
2003 and updated from the
government office
4 Organizations listed under Youth 108 33 13 (12%)
Department
5 Labor organizations listed under 99 32 9 (9%)
Labor Directorate
6 Chambers of Commerce and trade 45 6 6 (28%)
organizations
7 Professional Groups 21 11 6 (18%)
8 Rajshahi University based cultural, 33 12 9 (20%)
educational and professional groups
Total (Answer rate 41% ) 3768 1227 504 (13.5%)
Moreover, informal interviews were conducted with resource persons— scholars, experts,
civil society leaders, NGO officials, politicians, government administrators concerning civil
society in Bangladesh in April and September, 2006 4 .
It is to be mentioned that, this survey is a part of a multi-country survey on civil
society organizations (known as JIGS Project) sponsored by a Special Project of University
of Tsukuba named Civil Society, the State and Culture in Comparative Perspective, (2003-
2008) directed by Professor Yutaka Tsujinaka and funded by the Japanese Ministry of
4 List of the persons interviewed with open ended questions (recorded and documented) have been given in the
Appendix E.
63

Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The project has already completed
survey on CSOs of eleven countries located in different continents of the world using almost
similar type of questionnaire along with country specific special inquiries. The project had
been instituted to face the challenges in the age of globalization. It aims to establish shared
values and public policy frameworks adequate to bringing the different nations and societies
together under globally applicable terms and conditions of co-existence, at the same time
respecting the individual social and cultural tradition and history of each nation 5 .
The collected data has been processed using descriptive statistics and applying SPSS
program. The database now provides wide range of statistical information on civil society
organizations-their strength, participation, and relation to government, politics and other
actors. The next section describes a model that has been followed to analyze the data for the
present dissertation.
2.2.3 Application of Data
2.2.3.1 Quantitative analysis model
The data gathered from the survey have been numerically analyzed to identify the
basic characteristics, and actions and functions of civil society as well as their political
relations. The actions and functions of civil society had been divided into two types—grassroots
actions which is almost synonym to service providing actions and related to its vibrant
nature and participatory actions that are more related to politics and democracy and its
vigilant nature. Table 2.2. shows the indicators that have been used to identify the four basic
aspects of CSOs surveyed.
5 For details about the project visit the project website http://csc.social.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/index.html.
64

Table 2.2 Indicators of basic nature, grass-roots action and participatory action of
CSOs
Indicators Basic nature Grass-roots action Participatory
Action
Political perception
and contacts
1 Self Categorization Joint projects with
government in grassroots
project
Formal relations
with the
government
Rank different
actors in relation to
their power and
influences
2 Policy interest Developing group
network
3 Objective of CSOs Active in Women
Empowerment
4 Geographic Level of
Activity
Active in local
representation and
ventilation of
grievances
5 Number of Members Active in education
and literacy
6 Source of Financial
Resources
Health Education and
health service
7 Number of Volunteers Human, political and
legal rights
8 Number of Employee Economic
empowerment
9 Budget Active in social and
political awareness
10 Rank the level of
cooperation with other
actors
Advocacy
functions
Influencing
government
decision, policy
and budget
Lobby the
government
through different
means
Personal contact
with different
political actors
Relation with
particular political
parties
The second objective of the present research is to empirically investigate the nature of CSOs,
their types of actions and how participatory they are. Chapter four aims at fulfilling this
objective and makes use of survey data to identify and examine basic nature, grass-roots
actions and participatory nature of the CSOs. To understand the basic nature of the CSOs, 10
indicators have been used, such as, category, policy orientation, organizational objectives,
geographic level of activity, membership, sources of financial resources, budget, volunteers,
employees of CSOs. Such structural strength of civil society organizations has been
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compared among CSOs working at the national and local level and among those receiving
and not-receiving foreign assistance. As the present study considers the civil society within
the political system, always interacting with other two sectors-- the market and the state, the
cooperation that exists between the CSOs and other social, political and economic actors
have been considered as an important attribute to understand the basic nature of CSOs.
There have been a good number of researches on service providing functions of the
civil society. Through the survey data, this study just verifies the prevalent assumption that
CSOs are mostly engaged in grass-roots development and also aims to measure their
engagement rate in civic education and citizenry training at the grass-roots level. The main
target for this quantitative data analysis is to identify the tendency of CSOs on participatory
actions. This is done using four broad indicators—formal relation with the state, advocacy,
policy making and lobby. In case of formal relations with the state, mainly the interactions,
influence and participation of CSOs in government functions and decisions have been
targeted. For advocacy, data on civil society organizations involvement on different
important issues in Bangladesh have been inquired and analyzed. For policy functions, the
participation of CSOs on a particular poverty reduction policy, and their success in pursuing
or blocking any policy decision or budget they favored or were against, have been considered.
For understanding the nature of lobby, data have been gathered and analyzed on participation
rate of CSOs in lobby using means that are horizontal and vertical, as well as partisan and
non-partisan. To avoid influences of different attributes of the civil society organizations,
participation rate of civil society organizations in different activities has been cross-checked
on the basis of three types of attributes—categories, geographic level of activity and on the
point of receiving and not-receiving foreign assistance. The political contact has been
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analyzed in chapter five along with other data and information gathered from other sources
besides the survey.
2.2.3.2 Qualitative Analysis Model
The third objective of civil society is to examine the political relation of civil society to
verify causes to its weak and less participatory role in relation to democracy. This has been
partially done through quantitative analysis by showing the perception of the CSOs about
influence of different actors in the political system, the rate of personal contact the CSOs had
with important actors in the society and the rate of direct contact the CSOs had with each
political party in Bangladesh. However, such data are not enough to prove politicization of
civil society and to identify the causes and nature of such politicization that contribute to a
weak and less participatory civil society. At this stage, I enter into qualitative analysis using
very different data gathered from newspaper reports and editorials and through interviews,
field visits and observation notes written by the surveyors. The qualitative analysis is done in
two particular ways. First is the systematic search and simplified content analysis on a
sample of newspaper reports, the second is the sector wise discussion of different civil
society groups based on both the newspaper reports and primary data collected through
interviews, observations and field trips.
First, newspaper analyses have been made only to reveal an overall view of the
political relation of civil society. The three Bangladeshi news dailies had been selected for
their neutrality, high circulation and longevity. Only issues of these three dailies from
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January to June of 2001, 2006 and 2007 had been separated for the present research. These
newspaper issues then had been rigorously searched 6 for news and analyses on NGOs, trade
Table 2.3 Methods used to sample newspaper reports
Selected News paper Dailies Sample Year (January to June) Search key concepts
The Daily Ittefaque (Bangla)
2001 7
NGOs, trade unions,
[oldest daily as well as neutral] (last year of AL regime) cooperatives, professional
The Daily Star [nationally and
internationally acceptable
2006
(last year of BNP regime)
groups, social and citizens
groups, seminars and press
conferences held by CSOs,
English daily]
international organizations,
The Daily Jugantor (Bangla)
[presently the most circulated
daily]
2007
(State of emergency period when
all the political corruptions have
began to be investigated)
government moves on CSOs,
corruption related to CSOs
unions, cooperatives, professional groups, social and citizens groups as well as seminars held
by civil society organizations, international organizations, government moves on CSOs,
corruption related to CSOs (Table 2.3).
The news reports and editorials gathered in this fashion had been analyzed based on the
information and discussion items in the text. The information that have been expressed and
mentioned about civil society types, political links, bureaucratic links, vertical links, violence,
interest articulation etc. have been coded one by one and had been brought under simplified
numerical form for further interpretation. Detailed description of using this method has been
discussed in the second section of chapter five. It is to be made clear that, though the
newspaper reports had been coded, and systematically presented, it had not been done
6 With the help of four research assistants, searching and copying the reports at different public and private
libraries in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
7 Only issues of Daily Ittefaque of 2001 was available for searching and for photocopy.
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following any quantitative content analysis method. Because it is not only the physical words
and texts but the latent massage, information and concepts that have been described in the
news reports that have also been considered for coding.
Table 2.4 Sector wise discussion on civil society and political relations
Civil Society sector
Development NGOs
Primary School
Teachers movement
Trade Organization
Trade Unions
Cooperatives and
Small Welfare Groups
Intellectuals, Think
Tanks and Citizen
Groups
Nature of Data used
Previous literatures, News paper reports, Interviews and Field visits
41 News reports and follow ups from May to August 2006
News paper reports, interview and case study of Rajshahi Sugar Mill and
Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce
Based on information gathered through recorded and unrecorded interviews
and conversation with local government executives, BRDB official and
head of the cooperative directorate of Rajshahi Division, survey reports and
observation notes of the surveyors.
News paper reports, personal observation, interview and case study upon a
citizen group
Table 2.4 shows the sectors of the civil society in Bangladesh that have been
highlighted and nature of data and information used for discussion on those civil society
organizations and their relation with politics, nature of interaction with the state and society.
Combining the different types of information gathered in multiple ways, a modified but
complete description has been made about these sectors, particularly their relation to
government and politics. The aim of this section was the same—revealing the weakness of
the CSOs and their causes and nature of politicization.
2.2.4 Description and Justification for Selecting the Study Area for the Survey
Rajshahi District, the centre of the Northern Zone of Bangladesh has been selected for
carrying out the survey as it is considered to be the best in representing civil society from
periphery and meso levels in Bangladesh. As the present study qualifies the Neo-
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Toquevillean school where emphasis has been given on civic engagement and associational
functions at the community level, the survey also collected data from the civil society
organizations active at the local level of Bangladesh. First we shall focus on some basic
information on the district.
2.2.4.1 Rajshahi District
Rajshahi district is the central district of Rajshahi division located at the Northern
side of Bangladesh. With an area of 2407.01 square kilometers it has a city corporation, four
thana, seven municipalities, nine Sub-districts, 70 unions and 1,858 natural villages. Names
of the nine sub-districts are, Bagha, Bagmara, Charghat, Durgapur, Godagari, Mohonpur,
Paba, Puthia, and Tanore. Population of the district is 2,274,340; male 51.20%, female
48.807%; Muslim 93%; Hindu 5%, Christian 1.5% and others 0.5%; indigenous nationals—
Santals—who constituted 2.34% of the total population and had their own language. The
main occupation among the people of the district is agriculture (farmers 38.73%, agricultural
laborer 23.64%). Rajshahi district is rich in educational institutions—it has a public
university, private universities, a government medical college, an engineering university, 110
colleges, 2 teacher's training colleges, a good number of technical colleges and research
institutes. A good number of newspapers and dailies are locally published here (Banglapedia,
Internet Edition: 2003).
Rajshahi is well connected with the capital and other parts of Bangladesh by road and
railway. After the opening of the Jamuna Multi purpose bridge-that has connected the
northern region with the rest of country by road in 1998, there has been a boost in the
economic activities in the district. The district sends 5 parliament members to the national
parliament. In 2006 one of them was also a member of the Cabinet. The elected mayor of
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Rajshahi City Corporation who enjoyed the status of a state-minister was also a parliament
member.
Rajshahi district is rich in various kinds of civil society organizations-- there are
2,540 registered cooperatives, 788 registered voluntary social welfare organizations, 100
youth organizations, 107 NGOs, 99 labor organizations, 50 professional groups, a district
chamber of commerce and hundreds of trade organizations, 45 cultural and educational
organizations exist with the affiliation of University of Rajshahi. Besides, there exist
numerous unregistered and informal local clubs, neighborhood associations and other groups.
Rajshahi City – the divisional town, stands on the bank of the river Padma-last part of
the international river ganga. The metropolitan area is 96.69 sq km. It consists of 39 wards.
Population of the city is 383,655; male 52.91%, female 47.09%. Density of population is
3,968 per sq km (Population Census 2001, Preliminary Report). Rajshahi, which is both a
district and a divisional city, flourished in the seventeenth century (Banglapedia, Internet
Edition: 2003). Rajshahi is famous for its silk industry.
2.2.4.2 Justification for Selecting Rajshahi District as the Study Area
Among six divisions, Rajshahi division is the second largest in respect of population.
The divisional district- Rajshahi, occupies 1.63% of the total area and 1.8% of the population
of Bangladesh. It has been found to represent best the society and civil society at the
periphery and meso level in Bangladesh. As Dhaka is the capital, concentration of civil
society organizations as well as business, industry and political activities is the highest there.
So it does not represent the situation of the periphery, sub-urban and rural societies of
Bangladesh. So is the case with the port city—Chittagong. Economic development of
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Chittagong district does not represent the national economy. Again, the second port city
Khulna, another divisional town is rich in economic activity but seems to be in the periphery
due to underdeveloped communication system with Dhaka. Moreover Khulna’s balance of
urban and rural area does not represent the national ratio. Rajshahi district has been selected
on the following considerations:
1. Rajshahi is a blend of rural and urban characteristics. It is a divisional city with all
urban facilities but not as developed and busy as the capital city-Dhaka and the port city-
Chittagong. Besides the metropolitan area, most areas of the district are rural. More than two
thirds of the population lives in rural areas. In Rajshahi district 33% of the households were
non-farm while 67% were farm households 8 . Moreover, among 87,319 villages of
Bangladesh, Rajshahi district covers 1,858 villages; it is 2.1% of the total villages while
Dhaka and Chittagong and Khulna districts cover 1863, 1319 and 1106 villages respectively
though being geographically and demographically much larger than Rajshahi. On the other
hand, among 223 municipalities and city corporations in the country 8 are in Rajshahi district
while Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna covers 4, 8, 3 respectively (2002, SYB).
2. As Rajshahi is a divisional city, divisional head quarters of all government
department and ministries are found here as well as those of private companies. District
branches of many national and international NGOs and institutes are present here. Local
chapters of nationwide federations of labor unions, chambers, cooperatives, professional
groups, women’s groups are also found here, in addition to local civil society organizations.
However, such condition is common for the other three districts too. Moreover, among the
economically active population of Bangladesh 22% live in the urban areas while the
8 2002 Statistical Year Book of Bangladesh, 23 rd edition, Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Government
Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, 2004, from now on (2002 SYB).
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emaining 77% live in rural areas. But in capital Dhaka 82% of the economically active
persons work in urban area, so is the case in Khulan with 81% urban economically active
population. In Chittagong too 65% people work in the urban area. On the other hand though
Rajshahi is a divisional district only 55% economically active people work in Urban area
while 44% worked in the rural areas. So, rural segments are highest in the economy and
employment in Rajshahi.
3. The economy of Rajshahi is more agrarian and less industrial, representing the over
all economy through out Bangladesh. In the year 1999-2000, Agriculture and Forestry
contributed most (19.51%) to Bangladesh’s national production followed by industry
(15.59%), Transportation and communication (9.42%). Financial intermediation (like banks,
insurance) contributed only 1.57%. In the year 1999-2000 the gross product of Rajshahi
district in agriculture and fishing was 9,359 Million Taka that is about US $137 million 63
thousand 9 which is 15% of the total production income of the district. In industry 6,780
million taka that was a bit less than US $99 million, 706 thousand (8.33% of the total
production). Highest was in services including business, 24009 million taka that is about US
$353 Million, 074 thousand (58% of the total income). So service providing activities are
highest in Rajshahi district. But the GDP was US $343, very near to the national GDP rate
(361 US $) (2002 SYB) while the per-capita GDP in the more busy districts of Dhaka,
Chittagong and Khulna is 872 US $, 559 US 460 US$ respectively. All are much higher than
the national GDP rate and don’t represent the actual economic situation of Bangladesh.
4. Education or literacy of the citizens is considered as an important factor for civil
society development. Rajshahi city is known for its large number of higher educational
9 1 US $ = 68Taka, and 1 Taka = 1.7 Yen (According to Yahoo currency converter
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency? On 15 May, 2007.
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institutions. Though Rajshahi district covers 1.8% of the national population, 5.8% of the
total primary schools in Bangladesh, overall literacy rate of Rajshahi (47.4%) are rather low
in comparison to Dhaka (64.3%), Chittagong (54.9%) and Khulna (57.4%). But this literacy
rate of Rajshahi district represents the national literacy rate which is 45.3% (2002, SYB).
5. As mentioned earlier in the introduction to the Rajshahi district and city, it is the
centre for education, mainly higher education for the people of north zone as well as other
parts of the country. Citizens from all walks of life and region (even Chakma, Murma tribals
from far Chittagong) 10 , send their children for education purposes. Besides, people belonging
to different social strata and professions, live in Rajshahi for occupational purposes. Rajshahi
is also land of migrated people who came and settled here from India after 1947 that marked
the end of British rule and the division of British India. So people with different background
and locality dwell here together that leads to both horizontal and as well as vertical social
relationships. Naturally, presence of different formal and informal associations, organizations
and institutions representing different sections or levels of civil society of Bangladesh can be
observed in Rajshahi district.
So from the point of view of demographic and social composition, education,
economy, urbanization and administrative importance, Rajshahi district has been selected as
the study area for conducting the present survey that analyzes the national civil society from
a local perspective.
10 Among the tribal population that constitutes only 1.13% of the national population, 2.34% lives in Rajshahi
District.
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2.3 Limitations of the Study
1. The present research tries to form a better understanding of civil societies in
developing countries in relation to consolidating democracy using the case of Bangladesh.
However, a single study in civil society in Bangladesh cannot make a generalization about
civil societies in developing countries or the prime reason behind their weak democratic
performance. The lessons from Bangladesh civil society can only show directions and hints
about studying other developing countries experiencing associational boom but fledging
democracy.
Hence much research is to be done on civil societies and their relation to
democracy for forming a general theory of on civil society and democracy nexus in the
developing world.
2. The present research focuses only on contemporary civil society of Bangladesh
(Mainly from 1991 to 2006) using contemporary theories on civil society and democracy. A
broad historical analysis on the civil society based on classical political theories would have
had given better understanding and strong basis to the arguments. However it was not
possible in the limited time and resources.
3. In the survey on civil society organizations, the numerous unregistered CSOs have
not been considered as target groups because of the unavailability of the reliable lists of such
organizations. These unregistered local organizations also have important role in the
functioning of civil society and democracy which this survey is unable to measure. As
religious organizations, specially madrasas, are registered under the Ministry of Education,
they have also not been included in the population list. However, religious organizations that
were registered with the Ministry of Social Welfare have been counted for the survey.
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4. Due to the confrontational socio-political situation, the respondents were very careful
in answering questions related to politics and state as well their financial resources. Often,
they tried to confine their political identity and links. However, the surveyors in their
observation notebooks had noted such matters.
5. The large N size survey method is very effective in revealing the tendency and
dimensions of the civil society representing broad range of civil society actors and policies.
However, through such survey it is hard to reveal the state and civil society relation in details.
This requires complimentary case studies. But such case studies are limited to particular area
or policy. So several in depth observation based case studies representing different sections
of the civil society would have become essential to give complementary support to the
arguments established through survey. Such complementary case studies have not been
possible at this phase of the research due to limited time and resources. However,
supplementary in depth interviews have been taken with stakeholders, scholars, politicians
and activists and administrators concerning civil society and filed visits have been made to
few civil society organizations for better understanding their activities and collecting detailed
information. Moreover, newspaper reports and editorials on civil society news have been
systematically collected and analyzed to supplement the findings of the survey results.
Nevertheless, such newspaper reports and editorials had to be sampled for restraint of time
and resources and some old issues were not available with the facility to photocopy at the
libraries in Bangladesh.
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6. Using the case of Bangladesh, the present study has shown the simplicity of the Neo-
Tocquevillean assumption on civil society and democracy which have provided a weak
theoretical base to donor policy to strengthen civil society. Main focus of the thesis has been
on civil society organizations while politics and other socio-economic situation came in
connection to analyzing those basic units of civil society. However, it has not been possible
to satisfactorily prove the simplicity of the theory from all its aspects such as from the
consideration of politics, society, political actors, citizens etc. one by one using the data on
Bangladesh, through this single research.
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Chapter 3
Political Structural Influence on Civil Society
3.1 Introduction
In the traditional literatures and researches on democracy, political actors have
been considered the primary or most important force in making, shaping and
consolidating democracy. Importance of the public voice, the non-elite substance came in
the afterward literatures in the 1990s. Civil society is considered to represent voice of the
society and public and influence the process of achieving and maintaining democracy
acting at the roots level of the society. Most literatures on civil society are occupied with
the nature and influence of the civil society towards the state and society. Moreover, the
Neo-Tocquevillean literatures are always considering civil society in an ideal term—
autonomous, democratic and rich in social capital and civic engagement, always
enhancing democracy. It is rare to find civil societies in the practical world to posses all
the qualities as expected from them to contribute to democracy. Moreover, in practice, the
performance and influence of civil society particularly for democratic consolidation, is
very much influenced by the environment in which it functions. The history, culture,
economic situation, political structures all in a combined way contribute to the nature and
performance of civil society in a particular country or nation. However, dimension and
magnitude of influence may differ from factor to factor. In fact, having all the factors
active, in most cases, it is political structures consisting the powerful elites who
ultimately exert the highest influence in determining nature of civil society and also as it
had been discussed in the previous literatures the level of democracy.
These political structures may be the state, political party, bureaucracy, even
military as long as political decisions and strategies are concerned. The political
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institutional actions may be consciously directed towards civil society organizations or
taken for other political purpose that ultimately affects the civil society. Such influence of
the political institutions upon civil society, also determine the participatory and
democratic role of civil society in developing countries. The influence from such political
structures and institutions upon civil society may be profound and multi-dimensional.
Pekkanon (2006:15) in his study on Japanese Civil Society, divides the influence of
political structures into three basic sections—a. regulatory framework like, law,
regulations etc. b. political opportunity structure—bureaucratic dominance, influence of
the political actors etc. and c. Other indirect influences. His model does not claim that
civil society is a product of what state agencies or politicians want to happen, but
institutions have effect through structuring actions. Among the three parts, the firstregulatory
framework has immediate and clear impact on civil society organization’s
viability such as legal status, direct financial flow and tax benefits etc. The second part of
institutional influence-political opportunity structure, is the consistent—but not
necessarily formal, permanent, or national-dimension to the political environment which
either encourage or discourage people from using collective action. The term was first
coined by Sidney Tarrow (1994:85) to the study of collective action and social movement.
Pekkanon’s model broadens it to include the study of the institutions and the opportunity
political actors provide for collective action. The third part of Pekkanon’s model-other
indirect influence has been developed particularly in the context of Japanese civil society,
pointing out important state actions that indirectly have contribution in shaping civil
society.
Present study is concerned mainly with the second section of Pekkanon (2006)
model— political opportunity structure that functions along with influences of the
external and internal factors upon the civil society of Bangladesh. Through the political
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opportunity structure present study shall investigate the influences of political structures
upon the style and strength of collective actions of the civil society in Bangladesh. By
structures, I don’t mean just the formal machines like cabinet, legislature or
administration but also political parties, political leaders and elites and other political
practices, inconformity to the Institutional Approach as discussed in the Introductory
Chapter.
From the consideration of contemporary 1
civil society and democratic
consolidation this chapter argues that political structures particularly political parties and
their leaders in Bangladesh have the most influence on civil society, however, not
excluding the other external and internal factors like donor policy, history, cultures, social
norms, state institutions that have also a profound influence in shaping the vibrant and
vigilant nature of the civil society.
The chapter first enters a comparative comparison of the civil society and
democracy in other developing countries in Asia to understand the most common factors
that determine civil society strength in relation to democracy. After identifying the
political actors to be common in all cases, the chapter proceeds in a more detail
investigation upon civil society in Bangladesh and the factors that have influenced its
vibrant and vigilant nature.
3.2 Influence of Political Structures upon Civil Society from a Comparative
Perspective
To establish the arguments that political structures and powerful political actors
do matter in Bangladesh for civil society and democracy, the chapter first takes a
comparative approach. It focuses on the situation of other developing democracies in Asia.
1 Up to the year 2006
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The influence of political structures upon the society and civil society is not a new
phenomena but rather a hard fact that can hardly be avoided. It is not only formal rules
and registration laws with which the state and administration may regulate the
development and strength of civil society but through different informal means, pressures,
favoritism and even corruption, civil society is often controlled by the political forces.
The problem is very common and a big one in developing countries where the economy is
poor, state is weak and citizens lack the necessary political education. However, it may
not be a setback particularly of the developing countries.
Even in the Tocqueville’s nineteenth century USA the problem was evident which
is known as machine politics found in the big cities. In the presence of political
democracy and voting rights and poverty as well as the absence of well organized state
programs for citizen’s welfare and employment security, hierarchically organized party
machine had become the all controlling social organization having strong influence in
every sector of the local government and society. The machine provided the favors, jobs,
necessary welfare to citizens in exchange of political support and votes from them.
However, the interaction took place in a vertical way through patronage and corruption
(Greenstein, 1965).
Though it is said that with the introduction of welfare state and civil service
reform that reduced patronage available to the political parties, urban party machine
declined, they still endure in different forms in USA. Democratic clubs based on the
support of politicians scattered through out cities like New York in the last 20 th century
functioned in the classic machine style. In return for helping with problems like
threatening landlords, broken street lights, finding a lawyer etc. the club asked the people
to circulate nominating petitions and distribute campaign literatures, which most did
willingly. So the clubs gained workers and voters by providing legal assistance and using
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their political connections (Tager, 1988: 31). Vertical machine politics still remain as a
valuable resource for the politicians as well as citizens.
In contemporary age, it is the non-profit community organizations that are found
in the core center for distribution of public services to the needy in USA. Such non-profit
groups form an important section of the American civil society. These organizations have
been found involved in reciprocal service with their clients and government executives.
Through exchange of basic services to the community they engage in producing reliable
voting constituencies. Naturally, government officials (Mayor, Governor) are interested to
allocate public service funds to particular community organizations that can ensure their
necessary votes. It is a three way indirect exchange among the community organizations,
their clients who are also voters and the elected officials (Marwell, 2004: 178). In this
way the non-political, non-profit groups in America also serve as the fulcrum through
which patronage resources are distributed and voters are organized.
Besides, particular political party’s control over specific types of civil society
organizations is evident in USA politics. For example, religion and religious groups have
always played an important role on politics and elections. In the 2004 Presidential
elections, it has been seen that the Churches though officially non-profit, non-political
organizations, have been used as an important mean to raise voter’s support for the
Republican candidates (The New York Times, June 13, 2004, October 26, 2004). In the
election, President Bush and Republican campaign officials cultivated conservative
leaders belonging to Evangelicals and other religious traditionalist from Mainland
Protestant and Catholics and sought to link their communities with the electoral machine
(Guth and others, 2006: 224). Despite of their non-partisan and tax-exempt status
churches in America are found actively involved in registering their members as voters,
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driving them to the polls, distributing bumper stickers and campaign materials and
inviting Republican speakers (New York Times, 9 August, 2004).
On the other hand, for long it was taken for granted that major votes from the
labor unions will go to the Democrats (Prewitt and other, 1991). Labor unions in USA
have completely subordinated themselves to the Democratic Party. In the same 2004
Presidential election when churches campaigned for the Republican candidate, the labor
unions contributed sixty five million dollars to the Democratic campaign (Arnowitz,
2005: 276-277). Naturally, the labors and their unions can hardly execute their different
demands for labor reform or minimum wage raise etc. under a Republican regime.
Not only in USA but in Great Britain the labor union members are found to be
bound to pay the Labor Party in the name of political levy. Political levy means the
contribution the labor union members pay to the union’s political fund separately or as
part of the normal union subscription 2 . Though each union member has the right to
personally contract out from paying such political levy, due to collective interest and his
personal interest from the union and its leader, can hardly come out from such obligation
to pay a political party. So through rules and norms, union members in Britain have been
found to be compelled to pay a part of their hard earned wages to the Labor Party, besides
their vote. In an old estimate, ninety percent income of the national headquarters of the
Labor Party comes from the trade union affiliation fees (Delury, 1983:1095). Under the
contemporary situation after Labor Party ran into debt in 2006, the contribution of the
trade unions have become vital. However, there is no guarantee that the labor party will
always go for policies that assure the interest of labors in the age of liberalization and
privatization.
2 Website of the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform,
http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legistlation/emplyment-gudance/pa. access date 24
December, 2007.
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So the socio-political democratic environment that is considered to be the ideal for
the emergence of autonomous, vigorous CSOs face the same type of vertical political
controls directly or indirectly.
The situation becomes severe and distinct in developing countries where the
political institutionalization is in a low level, so is the capacity of the state. This chapter
compares the situation of that in -India, Philippines and Pakistan, and tries to relate with
the case of Bangladesh. All the four countries have colonial legacies; experience the
presence of strong kinship and clientelism, corruption in the social and political life and
they have multiplicity of registration and regulation laws (specially in South Asia). In all
four cases, donor policy to strengthen civil society has shown both success and failure
with ramifications. But they vary in their performance in achieving democracy, with India
often termed as world’s largest democracy while Pakistan as a failed democracy and
Philippines position is in the middle but more relevant to the situation in Bangladesh.
Political institutions have played different role in shaping the civil society and influencing
the nature of democracy. The comparative focus on other three developing democracies
demonstrates how political actors in different guise or form hold the actual control of the
civil society and democracy. This helps to proceed further with the analysis of political
structural influence that civil society of Bangladesh faces with in combination with other
factors.
3.2.1 Stable but Partly Illiberal Democracy-India
In comparison with the experience with other South Asian countries, democracy in
India has proved resilient (Hasan, 2002: 1). Since independence, there is a stable
parliamentary system of government. So far, 14 general elections for the lower house
followed by peaceful hand over of power, have been conducted. Though India lacks a
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homogenous population, an advanced industrial economy, high level of education, shared
civic culture—generally expected preconditions for democracy, democracy had been
endured and grown in the country since 1950s. The most important political institutions,
state and political parties are well institutionalized so are the Indian citizens politically
cultured. Such combination is said to have brought democratic stability in India (Hasan
2002). Though democratic, India remains a developing country with a poor human
development index and low literacy rate. Again the gap between the rich and poor, social
stratification, communalism, ethnic and religious violence all reflect the existence of
uncivil elements in the society. Zakaria (2003: 110-114) also mentions corruption,
control of the judiciary and taking opportunity of social divisions and went to extent to
term it an illiberal democracy. A common prediction is that the Indian National Congress
Party 3 has been able to bond and bring unity among heterogeneity existing in the different
provinces that ultimately brought stability and democracy in India.
Among the prominent researchers on political parties in India, Chibber (1999),
terms the Indian democracy as a democracy without associations. His way of analysis
follows the Neo-Tocquevillean model. Naturally, he terms the associational life in India
as weak. The traditional associations like trade unions and student groups are often
directly linked to political parties. To him rural organizations are few and are outcome of
state policies and have no influence on rural or agricultural policy of the state. Though the
business organizations are large in number they are not the outgrowth of interest group
activity. There are strong informal caste organizations but Chibber (1999) do not consider
those as associations and have mentioned that other religious sects and associations have
stayed out of the electoral politics. He considers most of the civil society organizations in
India as adhoc—lacking bureaucratic organizations, with a tendency of excessive
3 Present ruling party of India. Congress at the beginning of 20 th century pioneered the movement against
the British that brought independence to India in 1947.
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multiplication and fragmentation. As the associations were weak, the Congress Party’s
links to social cleavages were constructed via the distribution of state resources rather
than by establishing links to associations of social groups. As Congress Party was not tied
with any association, it easily turned in to a catchall party (Chibber, 1999:58-62). Weak
associational life made room for patronage politics and provided the parties larger role in
Indian politics. So from a democratic liberal model the civil society situation in India is
not satisfactory and to some extent resembles with that of Bangladesh which is rather an
unstable democracy.
However, it also must be admitted that, Indian has associational culture long before
the Indian state came into being. The modern organizational forms began to emerge
around 1870s in form of social movements (such as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj),
naturally they had political and social contents. Gandhism generated peaceful political
protest and independence movement. The Congress Party itself was a civil society
organization during the last half of the 19 th century. It is only in 1980s and 1990s; India
saw the predominance of the non-political NGOs (Sen, 1993:11). And contemporary
researchers consider Indian civil society to be robust, occupying significant space in the
dynamic of political landscape of the country (Behar and Prakash: 2004). It is not only
religious philanthropy or charity organizations and development NGOs, but, Indian civil
society is rich in indigenous welfare organizations, cooperatives and they are supported
by research organizations formed and nurtured through local initiatives. Nonparty social
movements like Narmada Bachao Andolon, Chipko Movement, are also found at local
level of the society in different parts of the country. The identity movements, which often
turn violent and enter the political realm, in most cases originate in civil society arena.
Vibrancy in associational tradition was present in India before. The vibrancy is also found
today in different forms.
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Opposite of the coin, the same democratic India, posses very uncivil elements in
the civil society that had the strength to penetrate the society and control the state and
political power. A hierarchically ordered communal social organization named Rastriya
Swamsewak Sangh or National Volunteers Corps (RSS) through their social, cultural,
religious, military and political programs gathered massive support from the majority
Hindus in Northern India, resulting in electoral victories in several states for its political
wing—Baratiya Janata Party (BJP) which formed the national government in 1998. RSS
have formed its mass support and mobilized public opinion to their chauvinist aim,
mainly through building bonding capitals— through holding religious mass procession,
working through affiliated welfare groups in the guise of NGOs, consolidating Hindu
block vis a vis the minorities and developing a non-Indian identity for the Muslims, and
ultimately mobilizing their supporters to vote for BJP (Behar and Prakash, 2004: 211-
218). RSS can hardly be termed a civil society organization from its modern definition
nor just a political organization. Rather such uncivil force is termed as ‘dark side of civil
society’.
However, through a fully democratic process in the 2004 general election BJP lost
to Congress Party and Congress lead coalition formed the new government. In spite of it
communal and uncivil character the RSS respected the national consensus on democratic
and peaceful way of changing power and accepted the democratic rule of the political
game. A democratic culture has developed among the political actors that have brought
stability.
In a strong and stable democracy, the civil society is expected to be strong, vigilant.
However, the fact reveals that partially the civil society is politically controlled as shown
by Chibber, moreover, it contains uncivil forces. But at the same time, there are the
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presence of associational culture among the society and presence of autonomous nonpartisan
civil society movements and NGOs working for social development.
Such civil society can hardly be given the major credit to the democratic stability in
India. Rather the political consensus that exists among the political actors may be
considered the main reason. On the other hand, civil society, in spite of historical tradition
of associations have turned weak, politicized and even communal due to the political
forces.
3.2.2 Elitist Democracy- The Philippines
The Philippines is well known for its vibrant civil society as well as for mass
democratic movements. However, democracy is yet to be institutionalized in the country.
Rather it is often termed as Elitist Democracy (Franco, 2004) or Undemocratic
Democracy (Rocamora, 2004: 1996) by the scholars. Elite domination in politics has
contributed to weak state and low level of effective political participation. Strong landed
capitalist and financial interests and other political rent-seekers have penetrated the
Philippine state and influenced the national and local government policies (Angeles,
2004:196). They enjoy monopolistic control over both coercive and economic resources
within given territorial jurisdictions. Corruption is rampant among the public officials that
have ranked the country 11 th most corrupt nation by Transparency International (Quimpo,
2004: 2).
In contrast to India and even Bangladesh, the major political parties of The
Philippines are not well organized rather found under oligarchic control. Political parties
have been rather considered as vast national coalitions of local political organizations,
bound together by the vertical hierarchy of public offices and their rewards and social
hierarchy of wealth. Many parties in fact are just vehicles for presidential ambitions and
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turncoatism (Rocmora, 2004:207, 211). It is only the left that constitutes significant
organized political force resisting the rule of the oligarchic elite (Quimpo, 2004).
However, they are also divided, some times co-opted and have often reentered into
politics in the form of civil society to confront the state, mobilize the public and also
assist development.
In the absence of well organized, programmatic and national based political parties
in The Philippines and with the opportunity of the 1991 Local Government Code 4 and the
Party List act 1995 (RA 7941) 5 , it is naturally expected that the civil society in The
Philippines shall come out in the front line as an important political actor (Kawanaka,
2002). The Philippines is reputed to have the world’s densest NGO network. Not only in
numbers but the vigor and scale of activities is also vast. Moreover, large group of NGO
coalitions do have actually entered electoral politics in here. However, the civil society
can hardly be termed successful in consolidating democracy or bringing political stability
in the country.
Mostly two broad formation of civil society are observed in The Philippines—
indigenous left based movement and foreign funded associations. Left based people’s
organization have been actively involved in the struggles for peasants issues, agrarian
reform, land grabbing, recognition of land titles, and land conversion besides their direct
moves for democracy. But in the process they have been found to be factionalized and
some sections became co-opted by the political elites. Foreign funded NGOs were meant
4 1991 Local Governmental Code (LGC) operationalized the provision for strengthening local autonomy
through decentralization. It devolved power and resources to local government units at the provincial, city,
municipal and barangay level and allowed for people’s participation in local government and development.
Civil society groups saw the law as a real opportunity to influence the local political process. (Franco,
2004:115).
5 It is a complicated law that introduced proportional representation (Franco, 2004: 116). The law attracted
or rather provided a legal opportunity for the civil society groups to enter electoral politics. The most
glaring instances is the Akbayan political block formed by like minded civil society groups including the
progressive development NGOs and also some factions of the left politicians.
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for advocacy work and were considered as non-partisan, which was opposite of the fact.
The two different formations of civil society groups have moved on simultaneously but
not in parallel way but through alignment and contestation. A distinct section of the
foreign funds receiving PO/NGOs were aligned to the left.
Since 1990s, the PO/NGOs have become increasingly assertive not only in
development effort but also in the democratization process acting as powerful interest
groups. Along with different left parties, the progressive NGO coalitions formed
themselves into Akabayan, as a loose non-party formation but acting as a precursor of a
party. Based on the party list law 1995, Akbayan began electoral politics (Rocamora,
2004:218; Quimpo, 2004: 7-8). A project for electoral movement of NGO community
was launched in 2001, where it was proposed that the NGO alliances and block shall
intervene in four ways—raising political awareness, lobbying for electoral reform,
developing people’s platform and giving actual support to specific candidates. However,
Quimpo (2004) consider such electoral movement of civil society as faulty as it became
divided and factious and has not been able to emerge as an important political force
against the corrupt politics and elite democracy. Fact is multi layered, fractious civil
society has been both bane and boon to democratization in Philippine. Civil society
interactions have helped to extend the reach of democratic rights and freedoms to
previously excluded populations and have expanded political competition. But
unintentionally they have also served to revive or reinforce anti-reform elite interest.
(Franco, 2004:127).
Moreover, though the civil society has entered electoral politics in The Philippines,
the capacity building and strengthening organizations at the grass-roots level are still in
their infancy. Their intervention are limited with low sustainability and marred by petty
politics (Angeles, 2004: 199).
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From the brief discussion, it becomes clear that, The Philippines is very rich in
different types of civil society organizations and enjoys strong network. Though such
civil society is successful in staging movements to topple down corrupt regimes it fails to
influence the state policies in day to day politics. In the absence of well organized and
competitive parties and with the introduction of new laws for widening people’s
presentation, civil society coalitions have entered the electoral politics and earned a
significant position in the political society. However such process is also not free from the
strong elite influence that have divided and factionalized the civil society. Moreover the
state is weak and also controlled by political elites and society is marred by nepotism,
patron-client relations, violence etc. So the relatively free, well networked and politically
advanced civil society in The Philippines, have a long way to go to contribute effectively
to change the brand—from elite democracy to liberal or participatory democracy. And
again, though not in the form of political party or national leaders but as oligarchs, the
elite community controls the nature and level of democracy and also the strength and
success of civil society in The Philippines. The civil society strength, network and
political environment of The Philippines in contrast to Bangladesh is in a much better
position however, from the consideration of democratic stability, both the countries face
all most similar types of unrest, upheavals and instability. Again the from the
consideration of the political actors, Philippine state, bureaucracy and society under the
Presidential system of government is controlled by the political elites while in case of
Bangladeshi parliamentary system, it is the political parties who control the prime power
of the state.
3.2.3 Failed Democracy- Pakistan
Pakistan is an instance of failed democracy among the modern nation states in the
developing world. All attempts for democratization since its independence in 1947 have
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failed and always the state power went back in the hands of the autocratic rulers. The
country had been under long spell of military rule with only a short period of
democratically elected governments (1988-1999) which were again scarred by instability,
corruption, misrule, political confrontation and regional violence. The political system
poorly differentiates between political democracy and autocratic rule. It is the feudal lords,
military generals and bureaucrats that form the political elite structure in Pakistan. They
may have apparent modernist outlook but too often have resisted measures such as
decentralization, accountability, media freedom, land reform and independence of the
judiciary (Malik, 1996: 681). Anti-pluralism and rigid administrative machinery have
contributed to the undemocratic development in Pakistan.
Political parties in Pakistan are ideologically and organizationally weak (Malik
1996) and never had been well-integrated to be able to mediate between the state and
society (Adeney, 2004:11). These parties remain desperate to maintain their traditional
bases of support, always under the domination of the old feudal and big business interests
(Shah, 2004:378). Alike the political parties of Bangladesh, political parties in Pakistan
prefer to engage in conflict, making use of populist political appeals for street agitation
tress passing the parliamentary norms. They are vulnerable to official manipulation and
are always accused of impotence and corruption by the central state authorities.
Lack of democracy and constitutionalism have also kept the various regional and
ethnic forces outside of the main stream politico-economic institution while often coopted
and used by the state for political gains. The state policy is of imposing and
establishing one Pakistani identity than ensuring autonomy and pluralism. Naturally
under such centralized autocratic rule where political process is often suspended and
opposition is suppressed, civil society can hardly gain strength to influence political
change and democracy.
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Civil Society in Pakistan from consideration of the number of NGOs, associations
and voluntary groups, do not fall behind other developing countries, how ever, they are
mostly urban-based and are not spread across the country in a balanced way (Sattar and
Baig, 2001:6-7; Shah, 2004:367). Low levels of institutional development, weak
organizational skills, and poor internal transparency characterize most of the prominent
NGOs which are often foreign funded (Shah, 2004:367-68; Satter and Baig, 2001).
Membership is low for all types of organizations. Just like Bangladesh and India, there
exists multiplicity of registration laws. The nature of application of the law by the
authorities is more important than the nature of rigidness or flexibility in the rules
themselves. Unlike The Philippines, NGOs in Pakistan lack strong network and coalition
among themselves. While considering the case of Pakistan, local religious organizations
like madrasas, shrine, seminaries, jirgas need to be included in the mapping of civil
society, as these organizations are pretty large in number and have profound influence in
the society and politics in both positive (voluntarism) and negative (violence) ways. Such
civil society has failed to play any important role in promoting harmony among
multiplicity of religions, castes, ethnicities and cultures (Sattar and Baig, 2001). Overall
civil society participation and impact on state policies are insignificant. However, it has
been observed that the faith based organization have higher influence on government
policies than the NGOs and advocacy groups. Along with their alliance with national
security elites, religious groups, continue to restrict the socio-political space available to
weaker civil organization and often try to replace and subvert opponents in civil society.
Bangladesh is also a Muslim majority country like Pakistan and numbers of religious
groups- like Madrasa or charity groups are also not less. In the beginning of 2000s it has
experienced some religious militancy, however, they have not reached the strength or
position to win in their clashes with the secular and modern form of CSOs.
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Necessary political institutionalization and social flexibility for the development
of both vibrant and vigilant nature of civil society is absent in Pakistan. It is only the bar
association and the press who often unite, gain strength to protest violation of
constitutional norms. Moreover, in contrast to Bangladesh, civil society in Pakistan is
non-partisan (Shah, 2001:378, 386). In fear of losing autonomy, civil society groups
hardly collaborate with political parties. This has been further reinforced by the
depoliticization of the society by the military rulers. Moreover, these civil society
organizations both NGOs and advocacy groups partly depend on the state for their
economic survival. Far from resisting autocratic rule or altering the political system, large
section of this depoliticized civil society has taken the policy to derive privilege and
benefit from the authoritarian state. The civil society that avoids political parties to avoid
loosing autonomy, give up their independence and economic freedom to the state
apparatus. Civil society is rather embedded in the state via both cooptation and coercion.
During the short lived democratic regimes under the party rules in Pakistan(1988-
1999) civil society organizations did have some opportunity or space to act freely and
even protest against the party regimes (Shah,2004: 363, 371). Nevertheless, Shah (2004)
also have mentioned about the state-civil society friction during this period for example,
NGO Bill 1996 to control their activity, harassing the press etc. Relatively, the case of
Bangladesh shows a far better environment for civil society to function in. From 1990 to
2006 Bangladesh was free from Military interference in politics and political parties ruled
the state and politics through formal democratic rules, though not through genuine
democratic competition. However, here also, civil society has been found to be rather
politicized and co-opted. What is different is that, civil society is not co-opted by the state
apparatus but by the political parties who often use their governmental powers. From the
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instance of Bangladesh, the possibility of Pakistani civil society to emerge as a strong
political force under Democratic Party rule also remains under question.
3.2.4 Position of Bangladesh civil society and democracy in comparison to other
Asian countries
From the discussion above it may be observed that in all cases, civil society to
some extent has been directly or indirectly controlled and co-opted by the political
powers, whether it may be the political parties, or political elites or the state (in case of
Pakistan) itself. But the nature of civil society and democracy has been found functioning
at different stages and level in these countries. Further discussion on Bangladesh in the
present chapter shall also point out the strong influence of the political parties in
determining the nature and strength of civil society as well as the type of democracy that
may be termed confrontational. Table 3.1 gives a simplified idea of the nature of
democracy and the strength of civil societies of four Asian courtiers having political
actors as the prime influencing factor.
In case of India, civil society has been used by the parties in both ways for
democracy and communalism. Congress Party emerged powerful in the absence of strong
civil society organizations pushing for important strategic policies while BJP came to
political power by using the civil society for motivating the voters with their communal
sentiments. Only a few environment movements have been able to show their
independent strength and confronted the state and political power. On the other hand, in
The Philippines, a strong network may be observed among civil society groups which has
reached the extent to form political blocks, joined by left politicians and has entered
electoral politics.
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Table 3.1 Comparative table showing democracy and civil society level in four
countries
Countries Nature of
Democracy
Vigilant Nature of Civil Society Prime Influencing Factors
India
Stable but partly
illiberal
Partially vigilant, partially
politicized, partially uncivil
Political Party and uncivil
forces
The Philippines Elite dominated Politically active with strong
network but divided
Bangladesh Confrontational Less participatory, politicized and
polarized
Political elites-land owners,
business class
Political parties and political
leaders
Pakistan Failed Weak and fragile Military rulers using state
apparatus
However, they have also been found to be factious and influenced by political oligarchs,
thus yet to overcome the elite democracy.
In case of Pakistan it is the military state that has controlled the development and
nature of action of the civil society which never gained the strength to fight for
democracy. Bangladesh also shows the strong influences of political parties upon the
society where the citizens and civil society groups have become co-opted and divided and
acting for the political end of these parties. Though apparently, the country has a
parliamentary system of democracy with numerous civil society organizations active at
both local and national level. Based on the discussion on the nature of civil society,
democracy of the four countries it may be possible to draw to a simplified two
dimensional figure, where the political actors determine the level of democracy and the
strength of civil society in influencing the state and national policy.
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Figure 3.1 Model for Comparison (Political actors ultimately defines the level of
democracy and the strength of civil society
Stable
D
e
m
o
cr
a
c
y
Pakistan
India
Philippine
Bangladesh
Unstable
Weak
Civil Society
Vigilant
The simplified figure gives us an idea of the position of Bangladesh in comparison
to other countries. It is in a much better condition than Pakistan in contrast to democracy
and civil society but after India and Philippines. Though the vigilant nature of Philippino
civil society is in a better position than India, from consideration of its democratic aspect
it is placed under the India. It is the political actors who have ultimately defined the
position of each country. If we consult the situation with the rating of Freedom House 6
then we may find the same type of variation among the four countries (table 3.2).
Table 3.2 Freedom House rating for four countries in 2006
Score indicator India The Philippines Bangladesh Pakistan
Political Rights Score 2 3 4 6
Civil Liberties Right 3 3 4 5
Status Free Partly free Partly Free Not Free
**The rating is done on a scale from 1 to 7 where, 1 means highest degree of freedom and civil liberties and
7 means least degree of freedom and civil liberties.
Source: Freedom house website http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1, internet access 25 th
November, 2007. 7
6 Freedom house website http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1, internet access 25 th
November, 2007.
7 The methodology of the freedom house survey is grounded in basic standards of political rights and civil
liberties, derived in large measure from relevant portions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
97

The rating is based on the interplay of both governmental and nongovernmental
actors upon the political rights and civil liberties of the citizens of each country.
Democracy and civil society is concerned with both these political rights and civil
liberties and the rating do support the position of each country made in the comparative
figure. India has been termed free and its political rights as 2 that reflects the stable
democracy, the country posses, on the other hand, the civil liberties of India and that of
partly free Philippine is same (3), this refers to the almost same status of the citizens and
CSOs in performing their actions. The weak state and powerful political elites have
caused political rights of The Philippines to come down to 3. The rating for Pakistan
reflects the failed democracy and weak civil society as shown in table 3.1. and figure 3.1.
Bangladesh’s position from the point of political rights and also civil liberties is lower
than both India and Philippines. This naturally refer that the space for the civil society to
act independently and participate in government actions and influence policies is limited.
Despite the fact, Bangladesh is formally a democratic country with a constitution
that provides all the necessary civil freedom and political rights to its citizens. A better
idea of the nature and strength of civil society in Bangladesh, in relation to democracy,
may be understood, through a detailed analysis of its vibrant and vigilant nature tracing
the most important influencing factors to such attributes. The following section focuses
on the contemporary civil society and political situation in Bangladesh to reach to a better
These standards apply to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or
religious composition, or level of economic development. The survey operates from the assumption that
freedom for all peoples is best achieved in liberal democratic societies. The survey does not rate
governments or government performance per se, but rather the real-world rights and social freedoms
enjoyed by individuals. Freedoms can be affected by state actions, as well as by non state actors, including
insurgents and other armed groups. Thus, the survey ratings generally reflect the interplay of a variety of
actors, both governmental and nongovernmental
(http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_page=298&year=2006).
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understanding of the critical arguments made for the present research in the introduction
chapter.
3.3 Bangladesh Civil Society from Vibrant and Vigilant Perspective
The focus of the thesis is the civil society of Bangladesh, particularly in relation to
politics. The present section shall focus on the civil society both from its vibrant and
vigilant nature and in the perspective of the contemporary political situation in
Bangladesh.
3.3.1 Level of Vibrancy of Civil Society in Bangladesh
As discussed in the introduction chapter, Bangladesh civil society have been
termed relatively vibrant in contrast to other developing Asian countries from
consideration of density, activeness and its success so far in poverty alleviation and social
development. As mentioned before, in 2004 a rough estimate of registered civil society
organizations in Bangladesh was 259774 excluding the professional organizations,
religious groups and all informal, unregistered groups and associations. According to
another survey on non-profit groups in Bangladesh in 1997 the total number of such
organizations was 206142 8
excluding cooperatives but including religious groups.
Though these numbers are not comparable, this gives an idea of how the number of civil
society organizations in Bangladesh has increased (about 50,000 CSOs) in only five years
period. The number of such organizations and their nature of increase refer to an
associational culture in Bangladesh 9 . However, all these organizations may not be found
8 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Survey of Non-profit Organization in Bangladesh, 1996-97, Dhaka 1999
9 If the statistics of informal or unregistered organizations were available then the number would increase in
a higher rate. This is because the culture or trend of forming groups in Bangladesh is not only common
among the urban middle class, but also among the people living in lower social stratification and among
villagers. There may not be well organized neighborhood associations like Japan (chyonaikai), but in
Bangladesh, in every village there are small societies formed by all the dwellers of the village, or a section
of the village and led by the village head or local elite (elected member of the council or school teacher,
99

active in the same pace. In a poverty ridden and disaster prone country like Bangladesh,
where the state have failed to provide the necessary social security to all its citizens,
naturally most of the CSOs are social welfare based, trying to solve the social and
materialistic needs in a private way or in cooperation with the state agencies. Such trend
of the civil society inspired the way for well organized NGOs and cooperatives, welfare
groups and so on. Density of such CSOs and success of the NGO sector gives Bangladesh
civil society a vibrant outlook. With the help of such initiatives of domestic and
international NGOs, the poor, uneducated, unaware rural inhabitants of Bangladesh have
gained economic empowerment to some extent, have learned to read and right and have
become aware about sanitation, health and social rights. Naturally this must be considered
as a progress for rural citizens of Bangladesh. It may be stated that, where there was
nothing, at least now there is something. Such welfare base success of the civil society in
Bangladesh attracts publicity and world recognition. It must be remembered that this is
just one side of the civil society function that have shown success which is termed as
vibrancy of civil society. Such vibrant nature of civil society organizations can be
explained mainly from three perspectives—Philanthropy culture, Donor Policy, Simple
registration process.
3.3.1.1 Philanthropy Culture
The existence of voluntary action, deepened through natural disaster and war have
contributed to the large size of welfare NGOs in Bangladesh and their service providing
character. The tradition of charity and voluntarism is deep rooted in the religious and
social culture of Bangladesh. Even today the family holds the primary responsibility for
kin in need (Robinson 1989: 391). Such trend is common in both the two prominent
Imam [prayer leader] of the Mosque etc.). These informal Societies (shomaj) have full control over the
social life of the dwellers living within their domain and often perform small arbitrations. Besides in the
new urban areas neighborhood associations are also growing, however, they are often not registered.
100

eligions—Islam and Hinduism, in Bangladesh. Poverty and natural disaster also have
played a big role in encouraging voluntarism and proliferation of service based private
organizations. In Bangladesh 40% people live under poverty line and among them 25%
have been identified as extreme poor by DFID (Daily Star, June27, 2006). Naturally the
state alone cannot do for them. As Bangladesh is a delta, every year a good portion of the
country is inundated by flood. Besides, cyclone and hurricane often blow over the costal
belt. The modern NGO sector can trace its origins to two key events-the 1970 devastating
cyclone that left over half a million people dead and 1971 war of Independence (Goon,
2002: 142). Not only foreign aided NGOs but formal and informal community based
groups show their strength during emergency floods and disasters, as often the
government and NGO assistance are delayed (Stiles, 2002: 55) 10 .
3.3.1.2 Donor Policy
Developing countries rely on donor aid and loan for economic mobilization and
development. Donor policy and directions have profound impact on the economy, politics
and also civil society in a third world country. Since 1980s, International donors have
begun to cooperate with NGOs, by passing the government on issues like, social
development, health, educations etc. During 1990s, such civil societies have been targeted
by Western International development agencies with the aim to generate development and
consolidate democracy. This had an impact on their aid distribution and instructions to the
state and NGOs (Lewis 2004, Stiles 2002, White 1999). A substantial portion of
International aid money has been air marked for development of civil society (Alagappa,
2004:4; Hulme and Edward 1997: 7; Stiles, 2002:1).
10 The culture of Bangladesh, specially the vertical trend in social relationship has also deep negative effect
on the strength of civil society. Discussion on such aspect will come later in relation to the vigilant nature of
the civil society.
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Figure 3.2 Rise of NGOs receiving foreign funds since 1990s in Bangladesh
(Based on the statistics provided by the NGO Affairs Bureau Website http://www.ngoab.gov.bd/, on 3 rd
December, 2007) 11
Since the 1990s with change in donor policy to assist NGOs, Bangladesh has seen
a mushrooming growth in its NGO sector. If we consider the statistics of only those
NGOs receiving foreign funds and registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau in Bangladesh,
then we may observe a constant high rise in the number of NGOs both local and foreign
since the 1990s. It has become more than 5 times higher than it was in 1990 (Figure 3.2).
The number of NGOs who enter into subcontract with big NGOs for implementing the
large development projects has also proliferated. Such indirect foreign funding is
sometimes considered as a lucrative opportunity to collect resources for these NGOs. In
the fiscal 2004-05, foreign assistant covered 15% of the national budget (113.3 Billion
Taka). Among this 113.3 Billion Taka, 13.7% (15.6 Billion Taka 12 ) was disbursed
through the NGO Affairs Bureau.
11 In Bangladesh the financial year begins on July and ends at June (the next year).
12 1 UD $ = 68 BD Taka (According to Yahoo Currency converter http;//finance.yahoo.com/currency? On
May 15 2007.
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Figure 3.3 Flow of foreign grant through NGO Affairs Bureau in Bangladesh
(Based on the statistics provided by the NGO Affairs Bureau Website http://www.ngoab.gov.bd/, on 3 rd
December, 2007) 13
If we consider the flow of money, again, dramatic development may be observed, while
in 1990-91 the amount was only 106 million US $, it proliferated up to 323 Million US
$ in 2005 (Figure3.3). Such flow of foreign funds also had indirect influence in the rise of
other CSOs related to social welfare who do not directly receive foreign funds. In the
present research, a steady rise since 1990s has been found among the sample of CSOs
surveyed. Figure 3.4 shows the year of establishment of the CSOs.
13 In Bangladesh the financial year begins on July and ends at June (the next year).
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Figure 3.4 Y ear of establishment of civil society organizations
N= 504, No Answer rate=1 (0.2%)
According to Governance Report 2006 (BRAC, 2006: 94), between 1995 to 2000
the proportion of rural communities with at least one NGO program doubled. There is
now an average of 15 NGOs or NGO branch offices in each sub-district across the
country. Such NGO activities are overwhelmingly micro-credit programs with education
and family planning 14 .
14 Drawbacks: Foreign donors have prioritized social welfare, economic development and other service
providing objectives for the NGO projects they finance. Naturally, most organizations grew here with such
purposes of social welfare rather than for asserting citizen and human rights and for advocacy. Recently,
few organizations have adopted right based advocacy projects as instructed by good governance agenda
(Lewis, 2004:310), but are facing pressure from other actors in the political system. Critiques on foreign aid
have pointed out that aid dependency and gradual privatization have enhanced political patronage and
corruption (Sobhan, 1996:16). Sobhan (2004: 15) have also termed the foreign funded NGOs as aid
contractors. Heavy dependence on external aid is compromising NGOs’ role as social mobilizers and
advocate of the poor. Moreover, researchers have revealed different drawbacks and immature development
through the welfare projects of such NGOs. They have mentioned the problems of commercialization of
micro-credit, low level of education, inadequate leadership training, lack of independence among the credit
groups from the NGOs etc. (Tasnim, 2005b: 92, 175, 177; Quadir 1999: 213; Ullah and Routery, 2003: 118;
IOB, 1998: 251). Though there has been a good affluence of NGOs due to donor policies it has been found
that they have not been able to provide further teachings, group networks and better autonomy to civil
society that are necessary to contribute effectively to good citizenry, politics and democracy. Four basic
impediments have been identified in this connection. First is the donor policy based on Western theory and
experience, the second is the influence of the local elites and vertical norms upon the NGOs, the third is the
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3.3.1.3 Registration System
Constitutional rights and State Law for association formation and regulation has
been considered as an important determinate in the nature and shape of civil society in
any country.
The constitution of Bangladesh guarantees the fundamental freedom to
assemble, participate in public meetings and processions (article 37), freedom to form
associations (article 38) and also the freedom of thought and conscience and freedom of
speech (article 39). Therefore, constitutionally, the basic rights for forming and
functioning of civil society organizations are well established in Bangladesh. The legal
framework for civil society organizations (CSO) in Bangladesh is based on a set of old
and new laws for incorporation, management structure, responsibilities and liabilities, and
regulations. There are diverse registration options and no harmonized non-profit
legislation procedure. Two distinct sets of laws in Bangladesh pertain to nonprofit
organizations. One set of laws concerns the formation of nonprofit organizations, among
them the most important are Societies Registration Act 1860, the Trusts Act 1882,
Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration) Ordinance 1961, and the Companies
Act 1994. The other set of laws regulates these organizations such as the Volunteer Social
Welfare Agencies (control) Ordinance 1961, the Foreign Donations (Voluntary
Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Ordinance
1982 (Khair and Khan, 2004:53-55). The NGO Affairs Bureau has also been established
in 1989 to facilitate the process of bringing foreign funds in a simpler way.
In addition to these laws, there are particular laws for certain category of civil
society organizations under the authority of concerned ministries. For example, all the
cooperatives are established according to the rules of Cooperative Act 1984 and 2001 and
politicization and bureaucratization of NGOs, and lastly, the neglect towards the local collectivity and
voluntarism in the development policy (Tasnim 2007:176).
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egistered under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and
Cooperatives 15 . Trade Unions are formed, under the Industrial Relations Ordinance of
1969, registered with the Ministry of Labor in Bangladesh 16 . Most of the registered
professional organizations are officially formed under the rules of the concerned
institutions and ministries.
Though it seems that there are a web of laws and regulations upon the civil society
in Bangladesh, practically, they are not unified and harmonized, this variety of law rather
ensure less government control and provides better independence to the non-profit and
philanthropy organizations. This has inspired a good number of social groups to register.
The conditions for forming groups and register in Bangladesh seem to be much easier
than that in Japan or other developed countries. It is the application of the law that is more
important to consider in the case of Bangladesh. The loopholes and archaic nature of the
laws often provide the opportunity to misuse those by both the government administrators
as well as the NGOs 17 .
15 Cooperative Law 2001 and Cooperative Rules 2004, collected from the office of the Joint Registrar
Directorate of Rural Development and Cooperatives, Rajshahi Division.
16 Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies website http://www.bils-bd.org/labour_law.html access date 23
June, 2007.
17 Although, existing laws and procedures seek to protect the public from abuse, registration officials
exploit their positions to take advantage from those rules (Kair and Khan, 2005: 66). Moreover, with some
controversial provision and rules prepared through circular for NGOs registered with NGO Affairs Bureau,
the government can often impose its control on NGO activities and in sanctioning their foreign funds. For
example, a circulation mentions that, ‘no such project would be approved if it offends the feelings of the
people of any religion, had adverse effects in the culture and values of the country or if the project is based
on a political programme’ (Ahmed, 2000: 389). The interpretation of such rule may be made in different
ways. Often, social welfare and civic education programs of certain NGOs are identified as political or anticultural
and accordingly prosecuted by the government when it thinks that NGO programs are serving
against the political interest of the ruling party. After the 2001, general election, certain NGOs had been
black listed by the government. These NGOs had experienced administrative harassment, even arrests of
employee and executives and also blockade of foreign funds (Hossain 2006: 242-245). On the other hand,
NGOs have also been accused of misusing the provisions (Ahmed, 2000) of the laws and taking opportunity
of the weak man power of the NGO Affairs Bureau (Nobusue, 2002:46) and their strong backing from the
donor agencies. For example according to Foreign Donations Regulations Law 1978, section 3(1), NGOs
must receive state approval before accepting and spending foreign grants. Yet, another law named
Exchange Control Regulation Act 1947, allows any person or organization to bring any amount of foreign
currency into Bangladesh. Such dual, system has provided NGOs the opportunity to bring foreign money
with out the knowledge of the government. Moreover, while 1860 Registration Act restricts societies to
engage in business functions, the 1961 Ordinance allows organizations to gain profit in-order to create jobs.
At present, both the Laws apply to same types of civil society organizations. As a consequence some large
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Rules and regulations are not strict but often used and selectively applied for the
interest of powerful sides whether it is the government or the big NGOs. Besides, civil
society does not consists only of big NGOs; there are other professional groups, small
NGOs, welfare groups, clubs, labor unions and cooperatives. Over all performance of the
civil society in Bangladesh has been found to be weak in relation to politics and
democracy. In this context, the present study identifies more powerful institutional
influence upon the civil society in Bangladesh, from political parties through their vertical
relation with the CSOs and their leaders. The following section of the chapter shall
explore the relation between civil society and politics from this aspect.
3.3.2 Level of Vigilance of Civil Society in Bangladesh
Civil society from its vigilant aspect is to be more concerned with interest
articulation, influencing policies, making demands, advocating for certain interest and
brining accountability to the government. These require civil society to come in more
interaction with the government upholding their autonomy, engage in more advocacy,
political educational activities and form strong network among themselves. From these
aspects, the CSOs in Bangladesh may be considered weak. As it has been mentioned in
introduction and literature review that network among the civil society organizations are
not strong, they hardly are able to influence policies and often work for the status-quo
than the people they represent 18 . From different perspective performance of civil society
NGOs in Bangladesh have flourished simultaneously as service providing and profit oriented organizations.
Due to the loopholes in the regulations, the state is also deprived of large amount of tax (Ahmed, 2000:
385-386). Besides, researchers have found that NGO Affairs Bureau is far from strong enough to keep full
control over all the NGOs. Even, after audit and inspection, if a complaint is lodged against an NGO
virtually no appropriate actions are taken. Owing to the strong support for NGOs by their donors, the state
has had to refrain from its desire to cancel the registration of a number of NGOs and had to even change the
head of the NGO Affairs Bureau, who had appeared tough with those that had indulged in regulation at the
beginning of 1990s (Hashemi, 1995). On the other hand, the officials of the NGO Affairs Bureau have been
accused of corruption.
18 However, such comments of the about the civil society organizations are only based on few observation
and reports, not based on any empirical investigation or intensive survey. The present thesis in its chapter 4
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in Bangladesh from vigilant aspect is not satisfactory. Answer to the weakness may be
found in the discussion on the contemporary political situation of Bangladesh, the party
rule and also to some extent in the history and vertical culture of Bangladesh.
3.3.2.1 Confrontational Democracy in Bangladesh
After a successful mass movement against the autocratic military regime in 1990,
parliamentary system of government had been reintroduced in Bangladesh. However, in
2006 that is after 15 years, democracy is yet to be consolidated in Bangladesh. Rather
behind the façade of democracy, exists, instability, weak political institutions, patrimonial
politics, personalized political parties, patron-client relation and absence of political
consensus (Kochanek, 2000: 530). Researchers and scholars have termed such democracy
rather partial or quasi-liberal or illiberal democracy (Kochanek, 2000; Hossian,2000;
Zafarullah, 2003). They have pointed out the personalistic rule of the political leaders of
two major parties and the existing confrontation among them, as well as the mentality of
playing zero-sum game in politics. During this democratic era (1990-2006), political
legitimacy rested on free and fair elections. However, democratic rule in Bangladesh had
been subverted by the majoritarianism of the winning party (or the coalition) and as well
as by the pique of the losing party (Zafarullah, 2003:288).
During the 1990s the major political blocks had become divided over conflicting
definitions of Bangladeshi identity, national heroes and liberation war symbols
(Kochanek, 2000:531). Such division did not remain confined within the political elites
but have influenced all social groups willingly or unwillingly. This division had become
compounded when dynastic political leaders of the two major parties engaged in bitter,
personal struggle to restore their patrimonial right to control over the state and polarized
the whole nation. Ultimately such polarization has been used for political expedience that
and 5 investigate with mostly primary and secondary data into the matter and try to point out the causes for
such weak nature of vigilance of the civil society organizations.
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affected the democratic growth of civil society. This was just the opposite to democratic
culture that was expected to develop through the reintroduction of democracy in 1990.
At the administration level, during this period, political factors often determined
the choice of people for key position in the governmental hierarchy, while personnel were
shuffled within the civil service and statuary bodies according to partisan agendas. Public
Policy domain has always been bureaucratized or maneuvered by the ruling party dictates
to serve vested political and economic interest. There is very little scope for the policy
networks integrating state and advocacy coalition (Zafarullah, 2003:285). Intrusion of
civil society into policy arena is looked on suspiciously.
Civil society organizations were discriminated based on their links to ruling party
or the opponents, and educational institutions, especially universities and colleges, had
been used by the major political parties to further their political objective. The press and
private electronic media were relatively free but each news paper had tilt to either side of
the political coalitions and often the private television channels were owned by the
political business magnets.
Though democratic, practically no regime have provided the enough space and
showed responsiveness to the participation of civil society organizations in Bangladesh.
The law, society, donor initiative, social tradition has led to the proliferation of civil
society organizations. However, confrontational politics played by the two major political
parties through the instruments of clientelism, patronage, nepotism corruption, violence
have co-opted, politicized, weakened and polarized the civil society groups and
undermined their ability to participate in political process, contribute to governance and
democracy.
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In a nutshell it may be agreed that, with the retreat of the army and subordination
of the bureaucracy, Bangladesh had entered Partyarchy 19 (Governance Report 2006:20).
The winning party enjoys monopoly of power for the duration of their electoral term,
political decision making power centers around the Prime Minister’s office (the Prime
Minister herself and her closest political advisors). The society and civil society are
politicized according to political line. And such party-society relation is based on
clientelistic incorporation. The features are common in rule of either of two major
political parties and their coalitions who are constantly confronting each other.
3.3.2.2 Elite Composition-Politics and Civil Society
A brief introduction to the socio-political status of the political elites as well as
civil society elites may provide a clear picture of the democracy, politics and civil society
in Bangladesh. The four main actors in Bangladesh politics are the Political leaders,
bureaucrats, military and rural land owners.
Table 3.3 Professions of parliament members 1973 to 2001
Year
Business Lawyers Landowners Politicians Other Total
1973 24 27 15 13 23 102*
1991 61 18 6 10 5 100
1996 49 19 10 7 15 100
2001 60 12 7 3 18 100
Source : State and Governance in Bangladesh. 2006. Dhaka: BRAC, page 14.
*Due to round figure percentage, total did not add up to 100%.
Table 3.3. shows the percentage of parliament members belonging to different
occupations in the year 1973 that is just after independence of Bangladesh and 1991—
beginning of the democratic age and also of 1996, 2001. The table shows a clear entrance
of the rich business class in politics and decline of the politics of the landholders and
19 A democratic political system in which political parties monopolize the formal political process and
politicize society along party line (Coppedge: 1994:18), discussed in details in chapter five.
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lawyers. So the recent development among the political elites is the entrance of the
business class besides the politicians. Retired civil servants and high ranking army
officials have also entered the electoral politics, who also consider themselves as
businessmen (Maniruzzaman, 1994:151).
3.3.2.2.1 Civil Society Elites
Civil society in Bangladesh is rich in associations and group working both at the
local and national level. However, all civil society organizations, working at different
geographic level don’t have same power, influence, connection, or network, nor do they
receive same type of attention from the other actors in society and political system. Civil
society consists of elite and non-elite civil society groups. Naturally, intellectuals, large
development NGOs, apex organizations and their leaders form the elite section of civil
society. At national level, active civil society elites are group of intellectuals related to
the think tanks and citizens groups– like, Centre for Policy Dialogue or shujon (good
citizens), democracy watch, FEMA; different advocacy organizations like human rights
groups, environment groups formed mainly by lawyers practicing at the capital and
divisional towns; leaders or chairman of the Large NGOs like Grameen Bank
(Muhammad Yunus), BRAC (Fazle Hasan Abed), Proshika (Kazi Faruque Ahmed). As,
mentioned before business men are important force in Bangladesh politics and naturally
their national apex associations like Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce
and Industries (FBCCI) receive important attention from the government and political
parties. Moreover, the leaders of the apex organizations of trade unions and other
professional groups also emerge as powerful actors influencing the state and being
influenced by the political elites.
Both tension and cooperation exists among the different groups of civil society
actors active at the national level. However, the network among these actors is rather
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weak and factious. Apex body of each group is divided along party line albeit having
strong links to higher ups within the government, bureaucracy and political parties. In
case of large development NGOs powerful connection are also maintained with the
foreign donors. Nevertheless, in all cases, the relation is not as equal partners or
honorable stake holders or interest groups but in a vertical manner, where the civil society
leaders are considered as the less powerful and placed in a lower position and the
politicians, administrators and donors as the powerful, located in a higher position.
Furthermore, though the development NGOs are considered as apolitical and pro-market
and horizontally organized, the relationship between larger and smaller NGOs is more
like particularistic patron-client ties. Smaller local NGOs may receive funding through, or
on the recommendation of, or as a result of advice from, larger NGOs; and this
relationship may continue with broader ties of reciprocal but unequal exchange (White
1999: 314).
Elite presence may also be observed, among the civil society organization
working at the local level where their number is vast. Local civil society elite group is
rather a combination of NGOs active in the local area and rural elites who often are
landlords or businessmen. The local elites may also have membership in the local council.
While the NGOs at present are very much aligned with the local status-quo, the local
elites are again entangled in a reciprocal but vertical relation with political elites and
administration. They are the brokers between the urban political leaders and poor
villagers. NGOs specially those having development projects with foreign funds enjoys
an important position among the community and also administrators as they bring
resources to the area. On the other hand, local clubs and cooperatives are either
dominated by the political elites or their supporter and musclemen. Thus they become
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powerless and have no effect on the local administration, even if they may have upon the
community.
3.3.2.3 Internal Characteristics of Civil Society Organizations
After understanding identity of civil society elites, it is important to understand
how is the internal situation of CSOs in Bangladesh. Civil society organizations are here
of different types, so this sections will try to give general idea about the leader member
relationship of the most common types of civil society organizations.
Well known CSOs are the development NGOs working at the rural level of
Bangladesh having their head quarters at Dhaka or a metropolitan city. These NGOs act
as the service provider and micro-credit giver and collector to their beneficiaries. The
beneficiary groups and their members formed by these NGO are not regarded as member
of the NGOs but as beneficiaries or service receivers and NGO field worker acts in most
cases as office representative or banker to them. In a report on the internal governance of
the NGOs conducted by the Transparency International Bangladesh 20 a few hard facts
about the internal situation of the NGOs have been revealed. The governing bodies are
formed by relatives of the executive officer, such members just attend meetings but never
visit NGOs, and beneficiaries are hardly included in the governing board. In case of
governance, the executive head often takes decisions unilaterally. NGO has no
accountability to the other officers and workers as well as the beneficiaries on matters of
financial management. Often NGOs are very rigid in providing information about their
20 Problems of Governance in the NGO Sector : The Way Out, Transparency International Bangladesh,
October , 2007, on http://www.ti-bangladesh.org/research/NGO_Study_Report_Full_Draft.pdf, internet
access, 13 th November, 2007.
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organization to the public 21 . Besides, NGOs are involved in bribing the government
officers and they themselves are also corrupt 22 .
It is not only NGOs but at the rural level there are cooperative and small local
clubs. Here in the case of cooperatives, they are organized and often controlled by the
BRDB officials. Elections are regularly held for the central cooperative committee;
however, the BRDB officers conduct the process. This happens mostly in the case of
cooperatives formed by very poor farmers or destitute women who hardly understand the
whole system and are more interested in receiving the loans. In case of cooperatives for
landed farmers and small businessmen, members are more concerned about the system. In
this case, the leaders of the cooperatives with the help of the cooperative officer or a local
political leader try to keep his own control over the loan and savings of the cooperatives
and distribution of the loan. Cooperative members have not yet gained independency of
managing their groups by themselves. This is partly due to their ignorance and partly due
to the all controlling attitude of the leader. The same comments may be made about the
beneficiary group or micro-credit groups formed by the NGOs.
In case of local clubs and welfare groups, the situation differs from group to group.
There may be a few well organized clubs holding elections regularly and taking decisions
unanimously. However, more common is that these organizations run by a permanent
committee where there is hardly any rotation in the posts of chairman and members. So
internal environment of the group, solely depends on the organizing skill or wish of the
leader. Often leaders of such clubs are the local elites or their sons. In most cases the
21 The present researcher herself and other surveyors also had faced such problems while trying to interview
the NGOs and collect more information from those organizations.
22 Corruption is (i) a hidden violation of a contract that, implicitly, states a delegation of responsibility and
the exercise of some discretionary power, (ii) by a public agent (the bribee) who, against the interests or
preferences of the principal (its public organization) (iii) acts in favor of a third part (the briber) from which
he receives a reward (the bribe). The resources exchanged can be various: the gain can be a direct or
indirect one, it can involve money but also other utilities and services, the exchange of commodities may be
simultaneous or delayed, the value of goods may also differ (della Porta and Vannucci 1999, 16).
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ural local elites belong to either of the two national political coalitions. Reflection of
such political support is found in the club’s activities.
In case of professional groups, interest groups and citizens association as well as
labor unions at the urban and meso level, elections are held regularly and the process
takes place so far in a democratic way. But often it becomes political. During elections
different panels of candidates contest and each panel represent each major political party.
This means that organization members are all divided into different blocks supporting a
political party or coalition. Naturally the panel that are elected to the executive committee
works for only those who voted for them and acts as the representative of the political
party it supports and introduce party ideology and agenda within the organization. In case
of, labor unions the circumstances are more complicated as the union leaders often act as
the muscle man for the political leaders and use violent means to negotiate with the
authorities and some times even misappropriate wages of the regular labors in name of
membership dues.
From our discussion on the internal relationship of CSOs there are hints of
corruption, nepotism, non-democratic mentality, clientelistic attitude 23 and politicizations.
As the organizational structure and performance style of the CSOs are not horizontal or
democratic it has a high possibility to be influenced by the vertical social relations and
confrontational political atmosphere. Question arises how participatory can these civil
society be to earn a vigilant role in strengthening democracy. Further investigation into
23 Patron-client relationships are based on direct, face-to-face encounters between individual elites and poor
people and are characterized by little or no formal structure. They may be explained as an exchange of
relations between roles; a special case of two persons' ties involving a large instrumental friendship in
which an individual of higher socio-economic status (patron) uses his own influence and resources to
provide protection and/or benefits to a person of lower status (client) who, for his part, reciprocates by
offering general support and assistance, including personal services, to the patrons (Scott 1972, 178).
Through out this thesis, patron-client relation and clientelism has been alternatively used implicating same
meaning.
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their nature of civil society activities has become essential to understand their democratic
potentiality.
Moreover, better understanding about the nature of political party and civil
society relation is essential as national politics has often direct contribution in forming
factions within the organizations and their nature of functioning. Before entering into
such discussion, an introduction to the contemporary party system of Bangladesh is
necessary to understand the circumstances.
3.3.2.4 Political Party System in Bangladesh
Since last half of the twentieth century we may observe a steady growth of rich
literatures on Political Parties-their types, system, organization (Duverger, 1978,
Kirchheimer, 1966, Lapalombara 1966, Sartori 1976, Panebianco, 1988, Gunther and
Diamond, 2003,). The nature and performance of political parties in Bangladesh are
transforming and often partially fit in and sometimes differ from established
classifications developed by experts on political party.
From the consideration of political opportunity structure, nature and performance
of civil society and level of democracy has been mostly influenced by the character and
activities of political parties in contemporary Bangladesh. Along with strong influence of
culture, autocratic rule and of course donor policies, and formal institutions of laws, it is
the political parties that have played an important role in shaping participatory nature of
civil society and style of its political involvement.
Bangladesh politics in the first 18 years of its independence have faced
government turnovers and military coups d’etats with no party competition. So there was
a monopoly of a section of politicians, bureaucrats, military and their parties. Insecure
political and economic institutions led the political parties to use patronage and
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clientelism to build and maintain organizational base. After the end of the autocratic rule
in 1990 and reintroduction of parliamentary system of government, a competitive but
confrontational party system may be observed in Bangladesh. Results of the
parliamentary election of 1991, 1996 and 2001 indicated that the party system has moved
towards a de facto two party system (Table 3.3.).
Table 3.4 Percentage of share of seats and votes secured by parties in general
elections
Political Parties 1973 1979 1986 1988 1991 1996 2001
AL 97.7 13.0 25.3 - 29.3 48.7 19 Seat (%)
73.2 24.5 26.2 - 30.1 37.4 40.1 Vote (%)
BNP - 69 - - 46.7 38.7 65 Seat (%)
- 41.2 - - 30.8 33.6 41 Vote (%)
Jatiya Party - - 51 83.7 11.7 10.7 1.3 Seat (%)
- - 42.3 68.4 11.9 16.4 1.1 Vote (%)
Jamat Islami
Bangladesh
- 6.7 3.3 - 6 1 5.6 Seat (%)
- 10.1 4.6 - 12.1 8.6 4.3 Vote (%)
Other Parties 0.6 6 9.7 8 5.3 0.6 6.3 Seat (%)
21.5 14 10.6 18 10.7 2.9 9.4 Vote (%)
Independents 1.7 5.3 10.7 8.3 1 0.3 2.3 Seat (%)
5.3 10.2 16.3 13.6 4.4 1.1 4.1 Vote (%)
Source: N. Ahmed, 2003:56 and statistical report on 8 th general election 2001 from the website of the
Secretariat of the election Commission of Bangladesh at http://www.ecs.gov.bd/report.php3 access date 6th
August, 2007.
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Political parties in Bangladesh are divided in two major blocks -right centric and
left centric. The Major two party are Awami League (AL) the left centric party aligned
with other left minded small political parties and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
aligned with other Islamic minded parties (Hossain 2000:520, N. Ahmed 2003:60). Both
the parties have the same probability to win general election and form the cabinet with
their coalition partners. Since 1991, BNP has served the government twice (1991-1996;
2001-2006) and AL once (1996-2001) with their coalition or supporting partners.
As both the major political parties’ are centrist, apparently they have converged
into catch-all parties 24 (Katz and Mair, 1995; Kirchheimer 1966) with no radical or
identifying ideology from each other concerning national and foreign policy. Both the
parties now attract supporters from all segments of the society showing allegiance to their
policies. The principle of market economy and democracy has been embraced by both the
parties. However, they differ fundamentally in their interpretation of the emergence of
Bangladesh and the identity of the nation. Awami League and the left block Communist
Parties believe in the national identity of Bangali for the citizens of Bangladesh and show
their faith to the fundamental principles of the 1972 constitution- Nationalism, democracy,
secularism and socialism, and also accepts capitalistic economy. On the other hand, BNP
and its other Islami religious based political party (Jamate-Islami- Bangladesh) and also
General Ershad’s Jatiya Party, believe in the national identity of Bangladeshi which
accepts the four fundamental principles of the present constitution- trust and faith in all
24 Kirchheimer (1966:185) argued that class line parties and integrating mass parties (Duverger, 1978) have
gone through transformation and become more effective in electoral terms. These parties have turned into
catch-all parties embracing nationwide clientele. They began to make broader appeals, trying to catchsupports
from all classes (Katz and Mair, 1995:12). Only major-parties can become successful catch-all
parties. The catch-all party finds its permanent clientele among the interest groups though they also
represent citizens beyond group activities (Kirchheimer, 1966:194). In the Third World countries, often
nationalistic mass parties have transformed into catch-all party as they gained victory over the colonial
powers and became elected to the state power and engaged in state and nation building.
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mighty Allah (God), nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social
justice, and accepts capitalistic economy.
Therefore, the ideological difference is not on liberalism or socialism but based on
history and on the debate on including the religion in to politics or not 25 . However, such
use of national identity, and Islam in politics in most cases have only rhetoric and
strategic value to influence the society, penetrate social institutions and groups and win
elections and establish party dominance in all walks of social, economic and political life.
3.3.2.4.1 Nature of Party Rule in Contemporary Bangladesh
During their rule and as opposition, both the parties constantly infringed the rule
of the democratic game as partisan interests got priority over national concerns and
personalities were favored over principles. The ruling party had always persecuted the
opponent parties unjustly and arbitrarily. The ruling and opposition, irrespective of which
party was in position, were always confronting each other. Instead of resolving problems
and ventilating their grievances at the floors of the parliament, opposition parties have
25 Historical fact to identity crisis: In Bangladesh, history instead of creating a common purpose and
identity has created mutual antagonism and distrust among the various political groups (Huq, 1985:18). The
role of different groups for and against the causes of Independent Bangladesh during the Liberation War in
1971 and their activities afterwards have provoked ideological division within the nation. Bangladeshi
citizens are still in confusion and debate whether they should identify themselves as Bengalis or
Bangladeshi. These two identities polarize the nation into two brand of groups. In the 1972 constitution, the
citizenship of Bangladesh was defined as Bengali (article-6) and the Bengali nationalism was defined as the
unity and solidarity of Bengali nation which deriving its identity from its language and culture, attained
sovereign and independent Bangladesh through a united and determined struggle in the war of
independence(article-9). Here language and culture which formed the nucleus of an identity separate from
Pakistan was chosen the way religion was picked up by the same community from the Indian Hindus during
the forties as at that time, religious differences was perceived to be crucial variables (Iftekharuzzaman and
Rahman, 1986:18). In course of events Bengali identity based on only culture and language appeared
inadequate at both elite and mass level perception. Doubts were raised as to the criterion of a separate
identity as distinct from the millions of Bengali speaking people living across the border in West Bengal of
India with undistinguishable culture. Obviously the choice was again religious factor. Thus secularism
which formed one of the four state principles was replaced under the fifth constitutional amendment of
1979 by "Absolute Trust and Faith in Almighty Allah to be the basis of all actions". 25 The national identity
was changed from Bengali to Bangladeshi to project the image of Bangladesh as a distinctive Muslim
nation. The controversy whether we should call ourselves Bengali or Bangladeshi is still on fire as both the
groups are equally strong and proceeding in a parallel way. It is the recede of historical conflicts tempered
by ideological belief that appears to be a key variable affecting consensus building on such a fundamental
issue. Besides, as, the beneficiaries in lingering this identity crisis which has polarized the nation, are
political elites on both sides, it is observed that there is little possibility of resolving the problem and
reaching a consensus in near future (Tasnim, 2002: 60-61).
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always gone to the streets and created disorder that had wide social and economic
ramifications. Both parties sheltered and nurtured law breakers to use them to realize
their political ends. Political culture or practice has yet to reach the level where the parties
are ready to engage in political games played within democratic rules and norms.
Therefore, these parties always underestimate each other’s political strength and urge to
establish their monopolistic rule by simply knocking out the other believing that the
losing party will simply fade away (Hossain, 2000:521).
A participatory democratic practice were absent in either AL or BNP since their
inception and always the policy of co-optation, patronage and charisma has been the force
of integration within these parties. Same policy has been used to build political support.
Dominant tendency of both the supreme leaders of AL and BNP is to define politics in
zero-sum manner. Historically, they have been each other’s rival; moreover they fail to
cooperate as they underestimate each other’s strength and urge to establish a monopolistic
rule by knocking out the other (Hossain, 2000:521). The political upheavals during 2006
and early 2007 26 , indicates, that there is hardly any scope for growing cooperation,
understanding and accommodative norms in their interaction in near future.
Moreover, internal organizations of each party and their decision making process
is neither democratic nor decentralized. Parties have official units at division, district and
sub-district and also at the union/ward level (Governance Report, 2006: 17). Their
26 On January 10, 2007 a state of emergency had been declared in Bangladesh and the 9th general election
to the parliament had been called off. A non-political, non-elected, technocrat government, strongly backed
by the army, is in charge of the state affairs in Bangladesh. Such outcome is the direct consequence of the
politics of confrontation, politicization, corruption and nepotism. The incumbent party-BNP, had been
accused by the opposition AL, for forming false voter list and politicizing the election commission and the
interim government that were given the responsibility to conduct the due election— an allegation though
partly true was always denied by the BNP government. The stubborn opposition during the deadlock
situation has refused to compromise with any of their demands and took the fight to the streets that left 45
dead and hundred injured. They also decided to boycott the election. The good faith from both the sides, to
solve the problem was questioned. This has lead to a halt to the democratic process in Bangladesh (Times,
25 th January, 2007, The New York Times, 12 January, 2007, The Economist 10 February, 2007, The Daily
Star from October to December, 2006).
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informal link and control goes down to the grass-roots level. The local branches are just
extended agencies of the parties. Practically parties are organized centering the symbolic
leader using the charisma of her predecessor. Chairman of most of the parties enjoys
widespread powers, including the power to take unilateral actions (Ahmed, 2003:61).
The constitution of the each party provides huge control of power to the party chairman
that ultimately leads to concentration of power in one hand. Party councils are hardly held
in case of either BNP or AL and always the same leader is elected without any
contestation. Other members of the steering committee are often selected by the personal
choice of the chairman and her associates.
3.3.4.2.2 Third Parties
As both parties popular support among the citizens is equally strong neither AL
nor BNP has been able to form government on its own. They required alliance and
support from other political parties and blocks. The most important kingmakers that
emerged during the democratic age are— ‘Jatiay Party’ and ‘Jamat Islami Bangladesh’.
Jatiya Party is a personalistic party 27 formed by General Ershad to give legitimacy and
civilian face to his military rule and did not differ with BNP in ideology or policy.
Despite the loss of power and imprisonment of General Ershad, the party managed to win
significant number of seats in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 election that gave it the power to
negotiate with the majority parties and gain strategic favors in turn of giving them support.
Up to, 2006, Jatiya Party had continued its tactics of changing its support to either AL or
BNP based on negotiation that were based not only on favors and promises to government
posts but also hard cash money. Using the same strategy of playing the role of the
kingmaker, Jamat Islami Bangladesh,- different from other secular political parties,
27 Personalistic party provides the vehicle for the leader to win an election and exercise power. Such party is
constructed or converted by an incumbent or aspiring national leader exclusively to advance his or her
national political ambition (Gunther and Diamond, 2003:187).
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aiming to establish an Islamic state, have emerged as a major political broker and since
2001, became a coalition partner to the BNP Governement. It is the continuation of the
Jamat Islami party of former East Pakistan, which finds it origin in the Jamat Islami Party
formed in 1941 under British India. Though the party have substantial support strength at
the grass-roots level and its student wing is quite strong in comparison to other parties,
Jamat Islami Bangladesh do not have acceptability to a large section, mainly centre-left
block for their controversial role during the independence movement. However,
accommodation, co-optation and integration of Islamist elements and forces in politics
have always been a strategy of expediency by the political leaders in Bangladesh to gain
legitimacy and popular support (BRAC, 2006).
3.3.4.2.3 Nature of Building Social Support
Jahan (2005:200) comments that political parties do not emphasize in building
party platform on the basis of specific socio-economic programs nor do they address their
party platform to specific socio-economic group. They never concentrate in developing
group of supporters genuinely dedicated to the party’s goal. This happens because of the
presence of patron-client network, factions, charismatic leadership in party organization.
The political leadership of the country irrespective of ideology and party belong to the
intermediate class that has links both at the urban and rural level 28 . They imply patron
client network in ensuring their political support at the grass-roots level. Political parties
co-opt patrons in various localities, who in- turn divert their client’s votes or support to
28 Historically, Roots to the modern political actors in Bangladesh may be found in feudal kinship based
society. Agrarian society of Bengal was always a hierarchical society. The agriculture based vertical patronclient
and kinship network that developed in the rural area was extended to the urban area. The same rural
elites who had influence upon the social and economic life of the peasants also became the urban political
leaders. During the British colonial period and after wards, the Bangladesh society has been penetrated by
the formal political institutions headed by these politicians who had used their vertical networks to maintain
their reign upon the society. So the mobilization that has been taken place among the local and rural level
has been for the causes of status-quo and urban politicians, not in favor of the rural poor (Broomfield, 1976).
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the particular political parties. Since, clients owe allegiance to the patron and not to the
party; various parties compete with each other to increase their support group of patrons
(Jahan, 2005:200). Who are these, patrons? In most cases local elite, local council
chairman or member and recently the civil society organizations and development NGOs.
They are the clients to the political parties, the brokers between the government and
people through the parties. In this manner every segment of the society is politicized both
at the rural and urban level. Civil society organizations are of no exception to the process.
3.3.2.5 Political Parties Penetrating Civil Society
Like India, civil society has always existed and often became strongly active in
Bengal long before the Bangladesh state came into effect. Since then, there has been
strong aligning relationship between the civil society and political parties. From historical
context it is often difficult to evaluate the role of the civil society totally separating it
from political parties. However, it has to be admitted that during British Colonial period
and Pakistani period the relationship between these two sectors was of alliance but not cooptation
29 . On the contrary, contemporary situation is of penetration by the politically
powerful parties upon the weak and divided civil society.
29 During the British colonial period the relation between the state and the emerging civil groups rising
against the colonial power was naturally confrontational. Western educated local elite in Bengal both Hindu
and Muslims started the education and social reform movements which subsequently became associated
with anti-colonial resistance. Ultimately, these movements led to the formation of Indian National
Congress-an official platform for expressing growing national consciousness in 1885 and Muslim League in
1906 in Dhaka to lobby for Muslim political rights. It is these two organizations sometimes in parallel ways,
some time through alliance and some times competitively lead the anti-British movement for independent
India and Pakistan (Baxter, 1984: 17-28; Robinson, 1989:116-146).
In course of Pakistani rule (1947-1971), the secondary political actors (civil society leaders) of East
Pakistan launched numerous protests and movements against what they termed as attempts by the ruling
circle of Pakistan, consisting mainly of Punjabs, to impose cultural-economic-political domination upon
Bengalis (Mamoon and Ray, 1998: 16). There was always a coalition between the civil society and
politicians, for instance, the language movement of 1952, 6-point movement for autonomy in 1966, Mass
movement against the General Ayub’s autocratic rule in 1969 and finally the War of Independence 1971.
The language movement was first initiated by the student groups and intellectuals backed by the political
leaders and afterwards gained support from all sections of the Bengali society in East Pakistan (Jahan,
1972:44). On the other hand, the 6-point movement was initiated by the political party Awami Leageue
with necessary theoretical and technical assistance provided by economists and support from different
sections of the civil society like businessmen, labor, bureaucrats, even the rural poor (Jahan, 1972: 87-89).
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In contemporary Bangladesh that is after the 1990s very few civil society
organizations in Bangladesh may be termed neutral. Political party loyalty, communalism
and class distinction tend to split most of the civil society organizations. A vast majority
of social organizations operating within the private space are simply front organizations
of various political parties. Instead of representing the collective interest of the people,
these civil society organizations are mainly engaged in the practice and promotion of the
ideas and interests of a given brand of politics (Quadir 2003, 432). No institution in the
country seems to be able to stay above the partisan conflict and confrontational politics
(Jahan, 2005:262).
In the present research survey, CSOs were asked to rate the influence of 15 types
of actors in politics on a scale from 1 to 7. Among the 15 types of actors, political parties
were rated the highest with a mean of 6.48 (Standard Deviation=1.189). But when they
were asked to rate the cooperation that existed between them and political parties on the
same scale from 1 to 7, they rated very low with a mean of 2.61, but a standard deviation
of 1.74. Moreover, the survey data reveals that the percentage of civil society
organizations contacting the ruling party and opposition party is 64% and 51%
respectively. So there is relatively high percentage of contact with powerful parties
though low rate of formal cooperation. This implies a lack of formal or horizontal
relationship between civil society and political parties which may lead us to infer a
vertical (powerful and weak) relationship existing between them. This has become
evident through the information’s gathered from interviews with resource individuals and
from personal observation of Bangladesh society and politics.
The war of Independence was a full-fledged movement that gained support from the whole nation and
affected almost all citizen of Independent Bangladesh in 1971.
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Figure 3.5 Vertical Links between civil society and Political Parties in Bangladesh
(elaborated model)
Government & Parliament
Cabinet
Ruling party control
Opposition
Political Party
Bureaucracy
Court
Protect
Supporters
from
unwanted
political and
police
harassment,
rent seeking,
and
miscreants
Ensure
necessary
personal
patronage
like job,
promotion,
winning
tender,
contracts,
license,
more govt.
advertisem
ents in the
media,
govt. loans
Providin
g shelter
to
outlaws,
criminals
, rent
seekers,
corrupt
officials
etc. as
they
have
shown
political
support
Distributing
political
patronage
like
recruiting
the civil
society
leaders to
high govt. or
constitutiona
l posts
Affiliation to
govt. party,
ensures easy
access to
administration
and better
dealing with
less bribery
Providing
necessary
organizational
base for street
politics like
staging mass
meeting,
demonstration,
violent protest,
strike etc.
Ensuring
party
loyalty at
the grassroots
level
strata
Providi
ng
Financi
al
suppos
e to the
parties
Ensuring
voter’s
bank for
the
political
party
Protecting
party
interest
executing
party policy
at different
institutes
like
education,
industry,
business,
welfare,
govt.
institutes
and even the
media
Providin
g
different
types of
support
during
election
Different
types of civil
society
groups
NGOs
Interest
Groups
Local
voluntary
groups and
cooperatives
Labor Union
and Trade
Organizations
and other
types of
organizati
ons
Source: Drawn by the author based on information gathered through personal observation and
interviews
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The vertical give and take relationship existing between the political parties and
different civil society organizations understood from such interviews has been expressed
through a simple diagram (Figure 3.5). At the top of the figure are the major Bangladeshi
political parties. They have the same possibility to win a general election and form
coalition cabinet as well as enjoy full control over the state, administration, and judiciary
or become the opposition in parliament and engage in violent street politics. In the lower
portion of the figure are the civil society organizations of different categories. At the midsection
of the diagram, two contrasting paradigms may be observed. The arrows going up
and down show vertical give and take process constantly taking place among the civil
society organizations and political parties. The political parties from above, with their
available state resources, distribute legal and in most cases illegal favors to CSOs or their
leaders. The political parties and in most cases the ruling party with its access to all state
facilities and resources, try to buy the civil society leaders and a section of their followers
by providing easy access to the administration, offering high government and
constitutional posts, special official favors, personal patronage like job, promotion,
winning tender, license and to the extent of giving shelter to the criminals and corrupt
officials. The civil society leaders and members who provide support to the political party
are often protected from police harassment, rent seeking or miscreants. With receiving
such favors and patronage, civil society organizations and leaders from their lower
position are sending all the necessary rational and irrational as well as monetary support
up toward political parties. With such support the political parties ensure their control
upon different institutions and economic sectors, loyalty at the grass-root level, ensure
vote banks, and also gain the necessary organizational base for staging protests, strikes
etc when they are in opposition. In the process, the CSOs lose their independent status
and become divided, determined by their members' party affiliation. The background
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texture for the civil society organizations in the diagram symbolizes the divided or
polarized situation of civil society. It is to be mentioned that all these vertical dealing
among the civil society and political parties take place in an informal manner and behind
the formal structure as there is no rule or provision by which neither CSOs can receive
money or any favor from a political party though it can from the state or foreign donors
and from rich persons or enterprise as donations, nor can CSOs contribute to political
parties. We may simplify the complex picture by drawing another figure that may give a
quick idea of the present civil society and political party relations (figure 3.6).
Figure 3.6 Simplified model of the civil society and political party relation in
Bangladesh
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Naturally, the cooptation and division of the civil society that had been developed
through history and controversy over national identity before, turns out to be intensified
by patronage, clientelism, corruption etc 30 .
This vertical link based on patron-client relation, patronage etc., existing in the
political system of Bangladesh reaches up to highest post of the government machine –
the Prime Minister – and may go down to a poor farmer or a laborer. The local leaders
and civil society organizations, NGOs are clients to the state and patrons to the citizens
and villagers (Islam 2001, 213). It has been revealed through discussion with the resource
individuals that, interests of the clients cover group favors such as project sanctions,
financial grants, and creating job options as well as personal favors including government
loans, employment, promotion, business grants and licenses, government contracts, legal
matters, and simple favors such as medical help. In return, the government and political
parties receive loyalty and support from different sections of the social strata, financial
and logistic support during elections, gain party control over different institutions and
30 Vertical norms like patron-client relation, patronage, nepotism, corruption are powerful indigenous
factors deep rooted in Bangladesh society (Tasnim, 2006). Factionalism and patron-client network have
formed the base of social organization (Jahan, 2005, 1999). These cultures have developed through
centuries in the rural society and afterwards generated into the urban area with migration of the rural elites
and their entrance into politics (Broomfield, 1976). While the present ruling elites of Bangladesh have a
moral commitment to Western political philosophies such as democracy or socialism, in practice they rely
on the patron-client relationship to run the state and political parties (Islam 2001, 429). As kinship linkages
are influential in Bangladeshi social culture, nepotism is extended not only to direct family members but to
lineage, relatives (including those linked through marriage ties), and neighbors and friends. In connection to
corruption, Nobel Laureate Professor Yunus comments, “[N]othing gets done unless you bribe, it's part of
life. It's not the law or rule any more, its how you are paying” (The Daily Star, 18 January 2007). In the
report on Bangladesh in 2004 by Transparency International, the sectors of political parties and NGOs were
identified as moderately corrupt; that is, considered as corrupt actors in 1.1 to 3 percent of the total media
reports on corruption. Among the individuals involved in corruption, 2.6 percent were from NGOs and 2.6
percent were political leaders and workers. The most corrupt individuals were officers/employers of the
government sector (71.9%). In such informal system civil society organizations entangles in a vertical
relation with political parties, local governments and bureaucracy undermining their autonomy and ability
to articulate their independent interests and demands. Violence and violent expression of demands are
another weak point for Bangladeshi civil society. As the government and political leaders hardly pay
attention to peaceful protests of the opposition or petitions and advice from CSOs, often demands are
expressed through violent strikes and demonstrations. Such violent civil society mobilizations are then
utilized by the opposition to their political ends. (Scott: 1976, Alagappa 2004, Zafarullah 2003, Tasnim
2006, Davis and Mcgreor 2002)
128

even the media and ensure necessary organizational base for staging mass protests. Such
politicization rather political penetration is observed among all types of civil society
organizations, both urban and rural base, traditional and modern.
Traditional organizations like, labor unions, professional associations, university
groupings, chambers of commerce and even, news papers are identified primarily for their
political affiliations. Ruling parties whether Awami league or BNP, have directly shown
through their decisions and actions that they give special support and rewards to those
CSOs that positively helped them in winning elections and act directly against those
selected CSOs that have collaborated with their opposition party. Labor union leaders,
rather than promoting workers’ interest, are motivated to take undue advantage from their
position or links with political parties or higher government functionaries (Zafarullah,
2003:295).
Not only in traditional or urban based organizations, political penetration is also
observed in the rural society. In the last 10 years, there has been change in the rural social
structure, power relation as well as social interaction which have been very much
influenced by the changes and policies of political actors at the capital. In their study on
the change in the contemporary rural power structure in Bangladesh, Faruque et.al. (2007)
have revealed interesting changes where links with the political parties have turned out to
be the most important factor in rural power sources while before it was the possession of
landed property, family heritage, wealth etc. Another significant change in the rural
society is the new type of grouping and rivalry within the rural society reflecting the
polarization and confrontation found in national politics.
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Modern development NGOs and their apex organization named Association for
Development Agencies for Bangladesh (ADAB) were considered neutral or apolitical so
far. However, since 1990, ADAB entered into political conflict which became severe in
2000. This has ultimately led to the division among the NGO community 31 . While the
NGOs at the national level are politically divided, at the local level they have been
identified as the new patrons to the poor, both in relation to providing them with microcredit
and mediating with other power structures on their behalf.
These matters however fact they are yet to be well investigated with more
concrete data and real evidences than just observation and realization. To understand why
the civil society in Bangladesh is unable to contribute in democratic consolidation despite
its recognized success in social development, it has become necessary to understand what
are the actions civil society organizations are involved in, whether they are concerned
with participatory functions like policy making, lobby, advocacy. Moreover, in the
process of such participatory actions, what is the nature of their relation with the political
authorities, that is the political parties.
3.4 Conclusion
Civil society and its potential to contribute to democracy is determined not by any
single factor. However, in combination of different factors like history, culture, external
influence, regulatory framework, it is the Political structures that influence the civil
society most and simultaneously the nature of democracy. This fact is evident not only in
Bangladesh but other developing democracies in Asia. Stable democracy may not
necessarily facilitate strong civil society (as it may have been observed in the case of
31 The conflict has been discussed in details based on news paper reports in chapter five.
130

India), so as strong civil society may not always lead to consolidated democracy (evident
from the Philippine case). Rather, it is the political structures and actors, whether they are
political parties, or the elites or even the military dictator, who determine the strength of
civil society to act in relation to society, politics, and democracy. So the ultimate power to
change the society, bring democracy and strengthen civil society is in the hands of the
political decision makers from above not in the people from below. This has become
clear in the comparative discussion on the civil society in India, Philippines and Pakistan.
With such understanding the present chapter has further investigated the civil
society in Bangladesh, from both aspects of vibrancy and vigilancy to point out the prime
factor that determines the nature and strength of civil society in relation to democracy. It
have been found that philanthropy culture, donor policy and web of laws for registration
have furthered the development of civil society organizations in Bangladesh and led
towards service and welfare functions rather than advocacy. The civil society, vibrant
from such consideration, have brought a silent revolution at the rural level of Bangladesh
and brought better economic life, empowerment and social awareness among the poor
and uneducated citizens.
However, besides such vibrancy, a civil society has to be involved in participatory
activities, form networks, gain strength to contribute to its ultimate aim democracy as
decided by the Neo-Tocquevillean school of arguments and the international donors.
This means it also needs to become vigilant. Review of previous researches,
observation of present political and democratic situation of Bangladesh shows that civil
society is yet to reach such vigilant nature. The present chapter has pointed out the most
131

important factor that has led to such weak position of the civil society in contemporary
Bangladesh. It is the political parties and their all powerful penetrative control. This has
receded the participatory strength and strong voice of the vibrant civil society to
contribute to democracy. Historical developments have helped the political parties to
emerge as such powerful and penetrative position as well answers the reason why they
have been able to succeed in their endeavor to divide and control the social groups.
Cultural traditions of vertical social relationship, explain the nature of political
cooptation that has taken place. Foreign donation has been accused of providing the
necessary resources for corruption and patronage. Political parties have control over
different traditional, professional groups, labor unions, chambers of commence and so
on at the central and meso level. Parties have also divided and politicized the rural
society according to partisan line. Link with the political parties has become the main
source of power for the rural elites. Local civil society organization groups both
indigenous ones and small NGOs had to develop good relation with such political local
elites. The NGOs have also turned into the new patrons to the poor. Moreover, such
NGOs with development projects nationwide have lost their unity influenced by
partisan politics.
The present chapter based on comparative discussions, general observation and
previous literature reviews on Bangladesh society and politics have developed the main
three propositions on Bangladesh civil society, that is, a. it is vibrant from the
consideration of number, activeness and success so far in social development; b. the
civil society is mostly concerned with social welfare and service functions than
participatory functions that are more related to vigilant character and may give it the
better strength to contribute to democracy; c. instead of influencing government and
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political actors, the civil society itself has been co-opted by the powerful political
parties that has weakened its potential to contribute to democracy. In its next two steps
of investigation the present thesis shall first empirically focus on the basic nature and
functions of civil society concerning both grass-roots development and participation
and then delve more inside the relation between the civil society and politics in
Bangladesh, with the objective to establish the newly formed inferences from chapter
three.
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Chapter 4
Rich Grass-roots Actions but Poor Participation
4.1 Introduction
Chapter Three, focused on the main factors that have contributed to the development
of civil society in Bangladesh which is mostly service and welfare based and weak from
political context. The chapter also pointed out the strong influence of political parties that
have emerged as powerful institutions through historical and political development and have
penetrated and politicized the civil society through vertical relations based on traditional
norms of clientelism, nepotism etc. The present chapter based on empirical survey data,
investigates, the nature and trends of civil society focusing on their resources, behaviors,
relations, nature of activities etc. The survey data reveals rich involvement of civil society in
grass-roots actions while indicating their low participation in politics and state related affairs.
The data also points out to a partisan and vertical trend in CSOs’ interaction with the political
actors. Chapter five concentrates more on civil society and political party relations.
The present study have tried to understand the civil society functions through a large-
N scale survey as it provides empirical data directly gathered from the CSOs and the sample
data randomly selected that includes all types of CSOs-rural, urban, modern traditional, elite
as well as infamous organizations. For understanding the actual situation at the periphery and
meso level, this method of gathering data directly from the field is considered better than
only focusing on leading national coalitions of CSOs or elite organizations working near the
state authority (Tsujinaka, 2002: 34). The broad range of CSOs involved in various types of
functions and issues, helps to make a better prediction about the tendency observed in the
civil society organization and their inclination in interacting with other political actors.
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Moreover, the survey is based on a model that provides the opportunity to enter into further
comparative study on civil society with other countries (Tsujinaka 2006: 4) to understand
uniqueness of civil society in Bangladesh and the common structures or tendency among
CSOs in developing countries. Details about the sampling methodology and survey process
have been described in the methodology section of chapter two and appendix C and D.
Present chapter is broadly divided into three sections; the first section is concerned
with the basic characteristics of the CSOs surveyed, second sections is concerned with the
involvement of civil society in grass-roots action, while the last section gives a more detailed
emphasis on the participatory role of the civil society. First section focuses on the basic
attributes like classifications, objectives, policy interest, geographic level of activity,
membership, resource sources, budget, volunteers, employees etc. of the CSOs. Moreover,
structural strength of the civil society has been compared between CSOs working at national
and local level and CSOs receiving and not receiving foreign funds. Their cooperation with
other social, political and economic actors have also been inquired. This section provides an
over all idea of civil society originations which are found to be mostly welfare and service
oriented working at the local and meso level. Besides, membership fee and nominal
government grants they receive funds from various non-government organizations and
donors and they may have direct or indirect foreign connections. CSOs receiving foreign
assistance are better equipped with handsome budget and skilled manpower but with few
volunteers. About cooperation among civil society organization and other social political and
market actors, it is revealed that the cooperation is mostly common with local government
and other civil society actors than the market and political & bureaucratic actors.
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Bangladeshi civil society is service and welfare oriented. Most researches on civil
society and NGOs focus mainly on this section of civil society. The present survey also
reveals the high involvement of CSOs in grass-roots actions. Civil society organizations have
mentioned their activity mainly in the field of economic empowerment, women
empowerment, education, health, joint projects with government; network building, legal and
political training, social awareness, local representation etc. It has been found that, CSOs
participation is high in service providing functions and relatively low in the functions that
relate to advocacy training.
Participatory actions-to which so far little concentration has been paid by the
researchers, occupies most attention of the present research aiming to understand civil
society’s inability to contribute to democratic consolidation. This is understood in mainly
four ways-formal relations with governments, policy making, advocacy and lobby. On
focusing on the formal relation between CSOs and government (both national and local) it
has been found that though the rate of government guidance and exchanging opinion with the
government is high participatory functions like cooperating in policy and budget or sending
representative to council or advisory bodies is relatively low. In case of advocacy, the
involvement of CSOs on democracy related issues has been found to be extremely low than
other welfare or social issues. In case of policy making it has been found that only 13% have
been successful in pursuing the government to pass a budget or policy in favor of the interest
of the CSO. In case of lobby, the data reveals that it is common among the CSOs to contact
directly the authority or powerful political actors in a vertical way rather than organizing
horizontally. The method of gaining strength through forming coalition and create pressure
on the government in a better organized way or following formal non-political methods of
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lobby have been found to be not popular among the CSOs at the local and periphery level.
The tendency to rely more on vertical or inside lobby by the CSOs also indicate to the
partisan relation that may be existing between them and the political parties.
4.2 Nature of Civil Society in Bangladesh as Revealed through the Survey Data
Through the survey on civil society organizations, 504 CSOs of different categories
were interviewed with the aim to understand the structure, value of the CSOs and their
relation with state, politics and other actors of the political system. They were also asked
about and to evaluate the role of civil society as a whole in Bangladesh 1 . This section
provides a few facts from the survey that reveals civil society’s basic characteristics and
tendencies of CSOs.
4.2.1 Self Categorization by the Civil Society Organizations
The present survey was based on eight types of organizations— cooperative,
voluntary social organizations, NGOs, youth groups, labor unions, trade organizations,
professional associations and university-centric organizations. After indicating their status on
the meta level, the 504 responding CSOs were again asked to categorize themselves in terms
of 13 subcategories that best illustrates the nature of their organizations. 43% had identified
themselves as social welfare organizations. Besides NGOs, different professional groups,
university based clubs, local clubs, cooperatives also consider them as social welfare
organizations. Only 2 (0.4%) CSOs identified them as citizen groups. Figure 4.1 shows the
nature of self-classification by the civil society organizations. Another noticing feature is that
though Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country where religion plays an important role in
the social life of the citizens, only 3(0.6%) organizations have identified themselves as
1 For details see the questionnaire in Appendix C.
137

eligious group 2 . CSOs prefer to be identified as social welfare organizations than their other
identity 3 .
Figure 4.1 The nature of self-classification by the civil society organizations
CSOs
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Agricultutre
Economic
Labor
Education
Culture
Administration
Social Welfare
NGOs
Citizen
Professional
Category of CSOs
Religious
Sports
Other
Answer Rate= 100%, N=504
2 Madrasas which are popularly known as the religious institutions in South Asia by the Western media, are
actually, religious educational institutions and are registered under the ministry of Education in Bangladesh.
These, Maradasa’s have not been targeted in the survey. Only those religious institutions that are registered with
the social welfare ministry and are in most cases orphanage cum madarasa (for primary education) have been
included in the target population.
3 In further analysis of the activities and nature of participation of civil society, these 13 categories shall be
compressed into four broad categories-Economic, Education and Culture, Pressure Group and Welfare &
development. Under Economic heading, all CSOs that have identified themselves as economic organization,
agriculture organization and labor unions and also CSOs in the other categories. This is because economic and
labor groups are related to industry and business and micro-credit, the farmers organization are also
cooperatives concerned with loan and micro-credit, again the 5 CSOs that have selected the other options
mentioned them selves as either micro-credit groups or business and income related groups. Under the heading
of Education and Culture all the CSOs that have identified them as education and research groups, cultural
organizations, religious organization and recreational and sports organizations shall be brought together. All
CSOs that think they are government or administration related organization, professional groups and citizen’s
group have been combinedly named Pressure group. Lastly, all the social welfare groups and NGOs have been
brought under the heading Welfare and Development group.
138

4.2.2 Policy Interest
The CSOs were asked to select the government policies that relates to their objective
and functions from a long list of 25 policies. Figure 4.2 shows the list of top 14 policies
selected by CSOs. CSOs concentrate their policy interest mainly on a set of overlapping
policies like poverty alleviation (72%), social welfare (59%), rural development (59%),
health care (25%), and education (47%) that is mostly related to their service providing
projects. But other important policies that also relates to development but require advocacies
and more negotiation with the authorities, attract the CSOs relatively in a low scale like,
environment (8%), Human rights (19%), Law and order (6%), Labor policy (6% ), consumer
protection (5%) etc.
Figure 4.2 Policy interests of civil society organizations (CSO)
80%
70%
60%
50%
CSOs
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Poverty Alleviation
Education and Sports
Healthcare
Social Welfare
Rural Development
Culture and Religion
Local Governement and
Administration
Environment Policy
Law and Order
Justice and Human Rights
Consumer Protection
Labor Policy
Agriculture Policy
Financial Policy
Policy Interest
Answer Rate 100%, N= 504
139

Unless, CSOs in a large scale do not come forward on matters like human rights, law and
order, labor policy etc. they hardly can contribute to equal society, demand for justice and
security.
4.2.3 Objectives
If we see the table 4.1.where CSOs have mentioned about the objectives of their
organization 4 , it becomes, clear that, purpose of most of the CSOs is to provide service and
Table 4.1 Objective of the civil society organizations
Number of CSOs in
Objectives of CSOs
Percentage (%)
Providing information to members 251 (50%)
Pursuing economic profit for members 303 (60%)
Protecting the standard of living and rights of the members/clients 355 (70%)
Providing education and training opportunities for members/clients 259 (51%)
Advocating on behalf of the members in order to gain subsidies
from government
119 (24%)
Assisting members in licensing and registration procedures 28 (6%)
Providing policy recommendations based on technical knowledge
for public policy making
Providing education and information for the good of the general
public
33 (7%)
182 (36%)
Providing service to the general public 376 (75%)
Providing funds to other organization 34 (7%)
N= 504, Answer rate 100%
information to their members, beneficiaries and also the public in general than advocating
and interacting with the government for the interest of the members like making policy
recommendation (7%), or assisting in licensing & registration (6%) or even advocating for
4 The CSOs were free to choose as many answers that comply with their organization’s objective.
140

gaining government subsidy (24%). The civil society organizations have the tendency to
work for the society beyond their members or beneficiaries, 75% have mentioned about their
purpose to provide service to the general public, moreover, 36% are also interested in
educating and informing people for the good of general public. So the data so far, reveals a
civil society overwhelmingly social welfare based and eager to serve the society. This
implies that the CSOs are mostly involved at local levels of the society which is in need of
welfare assistance due to the socio-economic situation.
4.2.4 Geographic Level
Geographic level within which the civil society organization limits its activities also
reflects to some extent the nature of its participatory role. Naturally CSOs working in larger
geographic area has better network and deal with the administration and politics more
frequently and have broader social goals than those working at the local level. They are also
assumed to have larger budget and better organizing skill. On the other hand, locally based
CSOs are mostly concerned with the well-being of the inhabitants of the limited area and
lack network and other logistic facilities. Figure 4.3 shows that, majority (82%) of the CSOs
surveyed are concentrated at the periphery (union and sub-district) level 5 . Only 10% function
at district level, 6% through out the nation and 2% globally. The local based CSOs are
considered to be highly localized, non-political and primarily concerned with poverty
alleviation (Kochanek, 1996: 704).
5 For further analysis on the structural strength, grass-roots action and participatory functions of the CSOs,
CSOs working at 5 geographic level shall be brought under two headings-local and national. Those CSOs
working at union/ward section and sub-district level shall be termed as Local CSOs while those working at
district, national and global level shall be termed as National CSOs.
141

Figure 4.3 CSOs active at different geographic level
70%
60%
50%
40%
CSOs
30%
20%
10%
0%
Union/Ward
Sub-Disrtict /Municipality
District
Geographic Levels
National
Global
Answer Rate= 100%, N= 504
4.2.5 Member
The most important characteristics and strength of civil society from the view point of
Neo-Tocquevillean School is its membership. Figure 4.5 shows the pattern of individual
members of the CSOs surveyed. It may be observed that most common among the CSOs is to
have members within 1 to 1000, where, 26% have members within 20 to 40 persons and 21%
have members within 100 to 1000. This reveals that, in most cases the CSOs of Bangladesh
are small in respect of numbers. This is natural, for CSOs who’s more than 80% are local
based. Only few district or nation wide professional groups have been found to have
members more than 1000 persons. Again, few well established NGOs that are working
142

through out Rajshahi district as well as the whole nation, have included their beneficiary
group members as their organization member. With such large membership these NGOs have
entered the last two bars of the figure representing CSOs with members from 1000 to more
than 5000 persons. However, in case of large NGOs, observation and previous literatures do
not confirm that these large number of NGO beneficiaries are considered or treated as equal
members of the NGOs. Rather the relation between NGO officials and beneficiaries may be
termed as a relation of powerful, resourceful toward dependents, obliged (Tasnim 2005b, 92,
175, 177; Quadir 1999, 213).
Figure 4.5 The pattern of individual members of the CSOs surveyed
30
25
Pe rce ntage of CS Os
20
15
10
5
0
0.00 1-19 20-39 40-59 60-99 100-999 1000-4999 5000-~
Number of Members
N=504, Answer rate=100%
However, in case of Bangladesh as well as other developing countries, membership
alone can neither provide any real picture of the civil society, nor the strength of the civil
society organizations. For this we also need to know about their source of income well as
their budget, number of volunteers, employees etc.
143

4.2.6 Resources
Bangladesh is a developing country, naturally membership fee, in most cases do not
provide the necessary financial need for the CSOs. They have to look for other resources. As
mentioned in Chapter three, donor policy and funds have direct influence on the vibrant
nature of the civil society. The world reputed large development-NGOs are very much
dependent on foreign funds. Besides, all registered social welfare organizations, youth groups
and women’s groups are supposed to receive a certain amount of yearly government funds.
Though nominal that is about US $30 to US$150 6 , the government grant inspires the local
people to form organizations. Moreover, different government ministries and related semigovernment
and autonomous institutions provide loan to Cooperatives and small NGOs.
Loan and relief providing organizations like Local Government, PKSF (Palli Karma
Shohayak Funds meaning funds to help rural works), BRDB (Bangladesh Rural
Development Board) mainly distribute parts from government’s development budgets.
However, big projects of these institutions often receive foreign funds too. For example,
BRDB loan project for the Women Destitute Cooperatives is financed by Asian Development
Bank 7 . PKSF that provides loan to small micro-credit NGOs, also receives funds from
different international development agencies like World Bank, USAID, IFAD etc 8 . Besides
direct financing from international donor and agencies and foreign NGOs, domestic NGOs
provides fund to small NGOs. These funds are basically foreign funds received by large
NGO distributing to the small NGOs against the sub-contracted projects.
Among the CSOs surveyed, 310 (61%) [Question 1.7] CSOs receives funds from
government or non-government sources and 96 (19%) [Question 4.4.b] CSOs admitted of
6 Booklets published from respective ministries on the rules for providing financial grant and loan to the social
welfare organizations and cooperatives.
7 Annual Report of BRDB, 2005.
8 PKSF Website http://www.pksf-bd.org/about_pksf.html access date 21 August, 2007.
144

eceiving foreign assistance through money or service, directly or indirectly. However, a
large portion 194, (39%) have mentioned that they do not receive any types of funds. These,
are small local groups and cooperatives at the local level and pressure groups at the national
level 9 . Table 4.2 summarizes the sources that the CSOs have mentioned as their resources
and the percentage of CSOs benefiting from those sources. Same CSOs may be receiving
funds from multiple sources.
Table 4.2 Funds providing sources for CSOs other than membership fees
Funds Providing Sources
*Number of receiving
CSOs (%)
1 Government Ministries 256(50.8%)
2 Local Government 7(1.4%)
3 PKSF 14(2.8%)
4 BRDB 15(3%)
5 International Agencies and Donor
36(7%)
Countries
6 International NGOs 23(4.6%)
7 Domestic NGOs 13(2.6%)
8 Domestic Foundations 1(0.2%)
9 Personal Benevolence 6(1.2%)
10 No funds receiving CSOs 194(38.5%)
N=504, No Answer= 3 (0.6%) * Same CSOs may be receiving funds from multiple sources.
More than 50% CSOs do receive government funds though it may be nominal. From
the table it is also revealed that, personal benevolence and philanthropy of domestic
9 However, there is a possibility that few CSOs simply did not want to mention their sources of income and
avoided the question by saying they do not receive any funds outside membership fees. Again, few cooperatives,
who may receive loans from BRDB or cooperatives office, do not consider those loans as financial assistance,
as they are loans not donations. Moreover, few CSOs had said that, though before they did receive government
funds, they no more apply for such funds because of the bureaucratic complicacy and bribing that is involved
for the process which makes the nominal amount of money non-worthy to them. [All these information has been
gathered from the observation note books written by the surveyors and from the conversations with them during
the survey period].
145

foundations are not directed to CSOs that are registered or enlisted. In another survey on
personal giving by Ahmed and Jahan (2002) it has been found that, more than 80% of
philanthropists belonging to the middle class, give away their alms to religious charities
orphanages or individual needy persons than to any civil society organization. Moreover,
corporate giving is not yet a common practice in Bangladesh, though they may consider it as
an implicit responsibility. In another study it has been claimed that big business houses gives
more to political organizations than to social organizations and small houses give more to
community organizations as ‘protection’ money 10 .
Objectives and policy interest of the CSOs show a strong tendency toward social
welfare and service providing than advocacy or policy recommendation and majority of
CSOs rely on outside financial sources-mainly government and foreign funds besides their
membership fees. The data also indicates that whether the organization acts at local or
national level and whether it receives foreign assistance or not, are the most important factors
that determine its nature and membership, besides its category. To get a better view about the
structural strength and nature of civil society organizations (CSO), the following three
important characteristics of CSOs-volunteer, employee and budget are analyzed by
considering the differences found among CSOs on point of acting at local or national level
and receiving or not receiving foreign assistance.
4.2.7 Volunteer
If we consider volunteer as manpower strength and employee as skill strength, then,
we may find the civil society organizations working at the local level (figure 4.6a) and with
no-foreign assistance (figure 4.7b) are rich in manpower. In case of CSOs acting at local and
10 Website for Philanthropy and the Third Sector in the Asia and the Pacific on Bangladesh section,
http://www.asianphilanthropy.org/countries/bangladesh/index.html access date 14 January, 2007.
146

national level, 37% national CSOs don’t have any volunteers while only 16% local CSOs
work without volunteers. Relatively, trend is high among national CSOs to have volunteers
more than 100 persons. Nevertheless, stable volunteer force is possessed by local CSOs.
77% of latter type of CSOs has volunteers ranging from 1 to 50 but only 42% of national
CSOs have such pattern of volunteers.
Figure 4.6a Pattern of Volunteer among local and national CSOs
70%
60%
50%
Percentage of CSO
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0.00 1-19 20-49 50-99 100-499 500-~
Local 15.9% 63.0% 13.5% 4.8% 2.6% 0.2%
National 38.6% 30.7% 11.4% 3.4% 8.0% 8.0%
Number of Vlunteers
N=504, Answer rate= 100%
Figure 4.6b Pattern of Volunteer among foreign assistance receiving and non-receiving CSOs
70%
60%
Percentage of CSOs
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0.00 1-19 20-49 50-99 100-499 500-~
No Foreign Assistance 12.3% 64.6% 14.5% 4.7% 2.7% 1.2%
Receives Foreign Assistance 52.1% 26.0% 7.3% 4.2% 7.3% 3.1%
Number of Volunteers
N=504, No answer=1 (0.2%)
147

Figure 4.6b. shows the richness of volunteers among the small CSOs that do not receive any type
of foreign assistance. In most cases their number of volunteers ranges from 1 to 50 persons, and
the most common among such CSOs (65%) is to have 1 to 19 volunteers. Only 12% of such
CSOs have mentioned that they do not have any volunteers, while such absence of volunteers is
very common among CSOs receiving foreign assistance (52%). As the number of volunteer rises
higher than 100, we may observe rather steady presence of CSOs receiving foreign assistance.
This is because large NGOs belong to this group and some of them have identified their large
number of beneficiaries as their volunteers too.
4.2.8 Employee
Employees are mostly found among CSOs that are well organized and affluent with
financial resources. Reasonably, CSOs working at the national level are well organized and
run with more professionals. Figure 4.7a shows that 63%, national CSOs have employees
while only 25% of local CSOs have employees. Among the national as well as local CSOs, it
is most common to have employees within 30 persons. However, large NGOs working nation
wide may have several hundred employees working in a district.
Figure 4.7b shows that 78% of CSOs not receiving foreign assistance have mentioned
that they do not have any employees, while 77% of the foreign-assistance-receiving CSOs
have mentioned specifically the number of their employee. Among these types of
organizations 68%, have full-time employees ranging from 1 to 30 persons. Remaining 9%
have much larger employee force.
148

Figure 4.7a Pattern of employee among local and national CSOs
80%
70%
Percentage of CS
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0.00 1-9 10-29 30-~
Local 74.5% 19.7% 5.0% 0.7%
National 36.4% 36.4% 20.5% 6.8%
Number of Employees
N=504, Answer rate = 100%
Figure 4.7b Pattern of employee among foreign assistance receiving and non-receiving
CS0s
90%
80%
70%
Percentage of CS
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0.00 1-9 10-29 30-~
No Foreign Assistance 78.4% 18.4% 3.2% 0.0%
Receives Foreign Assistance 22.9% 40.6% 27.1% 9.4%
Number of Employees
N=504, No answer=1 (0.2%)
149

4.2.9 Budget
Figure 4.9a and 4.9b comparatively show the budget in 2005 of the CSOs both from
their geographical level and on the point of receiving foreign assistance. A significant portion
of the sample CSOs refrained from providing their budget. However, with the available data, it is
clear that, CSOs with various ranges of budgets are working at the local level (Figure 4.8a). The
most common among the local level NGOs to have budget within 100 thousand to 1 million BDT
(35%). However, 34% of national NGOs also have budget within the same amount while another
34% have budget exceeding 1 million BDT and in case of large NGOs it may even exceed 100
millions.
Figure 4.8a Amount of budget among local and national CSOs
40%
%of CSOs
30%
20%
10%
0%
1000-24999
BDT
25000-49999
BDT
50000-99999
BDT
Local 18.0% 18.9% 20.1% 34.8% 8.2%
National 11.4% 11.4% 8.6% 34.3% 34.3%
Amount of Budget in BDT
100000-999999
BDT
1000000-~ BDT
* 106 (21%) of CSOs did not provide their budget statistics. ** The budget is provided in Bangladeshi currency BD Taka.
1 US $= 69 BD Taka and 1 Taka = 1.7 JP Yen (According to Yahoo currency converter
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency? On 15 May 2007
Figure 4. 8b shows the annual budget of CSOs not receiving foreign assistance (56%) ranges
between BDT 1000 to only BDT 100 thousand. On the other hand, 33% of the
150

Figure 4.8b Amount of budget among foreign funds receiving and non-receiving CSOs
45%
40%
35%
% of CSO
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1000-24999
BDT
25000-49999
BDT
50000-99999
BDT
100000-999999
BDT
1000000 BDT-~
No Foreign Assistance 19.2% 18.6% 21.1% 35.3% 5.7%
Receives Foreign Assistance 7.5% 12.5% 6.3% 32.5% 41.3%
Amount of Budget in BDT
* 17% of CSOs receiving foreign assistance and 22% of those not receiving foreign assistance did not provide their budget
statistics. CSOs in total 106 (21%) have not been considered in this graph. So the valid N here is 398 n1=80 and n2 =317.
** The budget is provided in Bangladeshi currency BD Taka. 1 US $= 69 BD Taka and 1 Taka = 1.7 JP Yen (According to
Yahoo currency converter http://finance.yahoo.com/currency? On 15 May 2007.
foreign-assistance-receiving CSOs budgets’ range from BDT 100,000 to BDT 1 million, 41%
of such CSOs have budgets exceeds BDT 1 Million. Highest budget among these 41% is 120
million BDT.
With the six comparative figures on volunteers, employee and budget, distinct gaps
between the financial and human resources of the local and national as well as, foreignassistance-receiving-CSOs
and the non-receiving-CSOs has been revealed. CSOs working at
the national level and NGOs receiving foreign-assistance may be well equipped with
handsome budgets and skilled employees; but it is the small local groups, not receiving
foreign assistance that are rich in spirited volunteers.
151

4.2.10 Cooperation with Other Actors
As discussed in the introduction and in chapter three, civil society cannot be analyzed
in isolation as it is located within the political system and engaged in reciprocal interaction
with other political, economic and social sectors of the system. Through the survey, CSOs
were asked about the cooperation they have with different types of actors in the political
system. Based on their response, a cooperation index has been formed and the 15 actors have
been ranked based on level of cooperation with civil society organizations surveyed.
Cooperation Index
CSOs were requested to rate the level of their cooperation with 15 types of social,
political and market actors on a scale from 1 to 7 where, 1 means no cooperation, 4 means
medium cooperation and 7 means highest Cooperation. Likert scale was used to rank the 15
actors based on the level of cooperation existing between them and CSOs based on the data.
Score for each actor could range from 0 to 1600. The score for seven kinds of cooperation
namely; 1. no cooperation, 2. lowest cooperation, 3. some cooperation, 4. medium
cooperation, 5. good cooperation, 6. better cooperation, 7. highest cooperation were assigned
with weights 0, 1, 2 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively. The cooperation index (C.I) was measured by
using the equation (1).
C . I P × 0 + P × 1+
P × 2 + P × 3 + P × 4 + P × 5 + P × 6
(1)
=
nc
lc sc
mc
gc
bc
hc
Where
P nc = number of respondents who rate no cooperation
P lc = number of respondents who rate lowest level of cooperation
P sc = number of respondents who rate some type of cooperation
P mc = number of respondents who rate medium level of cooperation
P gc = number of respondents who rate good level of cooperation
P bc = number of respondents who rate better level of cooperation
152

P hc =number of respondents who rate highest level of cooperation
Cooperation Index (C.I) for any selected statement could range from 0 to 1600; where 0
indicating no cooperation and 1600 highest cooperation of the unit by the CSOs. Accordingly,
Table 4.3. was formed.
Table 4.3 Cooperation ranking with other social, political and market actors
Rank How to Cooperate with Organizations Type of actor CI Mean*
1 Local governments Political actor 1509 3.99
2 Welfare Organizations, NGO Social actor 1142 3.27
3 Agricultural Organization Social actor 1100 3.18
4 Consumer Organization Social actor 879 2.74
5 Political Parties Political sector 811 2.61
6 Scholars and academicians Social actor 710 2.41
7 Religious organizations Social actor 705 2.40
8 The mass media Social actor 703 2.39
9 Women movement organizations Social actor 528 2.05
10 Professional organizations Social actor 490 1.97
11 Government bureaucrats Political actor 471 1.93
12 Foreign government and International donor Political actor 410 1.81
agencies
13 Trade (labor) unions and federations Market actor 325 1.64
14 Economic, business, and employers
Market actor 228 1.45
organization
15 Large business /corporations Market actor 211 1.42
N=504, Answer rate=100% * mean based on the rating of the CSOs where 1=no cooperation,
4= medium cooperation and 7= highest cooperation.
The Table 4.3. illustrates that highest cooperation between civil society organizations
is with the local government, as most of the CSOs surveyed are active at the local level, they
have high interaction with local governments which is in charge of the administrative affairs
153

of these small groups and cooperatives. However, 2 nd (Welfare Organizations, NGO) 3 rd
(Agricultural Organization), 4 th (Consumer Organization ) are all social actors. The most
influential political actor—political party, has been ranked at the 5 th place in relation to
formal cooperation, based on the rating of CSOs. Another noteworthy feature is that the
market actors have hardly any cooperation with the CSOs which goes with the low
contribution from private enterprises to civil society groups. Consequently, most of the social
actors have ranked in the first half of the list except the local government and political parties.
Again, if we observe the mean of the level of cooperation, then we may find it not so
optimistic. In a range from 1 to 7, the highest cooperation average/mean (with local
government) is less than 4, which indicate that the cooperation is hardly medium type. From
the ranking and means column it may be said that the over-all level of cooperation with 15
actors of civil society is less than medium. Particularly, with market actors the cooperation is
lowest and most cooperation exists with the social actors, among political actors the
cooperation is significant with local government and political parties however, not aweinspiring.
After revealing the basic characteristics and tendencies of CSOs, it is now important
to investigate what type of activities these organizations are involved in. Are they only
welfare based as the policy interest and objectives indicates? do they engage in other
activities that are more related to politics, state action and democratic consolidation? And we
also need to understand which sections of the CSOs are involved in participatory activities.
The next section explores the welfare based grass-roots actions of the civil society
organizations followed by the third section that broadly focus on the participatory nature of
the CSOs.
154

4.3 Civil Society Involvement in Grass-roots Action
Grass-roots actions, refers to CSO programs such as micro-credit, literacy, skill
training, relief, health, women empowerment, group network building, as well as social
mass-awareness, humanitarian and legal aid carried out at the rural level and within poor
communities. In most cases these programs are service based targeting the poor villagers.
76% of the organizations indicated that they were somehow involved in grass-roots development.
Table 4.4 shows the involvement of CSOs in different categories of grass-roots activities.
Respondents were free to choose multiple answers if they were involved in more than one ways
in grass-roots development. Among them, the most popular activities were found to be health
(46%), education (44%) and economic empowerment (44%), or micro-credit. Progress took place
mainly through development NGOs. Table 4.4 also shows the high involvement of social welfare
groups and NGOs in those service based programs, besides these three functions of welfare and
NGO groups have been found to be highly involved in social and political awareness (43%).
In different studies also, it has been evident that villagers who receive micro-credits for
income-generating activities from the NGOs or who participate in NGO programs are more likely
to undertake new income-generating activities, raise their income and productivity, empower
themselves, adopt family planning, reduce infant and child mortality, prevent childhood diseases,
and attain self-reliance in meeting their socio-economic and other welfare needs than those of
their comparable non-beneficiaries (Amin 1997, 116). Besides material development, the poor
have heightened their self-confidence over time (IOB 1998, 3 and Scheyvens 2002). NGOs have
also been successful in inspiring these poor, uneducated people to learn, become socially and
politically aware, and even to participate and win in local council elections. In the 1996 general
parliamentary election, the turnout of women voters was 77% 11 . Civil society efforts for
11 USAID Fact sheet, http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/womrts/intwmday.htm, [ Access date, 21 st August, 2006]
155

Table 4.4 Nature of involvement in grass-roots actions 12
Number of involved CSOs
Self-
Classificatio
n of CSOs
Frequenc
y
Active in
GO-NGO
cooperation
for rural
developmen
t ***
Active in
developing
group
network**
*
Active in
women
Empowermen
t***
Active in local
representation
and ventilation
of grievances to
the
authorities***
Active in
education
and
literacy**
*
Active in
health
education
and
health
service
***
Active
in legal,
political
and
human
rights**
*
Active in
economic
Empowermen
t***
Active in
social and
political
awareness and
participation*
*
Economic 116 24 35 29 24 38 54 14 76 31
20.7% 30.2% 25.0% 20.7% 32.8% 46.6% 12.1% 65.5% 26.7%
Education
and Culture
49 3 5 6 3 40 28 10 14 18
Pressure
Group
Welfare and
Developmen
t
6.1% 10.2% 12.2% 6.1% 81.6% 57.1% 20.4% 28.6% 36.7%
8 0 1 1 2 4 4 2 3 4
0.0% 12.5% 12.5% 25.0% 50.0% 50.0% 25.0% 37.5% 50.0%
224 54 81 122 61 140 149 64 129 96
24.1% 36.2% 54.5% 27.2% 62.5% 66.5% 28.6% 57.6% 42.9%
Total 397 81 122 158 90 222 235 90 222 149
16% 24% 31% 18% 44% 46% 17% 44% 30%
*** Sig. P

education have ensured 82% primary school enrolment in Bangladesh 13 . No doubt these are
important achievement in strengthening civil society in rural Bangladesh. Thus, it may be stated
that where there was nothing, now there is at least something.
However, if we again go back to the table 4.4 it may be observed that the involvement of
CSOs in building group networks (24%), local representation and ventilation of grievances (18%),
and educating and helping in social and political rights (17%) is relatively less than in other areas
of involvement, though we may consider these programs to be more important in citizen building
and advocacy training. Previous studies have also revealed that often rural micro-credit debtors do
not have full control over their money. NGO workers place priority on the commercial value of
micro-credits vis-à-vis its welfare potential. In most cases, the education level as well as the
management and leadership qualities of NGO beneficiaries is below the standard to gain
independence (Ullah and Routary 2003, 118). Village organizations or groups formed by the
beneficiaries of NGOs seem to act like sub-branches of the particular NGO instead of articulating
members’ needs and preferences (Hulme and Edwards 1997, 276 and IOB 1998, 251). Now we
can infer that while they have achieved something, it may not be enough for the overall
development of the grass-roots sector.
So it becomes evident that except political social awareness (30%) CSOs involvement,
(that includes both the NGOs, welfare groups, traditional pressure groups and economic
groups) at the grass roots level are mostly concerned with service providing development and
welfare activities than politics and democracy related actions.
To have a closer look on the tendency of the CSOs on grass-roots action, two service
related and two advocacy training related actions have been selected and civil society
involvement has been analyzed considering both the geographic level of activity of CSOs and
13 UNICEF Website http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/child_development_education_389.htm [Access date, 8th
November, 2006]
157

their condition of receiving and not-receiving foreign assistance. Table 4.5 is a three
dimensional cross table showing the involvement of foreign assistance receiving and nonreceiving
CSOs working at the local and national level in four types of grass-roots actions.
The first two are service providing while the last two are advocacy training. In all 4 cases we
may observe overwhelming participation rate of CSOs that receive foreign funds, specially
working at national base. Because these CSOs or NGOs are large, well skilled and financed
and have multi-dimensional grass-roots programs than the small foreign assistance receiving
CSOs who may have limited projects in a certain locality. However, participation rate of latter
CSOs on health, economic empowerment and network building is also very high.
Table 4.5 Selected grass-roots action among foreign funds receiving and non-receiving
CSOs engaged at the local and national level
Selected Grass-
Roots Activities
Active in health
education and health
service**
Active in economic
Empowerment
Active in developing
group network ***
Number of involved CSOs
Active at Local Level Active National Level
Do not
Receives Receives
Foreign Foreign
Funds funds
Do not
Receives
Foreign funds
158
Receives
Foreign Funds
Total
N=504)
145 36 17 37 235
52% 78% 59% 88% 46%
150 29 15 27 221
54% 63% 52% 64% 44%
76 23 3 20 122
27% 50% 10% 48% 24%
Active in legal,
political and human
42 17 9 22 90
rights **
15% 37% 31% 52% 17%
Total* 279 46 29 42 396
***P

oth at the local and national level. For network building, it is the CSOs working at the local
level (both foreign assistance receiving and not receiving CSOs) that are comparatively active
than the national level CSOs. While in the case of legal aid, and political human rights
education, it is the national CSOs that are more involved as they are equipped with specialized
manpower.
As the foreign assistance receiving CSOs are mostly NGOs and they receive foreign
funds mainly for grass-roots projects-development and poverty alleviation, their high rate of
involvement in these activities is obvious. But what is more striking is the high rate of
involvement of local CSOs that do not receive any foreign assistance for social welfare. From
the consideration of grass-roots actions, the data shows that all most all types of CSOs active
at both local and national level, with varying amount of resources are engaged and active. This
indicates to a vibrant nature of civil society in terms of Neo-Tocquevillean model.
4.3.2 Evaluation of CSOs and NGO performance
Concerning performance and effectiveness of the grass-roots action, the CSOs were
asked to evaluate (1) their own performance, (2) over all NGO performance nation wide and
(3) the success of international NGOs, development agencies and donor separately on a scale
from 1 to 7, where 1 is very little success, 4 is medium success and 7 is highest success. The
three type of rating results is illustrated in table 4.6.
159

Table 4.6 Grass-roots performance evaluation
Standard Percentage of CSOs (rated
Types of Evaluation
Mean
Deviation
within 4 to 7)
Self Performance 4.3 1.278 68%
Performance of all NGOs 4.1 1.159 61%
Performance of International
NGOs and Agencies
4.1. 1.59 74%
N= 504, Not applicable =99 (20%) and Invalid Answer =7 (1%)
*The evaluation was made on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is very little success, 4 is medium
success and 7 is highest success.
CSOs engaged in grass-roots activities evaluated their performance as 4.3 (Standard
Deviation=1.28), while the average of overall national performance of NGOs was just 4.1
(Standard Deviation=1.16). Average rating 4 refers that evaluation positive but they are not
claiming high performance. Similarly to the NGO efficiency evaluation, incase of international
NGOs, agencies and donors, the evaluation mean is only 4.1 (Standard Deviation 1.599),
indicating that CSOs accept the reality of constructive contributions by foreign actors but they do
not highly appreciate their role. However, if we calculate the number of CSOs that have rated
performance from scale 4 to 7 which means, they think such CSOs are encouragingly successful,
we find, in all three cases, strong majority of CSOs have rated positively (column 3 of table 4.6).
From our analysis and discussion so far on civil society actions at the grass-roots level, we
find that, high percentage of CSOs are involved in grass-roots level, though their involvement in
service providing than advocacy training (accept social and political awareness) is higher. Again,
it has been found that, involvement of local based, domestically financed CSOs is also significant
and the performance of CSOs—traditional, modern and international, are also positive. This
confirms again, well accepted supposition that, civil society in Bangladesh has contributed
significantly in social development, poverty alleviation. Moreover, through the survey, it is
revealed that not only well recognized NGOs, but local CSOs are also active in such endeavor.
160

Civil society is involved in solving the local problems of poverty, literacy, sanitation, also to some
extent for good citizenry. This picture rather provides a healthy, vibrant picture of civil society that
may form the basis for further involvement and success in political and democracy related matters
according to the Diamond model. However, the fact is not so simple and straight. Next section, in
details analyzes the participatory nature of civil society based on the survey data.
4.4 Civil Society Involvement in Participatory Functions
Service providing is only one section of civil society function. For civil society to
contribute to politics and democracy, it has to engage more in civic education, interest
articulation, monitor the state apparatus, ensure better participation and representation of all
segments of the society in political decision making. This requires civil society to be more
involved in advocacy, policy participation, lobby etc. and come into more interaction with the
government balancing its own autonomy and independence. For this the civil society has to be
participatory. The present section shall investigate the participatory nature of the CSOs
surveyed under four broad headings-formal relations with the government, advocacy, policy
making and lobby.
4.4.1 Relation with Government
To understand the participatory nature, first I concentrate on the formal relations
(besides registration, licensing) CSOs have with the government and local government. These
relations require civil society to have interaction with governments. Table 4.7 shows rate of
government relations with four types of civil society originations. If we focus on the relation
that comes down from the government towards the civil society like guidance from the
government (57%) then it is clear that majority or a good proportion of
161

Table 4.7 Nature of formal relation with government
Self
Classification
of CSOs
Frequency
Administrative
guidance
provided by
the
government
***
Cooperating
with and
Supporting
policies and
budget
activities of the
government***
Number of Involved CSOs
Exchanging
opinions
with the
government*
**
Sending
Representative
to council and
/or advisory
bodies of the
government***
Positions
Offering to
government
officials
after
retirement**
Economic 169 108 7 66 28 3
63.9% 4.1% 39.1% 16.6% 1.8%
Education
and Culture
68 19 2 19 5 2
Pressure
Group
Welfare and
Development
27.9% 2.9% 27.9% 7.4% 2.9%
11 6 4 9 6 1
54.5% 36.4% 81.8% 54.5% 9.1%
256 153 29 92 61 18
59.8% 11.3% 35.9% 23.8% 7.0%
Total 504 286 42 186 100 24
56.7% 8.3% 36.9% 19.8% 4.8%
***Sig, P

Table 4.8 Selected government relationship among foreign funds receiving and nonreceiving
CSOs engaged at the local and national level
Selected formal Relation with
Government
Relation with government/
Administrative guidance
provided by the government
Relation with government/
Exchanging opinions with the
government
Relation with government/
Sending representative to
council and /or advisory bodies
of the national government **
Number of involved CSOs
Active in National
Active in Local Level
Level
Do not Receive
Receives
Do not Receives
Receives s
Foreign
Foreign funds
Foreign Foreign
Funds
funds Funds
Total
208 35 21 21 285
57% 67% 48% 48% 57%
116 22 22 26 186
32% 42% 50% 59% 37%
52 15 14 19 100
14% 29% 32% 43% 20%
Total 363 52 44 44 503
** sig P

highest for (57%) local CSOs that do not receive foreign funds their participating rate is
lowest in supporting policy or budget (32%) and sending representatives (14%).
From the analysis of the data on formal relation between government and CSOs it
becomes clear that more the interaction with government becomes participation related the
lower is the involvement rate. Moreover, it also indicates the tendency that, indigenous (nonforeign
funds receiving) and local CSOs are less participatory than other categories of CSOs
that may be in better position in relation to finances, skill, organizational base and education.
4.4.2 Advocacy
Present research by advocacy refers to negotiating and pressurizing the government in
different ways on different political and social issues and problems as well as for particular
interest of the CSO itself. Moreover, it also considers public education on political and human
rights and mass awareness as advocacy action from consideration of socio-political condition
of Bangladesh. Such advocacy functions lead to interest articulations and bring the civil
society nearer to the authorities. Some times they may find themselves in a position of
cooperation with the authorities, other time in an opposite situation. It may be considered as
the most important barometer to understand the participatory nature of the civil society
organizations. Table 4.9 shows the rate of advocacy participation of CSOs belonging to four
broad categories on various issues. First five issues here are directly related to the social
welfare and their service programs while last five are more related to democracy and political
stability. All are burning issues from consideration of contemporary Bangladesh (in 2006).
Overall rate of advocacy participation is low; none of the issues attract 50% of the CSOs
unlike the high rate of involvement in grass-roots action. Among CSOs’ categories, pressure
164

groups have been found to be highly involved in the advocacy functions but they represent
only 2% of the CSOs. Highest rate of interest for advocacy has been found for education (39%)
and health (38%). Naturally, welfare & NGOs and also pressure groups are mostly involved
on those issues. However, the rate of involvement of economic groups and educational groups
are also not too low.
165

Table 4.9 Nature of advocacy among different types of CSOs
Number of involved CSOs in Advocacy
Involvement
in
Involvement
in
Involvement
in
Involvement
in
Involvement
in
Involvement
in
Campaign
for
Involvement
against
Campaign
against
Campaign
for
Selfclassification
of
the Judiciary
Separation of
Street
Women's
Labor right and Political and better
Politics
CSOs
Total
Public Environment
Corruption
from the
right Education
Unemployment human Law and
and Hartal
Frequency
health** issue***
issue***
executive
issue***
issue*** rights*** order***
(strike)
branch of the
Culture***
Government***
Economic 167 42 57 55 34 28 21 23 14 1 4
25.1% 34.1% 32.9% 20.4% 16.8% 12.6% 13.8% 8.4% 0.6% 2.4%
Education and
Culture
68 13 27 20 18 12 12 10 10 1 2
19.1% 39.7% 29.4% 26.5% 17.6% 17.6% 14.7% 14.7% 1.5% 2.9%
Pressure Group 11 6 7 6 6 7 5 6 5 4 4
54.5% 63.6% 54.5% 54.5% 63.6% 45.5% 54.5% 45.5% 36.4% 36.4%
Welfare and
Development
255 99 109 112 91 51 64 46 29 8 11
38.8% 42.7% 43.9% 35.7% 20.0% 25.1% 18.0% 11.4% 3.1% 4.3%
Total 501 160 200 193 149 98 102 85 58 14 21
31.9% 39.9% 38.5% 29.7% 19.6% 20.4% 17.0% 11.6% 2.8% 4.2%
**Sig. P

But when we come to the democracy and politics related issues, like political human rights
(20%), law and order (17%), corruption (12%), street politics 14 (3%), independent judiciary
(4%) 15 , except the small number of pressure groups, the participation rate on these issues are
low for all categories of civil society organizations. When CSOs are not concerned and active
about the most crucial political and social problems of a country, then their potential to
contribute to democracy can hardly be estimated. Such non-involvement of civil society let us
to infer that either the civil society organizations are indifferent to political problems of the
country or they are avoiding any confrontation with powerful political actors. Moreover, it
may also be assumed that for some reason, the vibrant civil society organizations are barred
from meddling into such sensitive issues. We shall discuss more on this problem in chapter
five.
Table 4.10 tries to perceive the nature of CSOs participation by dividing them on the
basis their local, national character and on condition of receiving and not-receiving foreign
assistance. Total rate of participation in the five politics related issues are very low. Among
20% CSOs advocating for political and human rights, and 17% CSOs for law and order, 12%
for corruption, national level CSOs are more active than local level and a significant section is
occupied by the foreign- assistance- receiving CSOs ( row 3, 4, 5 of Table 4.10). However, in
case of campaign against street politics and for separation of the judiciary, contribution of
these types of CSOs is negligent. In the latter two issues mostly national and a very few
14 As discussed in chapter three, the political parties in Bangladesh are engaged in confrontational politics and
prefer to come to streets instead of ventilating their grievances at the parliament. Often the street politics, mass
protests etc. are accompanied by day long nation wide strikes which are instigated by the means of violence.
15 In Bangladesh, though the Supreme Court is independent from the government, lower divisions of the court are
still controlled by government recruited magistrates. The matter is an old issue and citizens are always promised
by the political parties to separate the judiciary from the government before election. However, in either regime
such separation has actually taken place though at different stages initiatives have been taken for such separation
and Supreme Court has given ruling on such issue. In 2007, under the emergency rule the process for separation
has begun.
167

Table 4.10 Democracy related advocacy among foreign funds receiving and nonreceiving
CSOs engaged at the local and national level
Democracy Related Advocacy
Participation
Involvement in Political and human
rights by advocacy ***
Campaign for better Law and order by
advocacy
Involvement against Corruption issue
by advocacy
Campaign against Street Politics and
Hartal (strike) Culture by advocacy
Active at Local Level
Do not Receives
Foreign funds
168
Number of Involved CSOs
Receives
Foreign
Funds
Active National
Level
Do not
Receive Receives
s Foreign
Foreign Funds
funds
Total
57 14 10 21 102
16% 27% 24% 48% 20%
53 9 12 11 85
15% 17% 29% 25% 17%
32 9 9 8 58
9% 17% 21% 18% 16%
5 1 6 2 14
1% 2% 14% 2% 3%
Campaign for Separation of the
Judiciary from the executive branch
8 2 9 2 21
of the Government by advocacy
2% 4% 21% 5% 4%
Total 362 52 42 44 500
***Sig. P

village as it does to an urban dweller. However, considering the social consciousness and
political awareness that has been generated through out Bangladesh with the help of NGO
projects and penetration of political parties in the rural societies, and the high turn outs at the
polls since 1990s, the over all advocacy interest of the civil society as revealed through the
data is not satisfactory.
4.4.3 Policy Making
Another more direct involvement of civil society in influencing the governance is
participation in policy making. The survey data on policy making reveals a more frustrating
picture about the participatory nature of CSOs in Bangladesh active at the periphery and meso
level. The respondents were asked whether they have ever been successful in influencing the
government/ local government in any decision, policy or budget to their favor (policy making)
and prevent such decision, policy or budget that go against their interest (policy breaking).
Table 4.11a shows the rate of success among the surveyed CSOs (of different catagories) in
policy making and breaking. Only 13% CSOs has admitted about their success in influencing
government decisions, policy or budget and only 6% in blocking such decisions or policies
that went against their interests. From the table it also becomes clear that in case of policy
making, the success rate is almost same for all categories CSOs.
169

Table 4.11a Success in policy making and policy breaking among different CSOs
Self-classification by CSOs
Total Frequency
Success in policy
making
Number of Involved CSOs
Success in policy
breaking***
Economic 169 25 12
14.8% 7.1%
Education and Culture 68 9 3
13.2% 4.4%
Pressure Group 11 2 3
18.2% 27.3%
Welfare and Development
256 31 12
12.1% 4.7%
Total 504 67 30
13.3% 6.0%
***Sig. P

Strategy Paper (PRSP). The PRSP was formed in phases between 2000 and 2005 and it is claimed
that all types of stakeholders at all levels had been consulted in its formation 17 . However, the
survey results show that only 11% of CSOs took part in PRSP opinion exchange meetings. Level
is also low for welfare and development CSOs (15%) too.
Though the rate of policy success of the CSOs organizations is very poor, it is important to
see which section of the civil society enjoys better success record. Here again it becomes clear
that though more than 80 % CSOs are local based and majority of them do not receive any foreign
funds, it is the national based and in most cases foreign assistance receiving CSOs, that are most
active among the very small community of CSOs influencing national and local politics. This
indicates that large NGOs mostly enjoy the limited scope of policy making (table 4.12a, 4.12b).
Table 4.12a Policy making and breaking among foreign funds receiving and non-receiving CSOs
engaged at the local and national level
Number of Involved CSOs
Policy participation
Active at
Local Level
Do not Receives
Foreign funds
Receives
Foreign
Funds
Active at
National Level
Do not
Receives
Foreign
funds
Receives
Foreign
Funds
Total
Success in policy making 38 8 6 15 67
10% 15% 14% 34% 13%
Success in policy breaking 10 2 9 9 30
3% 4% 20% 20% 6%
Total 363 52 44 44 503
No Answer rate=1 (0.2%) N=504
17 Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction. 2005. Planning Commission,
People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Available at IMF website https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2005/cr05410.pdf
(Access date: 15 May, 2007).
171

4.12b Participation in PRSP policy process among foreign funds receiving and nonreceiving
CSOs engaged at the local and national level
Active at
Local Level
Do not Receives
Foreign funds
Number of Involved CSOs
Active at
National Level
Do not
Receives
Receives
Receive
Foreign
Foreign
Foreign
Funds
Funds
funds
Total
Participation in Poverty
Reduction or Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper
22 10 8 15 55
(PRSP)**
6% 20% 18% 38% 11%
Total 351 50 44 40 485
**Sig P

4.4.4 Lobby
Civil society organizations were asked to rate the frequency of different activities that
they do when they try to draw the attention of the government on certain issue or appeal the
authorities for their interest or demands. In other words, through this question [question no.
2.5] the nature of lobby of the organizations had been inquired. Through the structured
questionnaire CSOs were asked about both vertical 18 and horizontal 19 ways of lobbying as
well as some very formal methods. Table 4.13 shows the percentage of CSOs of four broad
categories engaged in such acts. The over all frequency of lobby is rather low. Among the low
rates, most common is to contact with the parties both in power (54%) and opposition (29%)
as well as the government administration (77%) directly, rather than sending a petition or
letter (6.3%), arrange press conference (14%) or form a coalition of CSOs to press their
demands. Only 12% involvement in forming coalition also indicates the weak network among
civil society organizations in Bangladesh. If we further analyze the data category wise, then
we may observe that almost same proportion of CSOs in each category contact the ruling party,
opposition party and administration.
The vertical lobby is very popular among all types of CSOs in almost same rate, so as
holding round table meetings and conferences (58%) with the pressure groups and welfare
groups involved in a higher rate then the other two catagories. Among the formal and
horizontal lobby this is the only popular means.
18 By vertical lobby I mean mainly the inside lobby (Tsujinaka, 2002:167), where the CSOs directly contact the
powerful or authorities individually for their interest or demand. In this case the interaction may take place in
formal or informal way but the relationship is structured in a more powerful and less powerful position.
Negotiation may end up in a give and take understanding. Here, vertical lobby takes place through interaction
with the ruling and opposition party and the administration directly.
19 By horizontal lobby, I mean the methods to attract government attention or make demand in a combined way
like forming coalitions, or arranging meetings, press conference. In this way the CSO articulates its interest to the
public and gain social and moral support from other like minded stakeholders. After building strength
horizontally, together they push forward their demand towards the higher authorities.
173

Table 4.13 Nature of lobby by different CSOs.
Selfclassification
of CSOs
Total
Frequency
Lobby /
Contacting
the parties
in the
cabinet
Contacting
the
opposition
parties
Contacting
governmental
department
and agencies
Helping to
draft
legislative
bills for
political
parties or
governmental
organization
***
Number of Involved CSOs
Asking
members of
the
organization
to write letters
or make
phone calls to
political
parties or
government
administration
Presenting
research
results or
technical
information
to political
parties
and/or
government
ministries***
Engaging in mass
protests or
demonstrations***
Organizing
seminars,
round
table
meeting,
rally etc
Holding
press
conferences
in order to
publicize
ideas and let
know
organizations
position on
different
issues and
incidents***
Economic 169 91 47 132 0 2 10 32 88 15 16
53.8% 27.8% 78.1% 0.0% 1.2% 5..9% 18.9% 52.1% 8.9% 9.5%
Education
and Culture
Pressure
Group
Welfare
and
Development
68 40 23 45 1 0 5 13 40 5 5
58.8% 33.8% 66.2% 1.5% 0.0% 7.4% 19.1% 58.8% 7.4% 7.4%
11 6 5 8 3 2 2 8 8 7 0
54.5% 45.5% 72.7% 27.3% 18.2% 18.2% 72.7% 72.7% 63.6% 0.0%
256 134 72 202 4 10 15 39 158 44 39
52.3% 28.1% 78.9% 1.6% 3.9% 5..9% 15.2% 61.7% 17.2% 15.2%
Total 504 271 147 387 8 14 32 92 294 71 60
53.8% 29.2% 76.8% 1.6% 2.8% 6.3% 18.3% 58.3% 14.1% 11.9%
Forming
coalition
with other
organizations
or NGOs
**Sig. P

The most recognized formal means to seek government attraction is petition (writing
letter), here the rate of using such method is very low (6%) among all types of CSOs. The
most vital horizontal mean for lobby in a democratic setting is forming coalition with like
minded CSOs for a certain cause or issue. Tendency to form such coalitions is strikingly low
among all the categories including the welfare CSOs (15%) that homes the large NGOs too.
More interesting is that, though the pressure groups have a better profile for participation in
advocacy, and interacting with the government and their rate of vertical lobby is very high
(55%, 46% and 73%), non of the 11 pressure groups surveyed admitted of forming coalitions.
Such tendency is found in only 15% of the most prominent section of the civil society—the
welfare and development CSOs.
Table 4.14 further analyzes the lobby tendency among the surveyed CSOs by dividing
them according to their activities at different geographic level and their characteristics of
receiving civil society foreign assistance or not. Here again, the high tendency of vertical
lobby is present in all sections of the CSOs. However, in the case of foreign assistance
receiving CSOs acting at the national level, the tendency to contact opposition party is half to
other CSOs (16%). This is because these CSOs are organizationally already strong and backed
by the donors. Good relation with ruling party is more important for them to proceed with
their functions. But for small NGOs at the local level, they seem to have contact with both the
opposition and position to maintain their programs. The practice of giving petitions (writing
letters) is low in almost same rate among the CSOs active at all sections.
175

Table 4.14 Selected lobby performed by foreign funds receiving and non-receiving CSOs
engaged at the local and national level
Number of involved CSOs
Active at
Local Level
Active at
National Level
Do not
Do not
Different types of Vertical and Horizontal
Lobby
Receives
Foreign
funds
Receives
Foreign
Funds
Receives
Foreign
funds
Receives
Foreign
Funds Total
Contacting the parties in the cabinet 212 24 19 16 271
58% 46% 43% 36% 54%
Contacting the opposition parties 111 16 13 7 147
31% 31% 30% 16% 29%
Contacting governmental department and
agencies
Asking members of the organization to
write letters or make phone calls to
political parties or government
administration
Organizing seminars, round table meeting,
rally etc
Holding press conferences in order to
publicize ideas and let know organizations
position on different issues and incidents**
176
277 45 34 30
386
76% 87% 77% 68% 77%
19 4 5 4
32
5% 8% 11% 9% 6%
206 35 32 21
294
57% 67% 73% 48% 58%
23 15 18 15
71
6% 29% 41% 34% 14%
Forming coalition with other organizations
24 11 7 18
or NGOs**
60
7% 21% 16% 41% 12%
Total 363 52 44 44 503
** Sig P

From the data on lobby it becomes clear that there is an over all tendency to lobby the
government vertically rather than horizontally or formally among all types and sections of the
civil society organization. Among the horizontal lobby, holding public meeting and rally are
most popular among CSOs. This may have been a positive fact for a healthy civil society if
simultaneously they formed coalition and showed unity among themselves. Rather in case of
forming coalition that ultimately leads to strong network among the civil society organizations
and provide the necessary strength to push for demands and tackle the pressure from the state,
CSOs’ involvement is very low. Again in case of vertical lobby, highest is having direct
contact with the government. It is an obvious fact as for registration, permission, license and
other official matters all CSOs have to contact the local or national government. But the
tendency of having direct contact with the political parties to pursue the government for civil
society interest is pretty high in Bangladesh. This indicates a partisan tendency among the
civil society organizations. CSOs that have a low profile in getting involved in participatory
matters have high rate of contacting the political parties directly for their interests and
demands.
Our inference about the partisan or politicized nature of civil society and low rate of
network becomes stronger if we compare the situation in Bangladesh with other Asian
countries both developing and developed, enjoying multi party democracy. Figure 4.9
comparatively shows the nature of lobby through ruling party, opposition party and through
forming coalition of Japan, Korea, Philippines, Turkey and that of Bangladesh. The same
question about lobby was asked to the civil society organizations of those countries 20 .
20 Figure 4.9 has been constructed based on the data borrowed from the Special Project on Civil Society, State
and Culture in Comparative Perspective, University of Tsukuba
177

Figure 4.9 Lobby through political parties and coalition formation–five country
comparison
60%
50%
Japan (Ibaraki) N=197
40%
Korea (Kyengi) N=110
30%
20%
Philippines (Cebu)
N=159
10%
0%
Lobby
through
Ruling Party
Lobby
through
Opposition
Forming
Coalition for
Lobby
Turkey (Istanbul)
N=507
Bangladesh (Rajshahi)
N=504
Figure 4.9 clearly distinguishes the high tendency of CSOs of Bangladesh that prefer to
partisan method of lobby than other countries and also the low rate on forming coalition
among themselves to make demands. In case of elite democracy- Philippines that we have
focused on in chapter three, we see that CSOs have double or more the tendency to form
coalition than contacting the political parties, just opposite to the situation in Bangladesh.
Civil society organizations can hardly contribute to democracy and better governance when it
prefer to contact parties individually than forming network and strong platform among
themselves. Such tendency leads them to division and a weak position in relation to the state.
4.5 Summary and Conclusion
4.5.1 Summary
Chapter four, using the survey data collected directly from the civil society
organizations at the periphery and meso level investigates the participatory nature of civil
society. In the first section, basic characteristics of the civil society have been revealed
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focusing on the attributes like, classifications, objectives, policy interest, geographic level of
activity, membership, resource sources, budget, volunteers, employees etc. of the CSOs.
Objectives and policy interest of the CSOs show a strong tendency toward social welfare and
service than advocacy or policy recommendation and majority of CSOs rely on outer financial
sources-mainly government and foreign funds besides their membership fees. The data also
indicates that, whether the organization acts at local or national level and whether it receives
foreign assistance or not, are the most important factors that determine its nature. It has been
found that, CSOs working at the national level and NGOs receiving foreign-assistance may be
well equipped with handsome budgets and skilled employees; but it is the small local groups
(that do not receive foreign assistance) that are rich in spirited volunteers. In case of
cooperation existing between the CSOs and other political, social and market actors, the data
indicate that most cooperation exists between local government and social actors, then with
political parties. Lowest cooperation and relation exists with the market actors. In Bangladesh,
the civil society and market are yet to emerge as cooperating or rather interacting actors at the
periphery and meso level.
Second section of the chapter reveals the high tendency of involvement in grass-roots
actions. The data show the high involvement of foreign funded CSOs with national base
programs, but more interesting finding is that, all most all types of CSOs active at local and
national level, with contrasting financial and organizational base are engaged overwhelmingly
in grass-roots development. This rather, confirms the existence of a vibrant civil society
organization from Diamond model. The endeavor of the CSOs, NGOs and international
development agencies has also been evaluated positively though not profoundly. However, it
has also been found that, CSOs participation is high in service providing functions and
relatively low in the functions that relate to advocacy training and building good citizenry. But
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for civil society to contribute to democracy, such conscious citizenry and advocacy functions
are essential. However, the rate of involvement in advocacy training is not too low. It may be
hoped that, a steady growth in such activities in the future may lead to positive development.
Participatory nature of civil society has been understood in mainly four ways-formal
relations with governments, policy making, advocacy and lobby.
First attention has been given on formal relation between CSOs and government (both
national and local). It has been found that more the relation requires association of the civil
society into government decisions and actions like giving advices, supporting policies and
budget, the rate of involved CSOs comes down. Again, the percentage rate of involvement by
local CSOs not- receiving-foreign assistance on those participatory issues, have been found to
be lowest than other CSOs receiving foreign assistances or acting nation wide with better
budget and organizational resources.
In case of advocacy, it has been revealed that civil society is mostly involved in issues
that are related to development and social welfare than, issues that are related to accountability
and governance. However, these issues are more important in consolidating democracy and
receive less attention by the CSOs of all types. Only a slim section of large NGOs concentrate
on issues like human rights or corruption as they have been directed so by the donors, but
issues like, street politics or independent judiciary are hardly attended by any type or section
of civil society. The advocacy performance as revealed in the data is very low and
insignificant in contrast to the political consciousness of Bangladeshi citizens and as expected
in a parliamentary democracy.
More direct involvement of civil society is determined in its capacity and success in
influencing government decisions, budget and policies. But the data reveals same frustrating
picture where only 13% have been successful in pursuing the government to pass a budget or
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policy supporting the interest of the CSO. It may be observed that, the minor portion of the
CSOs who are involved in participatory actions, are mostly organized, skilled, and well
financed enjoying national base support, from the remaining majority. Local small CSOs are
hardly involved in such actions.
The data on lobby, reveals interesting participatory nature and pattern of interaction of
the civil society with the authorities and political actors. It is common among the CSOs to
contact directly the authority or powerful political actors in a vertical way rather than
organizing horizontally. The method of gaining strength through forming coalition and or
contacting the press and create pressure on the government have been found to be not yet
popular among the CSOs, specially at the local and periphery level. The tendency to rely more
on vertical or inside lobby by the CSOs indicate to the partisan relation that may be existing
between them and the political parties. A comparative table on Japan, Korea, Turkey and
Philippine display that such tendency is very high in Bangladesh in comparison to other
countries.
4.5.2 Concluding Remarks
Logically, when civil society has a low profile in participating in advocacy, policy
making and forming coalitions, it can hardly bring pluralism or aggregate interests of the
communities and represent all sections of society. It may also fail to gain the strength to
monitor the state functions. Voice of the civil society in national policies shall hardly be
counted.
Bangladesh do have local groups and associations engaged in social development, that
may comply with Diamond model or be considered as the basic structure for the generating
Putnam’s social capital. But survey data also shows that most of these local groups are not
engaged in networks and in functions that generate civic engagements leading towards
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stronger civil society and working democracy. Moreover, these organizations are run by
mainly members and volunteers and most of them do not receive foreign assistance. This also
means that they have been left out from the international initiative for development and
governance. Only selected NGOs have been blessed with foreign assistance to be engaged in
social development as well as good governance and they enjoy the skilled manpower,
resources and organizational strength to engage in different social and to some extent political
endeavors. Such sprinkled initiative of the donors to strengthen civil society can hardly bring
good governance neither at the local level, nor at the national level.
More interesting is that, through the survey it has also been exposed that though the
rate of participation of such donor assisted CSOs and also CSOs with national or district wide
organizational base, is higher than the small indigenous CSOs at the local level, overall
participatory rate is much low in contrast to their activities on grass-roots actions. We have to
admit that participatory nature of the civil society (including all types and sections) at the
periphery and meso levels are low. Naturally their prospect for contributing to democracy or
emerging as a strong vigilant force is not so encouraging.
Through the survey questionnaire, the civil society organizations were asked if they
thought the civil society in Bangladesh was successful in influencing the government on
national policies. Only 32% responded positively and the majority 68% answered negatively.
So about 70% CSOs themselves think that they have no influence on the government. What
causes such poor participation? It is not political apathy, which may serve as an explanation in
the case of developed democracies (Putnam 2000, 35, 46-47). While investigating the reason
for such failure, 52% of the CSOs mentioned the problem of lack of unity among the CSOs
themselves and 43% pointed out to the problem of politicization of the civil society
organizations. The primary data on the opinion of individual CSOs lead us to dig more to
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understand the reason for a less participatory civil society and its inability to contribute to
democracy in spite of its vibrancy. And we may assume it is not political disinterest but over
politicization. In chapter three, I have discussed about the powerful role of the political parties
in democratic age in Bangladesh and based on previous literatures, observations and
interviews have mentioned how the civil society is also penetrated by the political parties.
Such politicization polarizes the civil society, seizes its autonomy, and refrain it from its
participatory role in national policies and decisions. When the civil society is controlled by
government and political forces, it can hardly act as a vigilant force. Next chapter shall focus
on reasons behind the non-participatory attitude of the civil society with special focus on civil
society and political party relations.
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Chapter 5
Civil Society and Political Relation in Bangladesh
5.1 Introduction
Chapter four based on survey data revealed the basic trends of the civil society in
Bangladesh, particularly at the periphery and meso level. It have been understood that,
majority of civil society are service and welfare oriented and there are differences between
civil society organizations working only at local level and those through out the country and
also among those who receives foreign assistance and those who do not from the point of
view of financial and human recourses and organizational strength. Through the data analysis
it has also been clearly comprehended that over-all rate of participatory activities, that is,
those actions of civil society that are more related to democracy and politics is low.
Moreover, a partisan tendency has been found among all types and sections of civil society
that seem to have a logical connection to the low rate of civil society participation. The
present chapter shall investigate dipper into the political relation of civil society using both
quantitative and qualitative analysis. The focus shall be mainly on civil society interaction
with state and society. Present chapter looks into both national and local civil society in
Bangladesh. Before entering to the main part of the analysis, I shall discuss the necessity for
such further analysis from theoretical point of view.
According to Diamond (1996: 209), the basic two functions of the civil society are to
monitor and retain the exercise of power by democratic state and to democratize authoritarian
state. The present study is concerned with civil society actions under a democratic (at least
formally) state, particularly a new democracy. For a new democracy, Diamond gives
emphasis on the necessity of vibrant civil society to bring institutional reform and fight
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against corruption. In case of Bangladesh, among large number of CSOs, we have seen that
very thin section of civil society organizations (12%) are engaged in such campaign against
corruption, rather CSOs are often accused of corruption 1 . Another important role of civil
society is to supplement political parties by stimulating political participation, building better
citizenry, providing leadership training. Moreover, experience with associational life may
enrich other democratic values like tolerance, moderation, compromise and respect opposite
views. These ideal theories give the impression that such democratic norms and practice are
driven from civil society and directed towards society and political parties and their leaders.
However, practically, directions of such flow of political norms and practice are present in
two ways traffic. In Bangladesh, it is found that conflict and intolerance within and among
the political parties are often generated to civil society that often may become polarized,
corrupt and ineffective in democratic terms. Civil society have also been stated to be a
necessary condition for transition from clientelism (Diamond, 1996:210), but practically,
civil society organizations including the development NGOs in Bangladesh have been found
to have entered the long patron-client chains running from top government leader down to
the periphery level of Bangladesh and often NGOs have been accused of becoming new
patrons to poor (Tasnim 2007, Lewis 2004 and White 1999). Moreover, issue oriented
pluralistic civil society is considered to cut-cross social cleavages and divisions and bring
unity among the nation. Berman (1997) have already shown how rich civic engagement in
pre-world war Germany led to rather dictatorship than democracy. In case of the ethnically
homogenous and mostly casteless society in Bangladesh, the society still have been found to
1 According to Corruption Data Base Report 2004 of Transparency International- individuals from NGO
personnel occupied 2.6% of the corruption reports in the media. In a recently published report by transparency
international on NGOs, presence of nepotism, weak governance and lack of internal democracy and
accountability have been revealed within the NGO administrations (Problems of Governance in NGO Sector:
2007).
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e vertically constructed and politically polarized. Civil society here instead of forming
bonding and bridging social capital among different groups are rather helping in sharpening
political division, which had originated in historical circumstances and strategically used and
generated by political parties 2 . In all four crucial points, the civil society in Bangladesh has
been found to be behaving in the opposite dimension to democracy than what is ideally
expected from it. Moreover, in each point, Bangladeshi civil society shows the links or the
presence of strong influence of political forces and deterring it from playing its democratic
role. Bangladeshi political situation as discussed in chapter three, resembles much of the
patriarchy as depicted by Coppedge (1994) based on the experience of Venezuela.
Partiarchy as termed by Coppedge (1994:18) is a democracy in which political parties
monopolize the formal political process and politicize the society along party line. It is the
degree to which political parties interfere with the fulfillment of the requirements of Robert
Dhal’s polyarchy (the synonym of democracy for present study). In an extreme ideal type of
Partyarchy, the political parties control the government recruitments, elections, parliaments,
social organizations, and media. In Coppedge’s words,
Citizens are free to form and join organizations but most existing organizations are deeply
penetrated by political parties. Politically relevant organizations besides parties are either
affiliated with a single party or are split into party factions that compete for control. New
organizations that seek to be independent become targets for party takeover, by co-optation or
infiltration, or by the creation of competing party-affiliated organizations. One way or
another political parties dominate organizational life (Coppedge, 1994:19).
Though the statement is for an extreme type and used to describe the politics of Venezuela in
the beginning of 1990s, it resembles with the situation of Bangladesh in the 1990s up to 2006.
The two powerful political parties and their allies have controlled the Bangladesh politics.
2 Discussed in chapter three.
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Who ever came to power winning elections have monopolized the state apparatus and using
the government power have tried to control all sections of the society, market and political
life. And they have used vertical means like corruption, patronage, nepotism, violence to
strengthen their support and control upon all the institutions than their political ideologies 3 .
In the process, civil society have been violated, penetrated, polarized, controlled and
weakened by political parties.
However, for developing such comments on civil society, political party and
democracy into concrete argument or inference; we require hard and strong evidences or
proof. The survey data alone do not provide the necessary proof that explain low rate of the
civil society participation and indicate their vertical link with the political parties. With the
aim to bring to light the reasons behind the low participation of the civil society and its
inability to contribute positively to democratic consolidation, the present chapter
systematically uses, survey data, news paper reports and analysis, information revealed
through interviews and discussion with resource persons, observation notes of the surveyors
during the main Survey on CSOs and personally collected information on selected CSOs.
First section of the chapter uses direct survey data to understand the perception of the civil
society organizations about the influential actors of the political system, nature of their
relation with important actors in society and tendency to have contact with political parties.
Second section of the chapter, using sample newspaper reports and editorials on civil society
tries to understand the nature of political links, vertical links, bureaucratic links, violent
connections to civil society as well as the rate of interest articulations by civil society on
those issues. Third section focuses on some selected but important sections and actions of
3 Though historical developments centering these political parties also have played a significant role in the
political polarization of the society and civil society.
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civil society. Using both newspaper reports and interviews, observations and personally
gathered information this section tries to reveal the actual picture of the civil society and
political relation to identify the reasons behind the weak contribution of civil society to
democracy.
5.2 Civil Society and Political Relation as Revealed in the Survey Data
This section tries to understand most influential actors in Bangladesh from the
perception of CSOs. Moreover the civil society relation with political actors and political
parties are also analyzed in this section based on the data gathered through a questionnaire
survey upon 504 CSOs of Rajshahi District.
5.2.1 Most Influential Actors
CSOs were requested to rate the influence of 15 types of social, political and market
actors in the political system of Bangladesh from a scale from 1 to 7 where, 1 means least
influence, 4 means medium influence and 7 means highest influence. Likert scale was used to
rank the 15 actors based on the level of influence as rated by the CSOs. Score for each actor
could range from 1015 to 3261. The score for seven kinds of influences namely; 1. least
influence, 2. low influence, 3. some influence, 4. medium influence, 5. more influence, 6.
higher influence, 7. highest influence were assigned with weights 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
respectively. The Influential Index (II) was measured by using the equation (2).
(2) Influential Index (II)= P 1* 1+P 2 *2+ P 3 *3+P 4 *4+ P 5 *5+P 6 *6+P 7 *7
Where
P 1 = number of respondents who rate least influence
P 2 = number of respondents who rate low influence
P 3 = number of respondents who rate some influence
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P 4 = number of respondents who rate medium influence
P 5 = number of respondents who rate more influence
P 6 = number of respondents who rate higher influence
P 7 =number of respondents who rate highest influence
Influential Index (II) for any selected statement could range from 1015 to 3261; where 1015
indicating least influence and 3261 highest influence of the actor by CSOs. Accordingly,
Table 5.1 was formed.
Table 5.1 Influence ranking of different actors upon the political system
Rank Actors Type of Actor Influential Index Mean*
1 Political Parties Political Actor 3261 6.48
2 The mass media Social Actor 2455 4.88
3
Government
Bureaucrats
Political Actor 2342 4.66
4
Foreign government
and International Political Actor 2239 4.45
donor agencies
5 Local governments Political Actor 2154 4.28
6
Large business
/corporations
Market Actor 2112 4.20
7
Trade (labor) unions
and federations
Market Actor 2006 3.99
8
Economic, business,
and employers Market Actor 1737 3.45
organization
9
Scholars and
academicians
Social Actor 1539 3.06
10
Welfare
Organizations, NGO
Social Actor 1531 3.04
11
Women movement
organizations
Social Actor 1440 2.86
12
Professional
Organizations
Social Actor 1431 2.84
13
Religious
organizations
Social Actor 1361 2.71
14
Agricultural
Organization
Social Actor 1135 2.26
15
Consumer
Organization
Social Actor 1015 2.02
N=504, No Answer= 1 (0.2%)
* mean based on the rating of the CSOs where 1=least influence, 4= medium influence and 7= highest influence.
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From the ranking table (table 5.1), political parties emerge as significantly influential
actors with distinctly high points than other actors. It scores higher than government
bureaucrats and also foreign donors with more than 1000 point distance. Mass media has
been ranked 2 nd in relation to influence. Since 1990s, the press, though not the electric media
has become relatively free, but not 100% independent from political influence. Though the
civil society had highest cooperation with local government (chapter 4) they ranked its
influence as 5th. Again though they had very little cooperation with market actors, large
business organizations, labor unions and employers organizations, these actors have been
ranked as 6th, 7th 8th in order of influence. On the other hand the social and civil society
actors like scholars and intellectuals, welfare NGOs, women’s movement, professional
organizations those who are considered the most important section of the civil society in
relation to development and democracy have been rated 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th respectively.
Though the table raking is based on the perception of only 504 CSOs, it do reflect the
influence pattern of different social, political and market actors and indicates the low position
of the civil society actors and high influential position of the political parties. Next we shall
try to understand which type of actors (political or social), CSOs prefer to keep personal
relation with.
5.2.2 Personal Relation with Actors
Civil Society organizations surveyed have already mentioned the political parties as
the most influential actors in the political system. However, for a civil society organization to
function and interact with the state, it also needs to come in contact with other political and
social actors. Table 5.2a shows the nature of CSOs or their leaders/members having personal
relation with the different important actors [Question 2.6]. It is note worthy that 78 CSOs that
190

is, 15.5% of the total sample refrained from answering such question. This means that these
CSOs were nervous in revealing such information of personal relation. This attitude in
refraining from answering such questions reflects rather lack of freedom and presence of
some type fear among CSOs and citizens. This is rather inconsistent to liberty and democracy
that the constitution of Bangladesh provides to its citizens. As the society is politically
polarized and the political parties are always fighting against each other, the CSOs did not
want to expose their personal relation with important persons and political leaders in fear of
persecution by the followers and members of the opposite party. However, with the data
available, it becomes clear that CSOs keep personal relation more with political actors like,
leaders of political parties (ruling party 54%, Opposition party 36%), elected Mayor or
chairman (44%) etc. than a journalist (32%), or magistrate (4%).
As the CSOs are mostly working at local level, they hardly have chance to meet the
parliament members (33%) who prefer to be in the capital than spending more time in their
constituency. If we analyze the data, category wise then we may observe that, the tendency
is high in all categories to have personal relation with the local political leaders and elected
persons among the respondents, especially the leaders of the ruling party.
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Table 5.2a Personal Relation between different CSOs and Important Actors
Selfclassification
by
CSOs
Total
Frequency
An elected
parliament
member***
A
leader
of the
ruling
party
A leader
of the
opposition
parties
Number of Involved CSOs
A mayor
/ Union
Chairman
***
A
journalist
***
A chief or a
section chief
from a
department of
government/local
administration
**
A chief or a
staff of an
international
organization
international
NGO ***
A judge
or a
magistrate
of the
national
or local
court ***
Economic 141 46 81 52 63 28 50 18 5
32.6% 57.4% 36.9% 44.7% 19.9% 35.5% 12.8% 3.5%
Education 56 27 30 22 36 21 14 4 0
and Culture
48.2% 53.6% 39.3% 64.3% 37.5% 25.0% 7.1% 0.0%
Pressure 9 6 8 5 9 6 7 5 4
Group
66.7% 88.9% 55.6% 100.0% 66.7% 77.8% 55.6% 44.4%
Welfare and 217 61 110 73 79 81 77 51 8
Development
28.1% 50.7% 33.6% 36.4% 37.3% 35.5% 23.5% 3.7%
Total 423 140 229 152 187 136 148 78 17
84% 33.1% 54.1% 35.9% 44.2% 32.2% 35.0% 18.4% 4.0%
***Sig . P

Table 5. 2b Personal relation existing between important actors and CSOs of different sections
CSOs or its members having
personal relation with important
actors
No Foreign
Assistance
Number of Involved CSOs
Local
National
Receives No
Foreign Foreign
Assistance Assistance
Receives
Foreign
Assistance
Total
An elected parliament member 98 11 17 14 140
32.3% 25.6% 45.9% 35.0% 33%
A leader of the ruling party 180 23 14 12 229
59.4% 53.5% 37.8% 30.0% 54%
A leader of the opposition parties 113 19 11 9 152
37.3% 44.2% 29.7% 22.5% 36%
mayor / Union Chairman 118 15 30 24 187
38.9% 34.9% 81.1% 60.0% 44%
A journalist** 71 16 17 32 136
23.4% 37.2% 45.9% 80.0% 32%
A chief or a section chief from a 92 17 21 18 148
department of government/local
administration
30.4% 39.5% 56.8% 45.0% 35%
A chief or a staff of an international
organization, international NGO***
A judge or a magistrate of the
national or local court
29 17 8 24 78
9.6% 39.5% 21.6% 60.0% 18%
2 2 6 7 17
0.7% 4.7% 16.2% 17.5% 4%
Total 303 43 37 40 423
***Sig . P

5.2.3 CSOs relation with Political Parties
CSOs were directly asked about what type of relations they had with specific political
parties and how often they contacted them. CSOs were very careful to answer such direct
political answer that exposes their relation to political parties. A good number of CSOs
responded that they had no relation with political parties. But those who genuinely did have
relation have mentioned their relation. Table 5.3a shows the rate of CSOs of different
categories that have contact with five type of political parties-Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) 4 , Bangladesh Awami League (AL) 5 , Jamate Islami Party (Jamat) 6 , Jatiya Party (JP),
Communist Party (any faction). Each CSOs have the possibility to contact more than one
Table 5.3a CSOs having contact with political parties
Self-
Classification
Total
frequency
BNP
Number of CSOs having contact with Political Parties
Awami Jamate Jatiya Communist
League New Islami Party* Party**
New
Economic 169 115 86 53 34 11
68.0% 50.9% 31.4% 20.1% 6.5%
Education and
Culture
67 43 35 20 13 5
64.2% 52.2% 29.9% 19.4% 7.5%
Pressure Group 11 8 7 6 4 3
72.7% 63.6% 54.5% 36.4% 27.3%
Welfare and 254 160 128 89 78 30
Development
63.0% 50.4% 35.0% 30.7% 11.8%
Total 501 326 256 168 129 49
65.1% 51.1% 33.5% 25.7%
9.8%
N= 504, No Answer =3 ** Sig P

Party 7 . Naturally, the highest rate of contact is with the ruling party BNP (65%) and such
high rate is constant among all types of CSOs. So is the case of contact with the powerful
opposition AL (51%) which is also contacted by different categories of CSOs with almost
same average. The rate of contact with other coalition partner— Jamat though less but
significant (36%). Such high contact with political parties is rather abnormal for CSOs who’s
76% are mostly engaged in grass-roots action, only 15% of the them have admitted that, they
are some how related to politics [question 2.9]. To have a more precise look, we have divided
the data section wise, just like the case of personal relations.
Table 5.3b Political party relations with CSOs belonging to different sections
CSOs Relation with Political
Parties
Number of CSOs having contact with Political Parties
No foreign
assistance
Local
Receives
Foreign
Assistance
No
foreign
assistance
National
Receives
Foreign
Assistance
Total
BNP 245 32 25 24 326
68.1% 61.5% 56.8% 54.5% 65%
Awami League 186 28 23 19 256
51.7% 53.8% 52.3% 43.2% 51%
Jamate Islami 113 20 18 17 168
31.4% 38.5% 40.9% 38.6% 34%
Jatiya Party 89 13 13 14 129
24.7% 25.0% 29.5% 31.8% 26%
Communist Party 22 5 10 12 49
6.1% 9.6% 22.7% 27.3% 10%
Total 360 52 44 44 500
N=504, No Answer=4
7 CSOs were actually asked [question 2.3] to rate their nature of contact with political parties on scale from 1 to
5 where 1 is no contact at all, 2 is medium contact and 5 is highest contact. For simplification, in the table
5.2.3a CSOs that rated their contact with political parties from 2 to 5 have summed up and has been regarded at
the numbers that have contact with a particular party.
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Table 5.3b shows tendency 8 of high rate of political party contact (ruling and opposition
party) among all of the civil society organizations working at local and national level and
receiving or not receiving foreign assistance. However, it may be argued that, CSOs
organizations for many possible reasons and genuine causes may contact the political parties.
So these numbers are not enough to prove partisan tendency among civil society organization.
However, if we try to understand the data from a comparative perspective, using survey
results of other Asian countries, then the following figure (figure 5.1) can be formed.
Figure 5.1 Relationship with ruling party and opposition
70%
Japan (Ibraraki)
N=197
60%
50%
Korea (Kyengi)
N=110
40%
30%
Phillippine (Cebu)
N=159
20%
Turkey (Istanbul )
N=507
10%
0%
Link with
Ruling Party
Link with
Opposition
Party
Bangladesh
(Rajshahi) N=504
Data Source: Special Project on Civil Society, State and Culture in Comparative Perspective, University of
Tsukuba 9 .
8 Table 5.2.3a and 5.2.3b are actually combination of a number of cross tables formed through SPSS program.
However, in most cases the cross tables have been found to be statistically insignificant with chi-square scores
having significance more than 0.05. Nonetheless, from a qualitative mindset, these numbers and tables do show
a political tendency among the CSOs that has relevance to the practical situation in Bangladesh and that can be
easily supported or complimented through other direct and indirect data like news paper cutting, interview,
observation notes etc.
9 CSOs of Japan, Korea, Turkey and Philippines were separately asked about their relation and contact with
certain political parties and were given the 1 to 5 scale to rank such relation and contact. This figure sums up
percentage of CSOs that have ranked from 2 to 5 on both questions and show the average percentage as the
political link for those countries. In case of Bangladesh the relation and contact, that is link with political parties,
was inquired through one question.
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Japan and Korea also show a higher tendency of CSOs and political party relationship than
other two developing countries-Philippine and Turkey, however, it is less by at least 10%
than that of the case of Bangladesh. CSOs of Philippine that maintain strong network among
themselves (49%) have low rate of relationship with political parties. The comparative figure
let us at least infer that political party relations of civil society in Bangladesh are unusually
high than other developed and developing countries in Asia. Comparative data on high
tendency of CSOs in Bangladesh to contact the ruling party and oppositions lead us to
engage in further investigation on the political relation of the civil society to reveal the actual
partisan situation in Bangladesh and identify the most important factor that impedes civil
society from contributing to democracy. Next section tries to understand civil society and
political relation through other data besides survey results.
5.3 Civil Society and Politics: Qualitative Analysis
From the survey data it has been evident that political parties are important influential
actors in the society and civil society has the tendency to keep personal relation with political
leaders than government officials or NGOs staff etc. It has further been found that, CSOs
have a very high tendency to contact both the ruling and opposition party while they try to
term themselves at apolitical. Such data, facilitates the inference on partisan tendency among
civil society organizations and vertical political relation. But we need more hard evidences to
verify the inference. During the survey, CSOs were very careful to answer or avoid politics
and policy related questions that may reveal their political identity. Besides, politics related
information is often pretty hard to divulge directly through survey questionnaire. Thus,
further analysis on civil society and political relation in this chapter shall be done
qualitatively with the help of some other source of information and materials.
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The first section shall focus on news paper reports on civil society of specific three
years and specific months to reveal the relation of civil society and state and politics as well
as their nature of interaction with political institutions. However, though sample news paper
reports may give hints to the actual situation that had been going in the recent years of
Bangladesh but may not provide a full picture of civil society participation, political relation
and democracy. With the aim to reach a better comprehensive picture, last section of the
chapter focuses separately on prominent sectors of civil society like development NGOs,
cooperatives, labor union, citizen groups and intellectuals, professional groups. Discussions
are based on information gathered directly through interviews, observation, conversations,
and surveyor’s field notes and as well as from news paper reports and investigations.
5.3.1 Civil Society and Politics from News Paper Analysis
Among the large number of dailies in Bangladesh, three dailies (one English and two
Bangla 10 news paper) have been selected for analysis in the present study. As Bangladeshi
media and press are also politicized, special care has been given to select comparatively
neutral newspapers. Among the very few so far neutral dailies, The Daily Star have been
selected as it is nationally and internationally well recognized English Daily in Bangladesh.
Daily Ittefaque has been selected as it is the oldest news paper in Bangladesh since 1953 and
considered as neutral bangla daily. Daily Jugantor has been selected as it is said to be the
mostly circulated paper in 2006 and 2007. Newspaper issues from January to June of 2001,
2006 and 2007 have been targeted for searching reports on civil society. The year 2001 has
been selected as it was the last year of rule of Awami Leauge Regime, and 2006 (same year
for conducting the survey on CSOs) was the last year of the rule of the BNP Regime. The last
10 Bangla is the national language spoken and written in Bangladesh.
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years of the two regimes have been selected as at the last stage, the political corruption,
nepotism etc. reaches to the highest and different stake holders begin to press the government
for fulfilling the unrealized promises that the party made in their election menifestos. Again,
at the same time, with the election ahead, new interests are generated and articulated towards
the political parties to include those in party manifesto. The year 2007 have been selected,
because since January, an army backed interim government is ruling Bangladesh under the
state of emergency. This interim government though non-elected have been trying to be a
responsive government and providing media freedom. During this regime, political
corruption occurred during previous regimes have began to be investigated and related
reports came out in the dailies. During this period CSOs working at the national level, mainly
economic groups and thinks tanks have also become active in articulating different national
interests.
Table 5.4 Sampled news papers
Year of reporting
Name of the Newspapers 2001 11 2006 2007 Total
The daily Ittefaque 15 17 14 46
100.0% 35.4% 23.7% 37.7%
The Daily Star - 12 24 36
- 25.0% 40.7% 29.5%
The Daily Jugantor - 19 21 40
- 39.6% 35.6% 32.8%
Total 15 48 59 122
The targeted issues were searched for reports on news on NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives,
professional associations, social and citizen groups, seminars held by civil society groups and
international organizations, government moves on CSOs, corruption related to CSOs. With
11 For the year 2001, only newspaper for Ittefaque was available for analysis. Issues of Daily Jugantor and Daily
Star of 2001 were not available for photocopy at the libraries of Bangladesh.
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manual search 12 in total 122 new reports have been selected for analysis. When all three news
paper reported the same news, only one newspaper story that reports in details have been
considered for analysis. Table 5.4 shows the number of reports found in each year and from
each daily. These reports based on their texts mentioning 13 the types of CSOs and links to
administration, party, corruption, violence 14 etc. have been coded with SPSS with the aim to
get a simplified picture of the reports and verify whether they do support our inference about
politicization of the civil society, their vertical relation with powerful actors.
Before entering into analysis of the news reports, it must be mentioned that
politicization is a phenomenon that is present in all sections of the society and market. This is
something taken to be granted by the media and citizens in Bangladesh. Only such facts
become media news when they are really serious and affect the social and political life or the
issues are brought to attention to the government by elite civil society groups and large
NGOs. News about CSOs that we have surveyed may not become media report just through
their actions and projects. However, the news reports do provide evidences of politicization,
division among CSOs along party line, dominance of ruling party supporters among all
institutions, offices and associations. Table 5.5 shows the presence of different attributes
found with varying rates among six types of civil society organizations. The term economic
group refers to all types of business organizations, trade organization corporation and their
apex organizations, education and cultural groups also include think tanks, intellectuals and
12 Manual search refers to searching the reports one by one from the hard copy of the news paper issues and not
through any search machine going through websites on newspaper data base.
13 By mentioning these links and CSOs I do not mean the use of these specific words but mention of these
attributes through the reports—latent content analysis.
14 By violence I mean unruly function of the public, pressure or force created by CSOs and parties through
hooligan-extortion, shrikes that are also accompanied by violence. However, armed violence or bombing
carried out by criminals as well as by the islamist or fundamentalist groups in the recent years in Bangladesh
have not been brought under consideration as they do not confirm the civil society definition used for the
research and also the Neo-Tocquevillean model.
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citizens groups arranging meetings and articulating interest in a formal way, pressure group
refers to professional groups and also anomic groups formed instantly for support of a
particular demand. NGOs include all types of small, large and apex NGO organizations, in
the same way cooperative and labor unions also include all sorts of such organizations.
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Table 5.5 CSOs types and mention of different attributes in the news reports
Number of News Paper Reports
CSOs types
Total
Frequencies
Vertical link
Links through
corruption,
nepotism,
patronage ***
Party
Link**
Bureaucratic
link
Violence,
strike,
extortion***
CSOs or
leader
identified
as corrupt
***
Donor backing,
report, seminar,
instructions***
News on
interest
articulation for
particular and
public
interest***
Economic 18 7 11 11 7 6 0 10
38.9% 61.0% 61.1% 39.0% 33.3% 0.0% 55.6%
Education and Culture
21 15 13 8 1 1 2 20
groups
71% 76% 43% 5.0% 5.3% 10.5% 95%
Pressure Group 34 11 24 18 20 8 1 28
32% 71% 53% 59% 24% 3% 82%
NGOs 20 10 9 11 5 10 7 7
50.0% 45.0% 55.0% 25.0% 50.0% 35.0% 35.0%
Cooperatives 6 6 2 5 3 3 0 1
100.0% 33.0% 83.3% 50.0% 50.0% 0.0% 16.7%
Labor Union 23 20 17 15 21 19 0 4
87.0% 74.0% 65.2% 91.0% 82.6% 0.0% 17.4%
Total 122 69 72 69 57 47 10 70
57% 59% 57% 47% 39% 8 % 57%
Sig. **P

From table 5.5 it becomes evident that in majority of cases or reports there are
mention about vertical links (57%), party links (59%), bureaucratic links (57%), violence
(47%). The newspaper reports have either mentioned about such attributes found in certain
events or as such matters have been protested by different social organizations. Along with
these links there are 39% news where CSOs or their leaders have been accused of being
corrupt, violent and working for self or party than the interest of the organization and the
citizens. Mention of donors is found mostly in the case of NGOs. However, the percentage of
interest articulation by the civil society organizations (57%) is also not less.
The high rate of interest articulation may be explained through two different
dimensions where both are verity. High rate of interest articulation is a positive sign for a
nation and its health of democracy. However, such tendency looses its attraction when it
lacks pluralism. Among the 70 reports on interest articulation, 20 that is 33% are on
roundtable meeting where two particular civil society group Centre for Policy Dialogue, the
think tank chaired by Professor Rehman Sobhan and Shujon the citizen group lead by
Professor Muzzaffar Ahmed have articulated their interest. Moreover these two organizations
are like minded CSOs and working for same type of policy matters and political issues. They
are considered as the elite section of civil society and often termed by the media and press as
‘the civil society’. Other formal articulations have been made by few NGOs and business
groups. This may be considered rather monopolization of the civil society advocacy space by
a few CSOs. In spite of their honest objectives and strong articulations, pluralism may not be
observed unless the ideas of other Citizens groups, intellectuals also get proper attention of
the media.
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Again, in Bangladesh another way of articulation is through violence, strike that
naturally attract the media and press. Among the 70 cases of mentioning articulation 20% are
done through violence, 19% are done through strikes. In most cases, trade unions and
desperate anomic groups and professional groups take resort to such techniques to express
their demands and force the government to listen to their problems. State’s weakness and
incapacity to meet all the needs and party government’s negligence to rightful demands often
lead to such violent expression of the civil society. Violent street politics among the political
parties also have influenced such agitating attitude. During the first half of 2006 there was
big movement of all primary school teachers associations for their salary and other rights that
continued for few months. 10 of the reports concern this school teachers’ movement where
they had taken the means of strike, agitation, procession and even hunger strike to get
government’s attention. This movement shall be discussed in details in the next section.
Another noticing feature is that 39% of the news reports have mentioned allegation
against CSOs or their leaders. Corrupt CSOs have been found in all types of civil society
groups with labor union being the highest. Some NGOs have been reported to be fake and
cooperatives or related officers as corrupt. In case of labor unions, the reports were published
in 2007, when the corrupt leaders had been arrested for their rampant corruption, extortion
and illegal properties which they have made with the power they received from the political
parties, mainly the ruling party. If we try to have a closer look then we see that among those
39% report against CSOs, 55% also mention about bureaucratic link, 64% mention about link
with political parties and 56% about vertical link that is corruption, nepotism, patronage etc
and 66% also about violence.
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The simplified presentation of the 122 news report of civil society shows clear
relations with corruption, patronage, party link, bureaucratic contact in a rather high scale as
the percentage of such issues are all over 50%. It has also been revealed that through political
co-optation process civil society organization themselves have also become corrupt. The
news reports have revealed how civil society leader with the backing and blessing of the
political power have become corrupt and violent working against the interest of their member
and also the nation 15 . Moreover, it has been found that there is a high tendency among the
pressure groups and other CSOs to articulate through strike and violence. Civil society
actions during normal time and under the democratic age in Bangladesh shows link to
Gramscian civil society than the liberal model opposite to the expectation of the Neo-
Toquevillean school. Among the formal healthy way of interest articulation as prescribed by
the Tocquevillean school and expected by the donors for consolidating democracy is
practiced by only a section of CSOs and few elite CSOs enjoy the facility to publicize their
idea through the press. The news paper report analysis provides an over all idea about the
civil society and political relation that have been observed at the beginning of 21 st century in
Bangladesh. In the next section I shall focus specifically on the important sections of the civil
society to understand their inability to play a positive role in democratic consolidation as
ideally expected from them.
5.3.2 Sector Wise analysis of Civil Society and Political Relation in Bangladesh
5.3.2.1 NGO Sector
Organization formation through the NGO approach began in Bangladesh mainly after
its independence in 1971 and proliferated during the 1990s. The NGO community of
15 Corruption, extortion, violence at the different industries, government financial institutions like Banks and
sea port area by union leaders are also acts against the national interest.
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Bangladesh has been classified into three sections (Stiles, 2002:50)-Major NGOs,
Intermediary NGOs and mid size and small NGOs. The Major NGOs are big well organized
NGOs having nationwide network. They receive the lion share of the foreign funds granted
for NGOs in Bangladesh every year. The world class NGOs like BRAC, Grameen Bank,
Proshika, TMSS 16 belong to this group. Mid sized and small NGOs provide either a wide
range of services in one region or a narrow range of services nationwide. Intermediary NGOs
are like umbrella agencies to direct and coordinate NGOs, such as Association of
Development Agencies of Bangladesh (ADAB), Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB),
NGO Forum, and Campaign for Popular Education. Though before NGOs were regarded as
comparatively neutral, after 1990s such NGOs have become politically colored and lost their
non-political character which is fact for all types of NGOs. The survey data have shown
NGOs active at the local level have high rate of keeping personal relation with political
actors and contacting political parties. This subsection shall focus on the polarization and
political affinity that have divided the NGO community in Bangladesh. Besides development,
economically NGOs have brought foreign resources to the country and politically through
their social awareness program and micro-credit gained the ability to control the decision of
large section of voters at the grass-roots level. These two economic and political facts are
important cause for political parties and ruling regimes to become interested in co-opting this
sector.
ADAB from 1974 to 2003 was the only apex organization of development NGOs in
Bangladesh with a membership reaching 1388 NGO 17 members through out Bangladesh. Up
to late 1980s it functioned neutrally with few contradictions among the leaders at the
16 TMSS-tengamara mohila shobuj shongho (a Bengali name meaning green women’s group).
17 Directory of NGOs 2003-2004, Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh.
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executive committee. In late 1980s the incumbent chairperson of ADAB, Zafarullah
Chowdhury of the NGO Gono Shashto Kendro, was accused of cooperating with the Military
dictator as an informal policy advisor. As soon as the regime changed after a mass movement
and new elected government came to power, the ADAB chairman was forced to step down
by a small faction of the ADAB leadership lead by Kazi Faruque Ahmed, Chairman of
Proshika (Hossain, 2006:242) but not with any informal instruction from the government or
ruling party at that time.
However, it is in 2001, when the clear political division and conflict emerged in
ADAB leadership with one group led by Kazi Faruque Ahmed alleged to be an ally of the
Bangladesh Awami League and other group led by Kushi Kabir, chairperson of a leading
Human Rights NGO named Nijera Kori ( we do by ourselves) thought to have a special link
with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Though none of the NGO leaders are formally
members of any political party, the NGO community since 2001 has become divided into
these two groups maintaining political link with BNP or AL. The polarization became
distinct when a large section of ADAB members with the leadership of Kushi Kabir 18 and
Fazle Hasan Abed of BRAC came out of the apex organization and formed a new umbrella
organization named Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) which claims to represent
about a 1000 NGOs (944 members). The website of FNB (http://www.ngofederation.net/)
clearly mentions that they have broke away from ADAB accusing the Kazi Faruque leader of
broken ADAB and his followers to be political. However, news paper reports on the events
of internal clash among ADAB during 2001, 2002 and 2003, clearly show the political link
or affiliation of both the sections.
18 Personally, Kushi Kabir is sister-in-law of ex- parliament member and ex-minister of BNP— Nazmul Huda
who was a powerful and influential leader of the political party ( The Daily Star, 5 th August 2007)
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Kazi Faruque and his NGO Proshika have been alleged to have good connection with
the Awami League both when the party was in power and also when sat in the opposition
bench. It is also blamed that the Proshika have provided the AL party (while it was out of
power) the necessary grass-roots support for lunching movements -street agitation, blockades,
against the BNP government in 1996 and in 2004. Besides, in the name of election awareness
campaign, the NGO Proshika and also ADAB under the leadership of Kazi Faruque have
influenced the voters to vote for AL and reject the Islami forces or fundamentalists forces as
they are anti-progressive and acted against the independence war in 1971. It is often said that
this block of NGO have helped AL both in 1996 and 2001 general elections. Naturally,
NGOs with such political allegation was not acceptable to the BNP government that came to
power in October 2001 with the help of another right wing party Jamate Islami (Jugantor
June 6 2002, Hossian 2006:242, Stiles, 2002:120). Proshika and its leader charged with
political activities, fund embezzlement and conspiracy against the state faced severe
government repression, arrests and blockade of foreign funds in 2004 (Daily Star , 3 May 23
May, July 27, 2004) However, latter happened after the break of ADAB.
The other powerful section of ADAB leadership was the Kushi Kabir and Fazle
Hasan Abed Group. This section of the leadership particularly Kushi Kabir (while she was
the chairperson of ADAB) had been in contact by the other party-BNP in 2001, just before
election and two months after ADAB had began its voter’s education campaign that goes
against the interest of the BNP and its allies. In July 2001 controversy and conflict among the
ADAB executive committee on the issue of Kushi Kabir meeting BNP leader Kahilda Zia led
to events like filing case with the police and calling a mid-term election for ADAB executive,
where the Kazi Faruque group won the election (11, 12, 13, 16 July 2001 Daily Star,
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Jugantor, Prothom Alo, Bhorer Kagoz). However, in two months time through the October
2001 national election, BNP and its allies came to government power.
After coming to power BNP government refused to accept or negotiate with ADAB
due to its politicized leadership that has always acted against its regime. Using such stagnant
relation between the new BNP-Jamat government and elected leadership of ADAB, the
Kushi Kabir and Abed block began initiatives to form a new coalition of NGOs that would
act as the voice of the entire development NGOs nation wide. With the unspoken sponsorship
of the government and support from small non-ADAB local NGOs through out the country in
two years initiative FNB was formed on the based on national NGO conventions called twice.
National local NGOs that have benefited from ADAB and Kazi Faruqe block have also
joined such convention realizing the benefit of joining forums that are blessed by the regime
(Bhorer Kagoz July11, 2001, Jugantor August 6, 2006 and Daily Star February 18, 2003,
Hossain, 2006:245).
It becomes clear that it is the political links of the NGO leaders and exploiting
attitude of the political parties and regimes that had actually brought final division or
polarization among the national NGO leaders 19 . Since then, NGOs have become careful not
to act against the interest of the ruling regime and be tactful in dealing with political matters.
In 2006, during the survey (September and October), which was the last month of the BNP-
Jamat regime; the NGOs have tried to avoid responding to survey questions that may reveal
their political link or identity. In an unrecorded interview a high official of micro-credit NGO
(TMSS) 20 admitted that things have become critical day by day. Even if an NGO try to
remain neutral but engages in projects with the government or attract government’s attention
19 It needs to be mentioned that though Grameen Bank is considered as an NGO in research papers and new
reports, it is by law a private bank. So it remains outside the events and conflicts of ADAB and FNB.
20 Interview with Officer in charge of TMSS NGO-Rajshahi Zonal Office 12 th October, 2006.
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through its work or in some other way, then opposition becomes suspicious about the NGO.
This creates great trouble for the NGO when the regime changes and the opposition come to
power. The official feared that in the coming days, it might be impossible for NGOs to run
without the shelter of a big party if the situation continues. So after 2001, donor backing was
not enough for NGOs to perform their projects uninterruptedly. Moreover, at the local level,
political divisions have created a panic among the small NGOs at the local level. Under such
situation the NGOs have to please their patron-donors, as well as the ruling and opposition
parties and avoid all actions that may go against the interest of either of the parties. Naturally
this limits the freedom of the NGOs and their actions-specially that are related to
participation and democracy. Next I shall focus on professional pressure group.
5.3.2.2 Primary School Teacher’s Movement 2006
Bangladesh history is the history of movements. Movements, where people and
groups come down on streets agitating for their demands in an antagonistic mood, have
always been considered as a democratic and an important way to establish right and bring
change. Such Gramscian tradition has often been observed during the democratic age when
civil society and politics was expected to move in a liberal democratic model. The
government and administration in Bangladesh have failed to develop into responsive
institutions. This is partly because they never came out of the influence of the colonial and
Pakistani bureaucratic system and partly for the corrupt political leaders who were always
concerned about their party and supporter’s interest than the interest of the nation. Among
political and social movements that have taken place from 1990 to 2006, this section shall
focus on a civil society movement of a particular sector of professional organization fighting
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for their specific interests or demands –The primary school teachers movement of 2006 21 .
School teachers group as a CSO satisfy all types of definition of civil society. Interest
articulation and pressing home demands by such groups is an acceptable, rather expected
function from the consideration of both liberal democratic model and also New Gramscian
model of civil society formations. However, the uniqueness of such movement lies in its
nature, polarized character and the way government has handled such movement.
The primary school teachers’ association is considered as a highly organized and well
networked group in Bangladesh. Such primary school teachers associations are found in
every sub-district, district and division level that hierarchically reaches to the national level.
They also have rank of leadership based on geographic level. However, there are categories -
teachers of government school, non-government school, community school, madrasa etc.
Elections are held regularly among these organizations and each group consists of factions
along party line. Since independence, the school teachers community have engaged in
movements with varying scale on different issues, mostly for their salary rise and other
facilities to be granted by the government. It is to be mentioned that in Bangladesh generally,
the school teachers of both government and non-government primary school are poorly paid
with very little or no allowances for house, medical treatment etc. However, as such school
teachers’ groups are vibrant and have network through out the country down to the periphery
level and school teachers are considered as the traditional opinion leaders at the rural areas,
they have attracted the attention of local elites and also national political parties. Now we
shall directly focus on the matters of the 2006 which was mainly for realizing the long
21 By searching the news paper of Ittefaque, Daily Star and Jugantor from May to August of 2006, 69 reports
and editorials have been found on the Primary School teachers’ movement. Among them 41 reports have been
sorted deducting 28 reports that provide the same information. So the present discussion is mainly based on the
information gathered through these 41 news reports.
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demands for better salary, other facilities and nationalization of the non-government primary
schools.
After the reintroduction of democracy in 1990s, the school teachers first went to the
then BNP government with their demands in 1994. During that time leader of the oppositionchairperson
of Awami League, promised association leaders to fulfill their demands if her
party is elected to power. The when AL came to power in 1996, no initiatives were taken to
solve their problem, and then teachers began agitation in 2000 at the end of the government
tenure. That time the regime entered into negotiation which ultimately went in favor of the
authorities not the teachers. So the teachers again they went to a movement aiming to carry
out their demands through big gatherings, hunger strikes etc. (Ittefaque 6 June, 2001). At that
time the then opposition leader-Chairperson of BNP promised to fulfill all the demands of the
school teachers if they were elected to form the government in the next coming election 22 and
in September 2001 BNP came to power. In 2006, the last year of the BNP-Jamat government,
the teachers groups were still going through discussions with government for providing
higher salary and other facilities for them, but found that the draft national budget (which the
last budget for that government), had not allocated the necessary funds for meeting their
demands. It seems that these poor teachers have become instruments for the parties to win the
election else nothing (Jugantor 18, 2006). This time the teachers were prepared for an all out
movement. About eight hundred thousands (800,000) teachers directly or indirectly became
involved in the movement organized by 41 apex association of school teachers. They
arranged big gatherings at the capital, went on sitting in front of the secretariat, hunger-strike
at important squares of the city and lastly, went on full-fledged strike, keeping 25 thousand
22 Again in 2006, at the critical stage of the Primary teachers’ movement the opposition-AL and its left allies in
the same way, showed support to the leaders and promised to realize all their demand if they are elected to
power.
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schools closed through out the country for 30 days and depriving 15 million children from
education during this time. Moreover, they have tried to block roadways and water ways of
every district, a natural practice by violent labor groups, university students groups and
anomic groups. The main demands from the primary teachers who were joined by high
school teachers and also madarasa teachers were, 1. Nationalize non-government primary
teacher’s jobs, 2. 100 percent government salary for teachers of non-government high
schools and colleges, 3. elimination of wage discrimination of the government primary
school teachers, 4. nationalize the community primary school, 4. incorporate the ebtedayee (a
kind of small private madarasa) teachers into national pay scale (Daily State 5 July, 2006).
However, different groups had their specific demands too.
This combined movement of school teacher’s included both BNP aligned groups a
well as AL linked groups. From the news briefings of every day event during the movement
from May to September, it becomes evident that every category and section of the teachers’
associations that participated had factions and these factions had tilt towards either the ruling
party or the opposition. These factions though fighting for the same cause, had announced
programs separately and carried out the events in different public squares in the capital. For
example, when the community school teachers declared program for till death hunger strike,
pro-BNP faction among these teachers observed it in Muktangon (free square) while the pro-
Awami League faction started their strike in central Shaheed Minar (Monument square)
(Daily Star 20 June, 2007).
Such all out protest and movements of the teachers took place due to the long neglect
of the party governments both BNP and AL. Always the teachers’ demands gained strength
with the support of the opposition who gave them electoral promises which they never kept.
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During this particular movement in 2006, the opposition AL and its aligned left block backed
the teachers that gave more force to the movement. The BNP-Jamat government did let such
violent movement go on for months hampering the national education through out the
country. It did not take strong suppressive actions like arrests of activists; banning
processions etc. with only some incidents of clashes with police during the blockades and sit
in. This is because 2006 was the last year of government for its five years term. Nonetheless,
government could not meet all the demands of the teachers that would cost it 1 billion 500
million BDT which the state exchequer was not ready to provide. The government took the
policy of delaying in dialogues with the agitating groups. Moreover the Education Minister
took a political strategy to not to talk with all groups together, rather discussing with different
factions separately. The minister agreed to a number of demands but on conditions.
Naturally, BNP linked factions accepted government’s half hearted response to negotiations
while others did not. Some sections of the teacher’s group went back to school empty handed
after long strike and agitation; others lost the strength to remain in the streets. The unity of
the movement was broken. Still a few AL linked factions of the non-government primary
school teachers remained in the street up to September but the movement lost its force. The
media attention went towards more violent protests by other anomic groups on different
issues and the street politic that the opposition had just began when the 8 th Parliament had
only a few remaining days. Next I shall focus on the politicization, corruption and violence
observed among labor unions.
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5.3.2.3 Labor Unions and Trade Organizations
5.3.2.3.1 Labor Union
If we go back to table 5.1 then we may observe that labor unions have been rated 7 in
order of influence upon the political system, though it has very little cooperation with other
CSOs (ranked 13 in order of cooperation-chapter 4). The influence of such union is healthy
and positive to democracy or not is the aim of discussion for this sub-section. Among the 122
news reports analyzed in section 5.3, 23 are on labor unions. 15 of the news reports have
been published in 2007, that is, reporting the corruption and arrest of big union and CBA
(Collective Bargaining Association) leader and stories of how such leaders have controlled
and manipulated the industrial or economic sectors with the blessings of political leaders
using extortion, violence, corruption and other illegal means.
Table 5.6 Politicization, corruption and violence among labor unions as revealed in
news paper reports
Politicization, corruption and violence among labor unions Frequency Percentage
Administrative link 15 65%
Political Party link 17 73%
Vertical links-corruption, patronage, 20 87%
Violence, strike, extortion 21 91%
Labor union leader considered as corrupt 19 83%
Table 5.6 provides a precise idea about what is in those reports on labor unions, actually the
leaders. CBA leaders who have been reported here in most cases have been found to be
guilty of corruption (87%), violence and extortions (91%) powered by the political parties
(73%) and administration (65%). They with their links with successive ruling parties have
had created reign of terror in the working zones where they controlled all financial decisions.
They even decided about personnel and day to day management of the public enterprises.
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Not only union leaders have misappropriated government funds, manipulated tenders and
forced to take decisions that went against the interest of the industry or market but also have
extorted money from the poor worker’s wage pay slips. They often forced the workers to pay
certain percent of their wages to the CBA leader as Tips (The daily star, 16 February and 6
May, 2007). Power and corruption of the trade union leaders have been found most and in
worst form in the important areas that are directly related to national economy such as the
Chittagong Sea Port and Dock area, public enterprises including the corporate banks, the
transport section and even the tea fields (Bangladesh until recently used to export tea)
(Ittefaque 3 March, 2007, Jugantor 4 April 2006, 28 February, 2007). However the most
important export sector in Bangladesh is ready made garments that contribute to the countries
GDP. This sector is also not free from internal politics factions and violence which are some
times politically colored. In May and June of 2006 there had been labor unrest in this sector
of industries that led to violence where the workers acted like mobs. This unwanted and
unexpected incident had caused immense loss to the national economy. Ruling party blamed
the opposition as the collaborator to the destructive acts while opposition pointed out to the
ruling party to be responsible for the event. In three months time, negotiations had been
reached among the garment owners and labor union leaders on matters of least amount of
wages and other facilities through the mediation of the government (Ittefaque23, 24May, 3, 6
June 2007).
Besides, these important sectors of the economy, labor unions and CBA leaders are
found in all nationalized industries per rules of the labor law. Politicization, factionalism,
extortion, corruption and powerful influence of the CBA leaders are present in almost all
cases.
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5.3.2.3.1.1 Rajshahi Sugar Mill Labor Union
During the survey, the labor union of Rajshahi Sugar Mill was selected for field study
and its labor leaders and mill workers and officers were interviewed and observed. The trade
union represents 1234 members who are all labor and office workers of the mill. Its main
objective is to protect interest of workers and bargain with the authorities. Major financial
source is the membership fee 23 . They have liaison with other labor unions of sugar mill under
a federation and labor unions of other sectors. It has been found that this particular union is
not totally controlled by the political parties but also not independent of the political power.
Union members also engaged in internal politics. The executive committee is elected by the
members in every two years. During elections, the panels of candidates are formed according
to party line that reflects the national politics. However, though a panel is marked as BNP
panel and another as AL panel, candidates supporting other political parties (like some
communist factions) may also be found inside these panels. In most cases, influence of ruling
party panel is huge among, the members and the administration. Even if ruling party
supporters do not hold any elected post in the union, their influence and power are observed
every where. However, there is no permanent voters’ bank for each panel. The voters’
decision changes with the change in national politics and performance of the union
president 24 . After going through the list of elected members and their political affiliation, for
2001, 2003, 2005 25 , we see that election results reflected national politics, in 2001 when AL
was in power 10 of the elected members were from AL while 6 from BNP. On the other hand
when BNP was on power in 2003 and 2005 the distribution was just opposite with 9 BNP
and 7 AL candidates elected in 2003 and 13 BNP and 4 AL candidates elected in 2005.
23 More introductory information about the labor union is provided in the case study section in Appendix F
24 Group discussion with the Mill workers and Mill Engineer during field visit on 26 th September, 2006.
25 As provided by the office of the labor union.
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Within the sugar mill area influence of the labor union is immense. The management recruits
mill labors and workers with consultation of the union. Each department of the mill
administration has to move according to the wish of the labor union. Central political leaders
of Rajshahi district like parliament members, Mayor have direct influence on the recruitment
process and sugar selling decisions 26 .
While surveying other labor unions related to transport in Rajshahi city, it had been
revealed that when the normal labors enter into movements for their rights and facilities, the
government try to buy the labor leaders with money and suppress such movements 27 . So
politicization of and extortion by labor union leaders is a fact in all sections of the industry
and market. However, the level of politics and corruption is high at the centre and most
important sector than in the periphery.
5.3.2.3.2 Trade Organizations
Besides the labor unions, there are the trade organizations of businessmen, chambers
of commerce formed by industrialists, business magnets, garments mill owners etc. These
organizations that represent the market are also not free from politics, division and
competition. Just like other organizations, there are particular laws for registration and
regulations of trade organizations (trade organizations ordinance of 1961). The two largest
chambers are the Dhaka and Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industry both of which
are highly politicized, poorly organized and dominated by petty traders (Kochanek, 1996:
715). Representing the Graments owners, the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garments Manufactures
and Exporters Association) have emerged as an important interest group in Bangladesh.
26 The case study description is based on interview with President of the Labor Union of Rajshahi Sugar Mill
also information gathered through conversation with normal workers, labor officers, and engineer and lastly on
the documents provided by the sugar mill office on 26 th September , 2006.
27 Observation note by surveyor A. S. M. Sarwar, submitted on 25 th September, 2006.
218

However, the officially recognized apex organization of Bangladeshi business is the FBCCI
(Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry). It is to be mentioned that
FBCCI is the only section of the civil society that out of their interest to protect their market,
have always protested again the street politics, particularly the all out general strikes named
hartal often called by political parties. However, because of its capital and financial
resources, there also exists a special, informal and often corrupted relation between the
private sector and political parties. In most cases, following the tradition of other
conventional CSOs, the election results within each chamber and trade organization reflect
the composition found in central and local governments. Among the sample news paper
reports and editorials, 18 news were on economic organizations. Among these reports 56%
expressed news on interest articulation by the trade organizations, again 39% about the
vertical links like corruption, nepotism, patronage and 39% on violence, strikes and
extortions. Again these same sample of news reports mentioned about political parties, 39%
about the ruling party and 22% about both the ruling and opposition parties. Particularly,
these reports covered news on internal corruption of the chambers of Commences and also
personal corruption and political links of the elected Chamber Presidents of two districts,
internal conflict among the trade organizations backed by political leaders and also genuine
interest articulation by the business groups. Among these reports, one report was on
Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce and it was on the arrest of the President for corruption and
extortion case. News paper reports also pointed out the strong political and business link the
arrested president had with the ruling party and its leaders.
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5.3.2.3.2.1 Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce
The incident of arrest took place in 2007. The particular Chamber of Commerce
office in Rajshahi District had been visited during the survey in 2006 and besides the
questionnaire; some more detailed information about the organization had been collected.
The Chamber have been found to be an old one established in 1951 and active and well
organized with defined rules and a constitution. It had been regularly holding elections and
publishing annual reports. The chamber is also a member of FBCCI, representing all trade
organizations active in Rajshahi district. Though the election of the board of directors takes
place for every two years with the participation of all member trade organizations in town
and periphery, in most cases it is the wealthy and powerful businessmen at central Rajshahi,
enjoying strong links with the ruling party, who ultimately become elected 28 . The elected
president and the working committee members in most cases are found to be directly or
indirectly linked to the party in power. The report books for 2000 and 2002, that is during AL
regime and BNP regime show the clear differences. However, there are a few members who
are locally popular and are elected to the committees during both the regimes. In most cases,
it have been accused that the leaders and elected persons are wealthy and powerful and often
used their position in the Chamber to gain benefit and enjoy undue favors for their personal
business and benefit. The Chamber members have admitted that, as business interest group,
they have not been much successful in contributing to the development of economy and
industry in the Rajshahi region 29 . On political matters, they have shown reservation in
revealing information to the interviewers. So it has not been possible to investigate more on
28 As found in the designation and profile of the elected members in the Annual reports.
29 Field visit to the Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce Office 24 th September, 2006.
220

the relation between the business leaders and their political links. However the arrest of the
Chamber President in 2001 reveals it corrupt and vertical links with political power.
5.3.2.4 Cooperatives and Small Welfare Groups 30
5.3.2.4.1 Cooperatives
Besides the NGOs, most of the CSOs that are found at the local level of Bangladesh
are cooperatives and small welfare groups and clubs. They may be registered or
unregistered. However, CSOs that are receiving funds and loans from the government has to
be registered as cooperatives or as voluntary welfare organizations with the respective
ministry and their local offices.
Cooperatives have a long tradition in Bangladesh since 1804 when the British Rulers
first introduced it in Bengal. The present cooperative system finds its roots in the Comilla
Cooperative Model introduced in the Pakistani Period during 1960s. There are varieties of
cooperative with different status and monetary power at different levels of the rural and as
well as the urban society, mainly for providing loans. At present the cooperative system in
Bangladesh is under the control of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development
and Cooperative. Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) is in charge of the
management of most of the cooperatives in Bangladesh. At the rural level it is organized
mainly in two steps-Village Cooperatives at the periphery and Central Cooperative located
at each Sub-District. The central cooperatives committee is elected by the periphery
cooperatives. Again 4 BRDB officers become member of the central committee as per rules.
Such cooperatives are mostly formed by farmers but also by poor laborers, workers, fishers,
30 This section has been written based on information gathered through recorded and unrecorded interviews and
conversation with Local government executives, BRDB official and Joint Registrar of the cooperative
directorate of Rajshahi Division, survey reports and observation notes of the surveyors.
221

small business man and people belonging to different livelihood in the villages. There are
separate cooperatives for men and women. Periphery or primary unit of cooperatives are
formed of 20 to 40 members at the villages, these groups again elect one member to the
college of electorate who ultimately elect the members to the central committee at the union
level amongst themselves 31 .
At the rural area prime objective of cooperatives is providing small-loans (5 to 20
thousand BDT) 32
to farmers and fishers and small businessmen. The loan is also distributed
for various purposes, like agriculture, live stock, beginning small business, group irrigation,
supply of drinking water and so on. Some of the cooperatives are termed as multipurpose
cooperatives concerned with more than one type of development activity. There are also
special cooperative projects for landless destitute men and women funded by Asian
Development Bank. Another project named participatory link model for rural development
is financed by Japan while the project for Advocacy on Reproductive Health and Gender
issues through rural cooperatives is helped by UNFPA. All these projects work through
particular cooperatives. Besides loans, capitalization and mobilization, cooperative
members under the management of BRDB, are also given training for self employment,
environmental education, sanitation, gardening, tree plantation, family planning etc 33 .
However, during the survey, the cooperatives have been found to be mostly concerned with
loan and financial matter than other development activities.
The foreign development partners provide financial assistance for particular projects,
however, normally the cooperatives are run by the capital, collection of loan and service
charges by the members. The government provides money occasionally as it did for five
31 Interview with the BRDB Officer, Poba Sub-district, 9 th October, 2006.
32 Which means about US $ 70 to US $ 300.
33 BRDB Annual Report 2004-2005.
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consecutive years after 1971 just after independence and again distributed two billion
Bangladeshi Taka in 2003 34 . Other small projects are also financed from the government’s
development budget 35 . This means a fresh and big amount of government capital have
begun to cycle among the cooperatives as loans in the last three years.
However, in comparison to the development NGOs the success of such cooperatives
in economic empowerment and social development may not be considered as remarkable 36 .
Such cooperatives have hardly been targeted in social science; especially political
science research and the press are also not interested in publishing news on them. The only
six news reports on cooperatives that have been found in the sample news paper reports
(section 5.3.1) are related to corruption. 5 cases are reports not on the cooperatives but the
corruption of government cooperative officers and how they manipulated the cooperatives.
The other remaining news describes the suffering of the cooperative members due to
encroachment of its designated land by local political leaders. During field survey, all types
of the cooperatives have been addressed with same questionnaire, how ever difference had
been observed in their way of replying, in their social status and political relations. It has
been found that, primary cooperative formed by poor farmers or destitute women are hardly
aware of their rights and are apolitical and consider themselves as powerless. They were
rather afraid of answering politics and political party related questions in fear of repression
from the political elites and hooligans. According to a recent statistics of the wage rate in
Bangladesh 37
such cooperative members who are engaged in agriculture labor earns
34 Interview with the BRDB Officer, Poba Sub-district, 9 th October, 2006.
35 BRDB Annual Report, 2004-2005.
36 Interview with the BRDB Officer, Poba Sub-district, 9 th October, 2006. And also Joint Registrar of the
cooperative directorate of Rajshahi Division, 19 th April, 2006.
37 Survey on Wage rate in Bangladesh 2006-07, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics,
http:www.bbs.gov.bd/dataindex access date 27 th November, 2007.
223

annually 22,680 BDT which means only US$ 330. Education level of the rural people in
Bangladesh is 41.7% while the national rate is 60.5% 38 . Members of such cooperatives
more concerned with the materialistic matter for their existence than their concern for the
society and politics. Moreover, their complaints are often not heard by the local council
members at the union level and officials at the sub-district level 39 .
But the members and chairman of the central cooperative committee have been found
to be well aware of politics and often involved in party politics directly or indirectly. In
most cases they have been found to be related to BNP-ruling party 40 . Central cooperatives
deal with large amount of money, so there is some power and as well as status. Naturally
they have been influenced by the political parties. During the survey, some of the
respondents were brave enough to directly admit that political and wealthy elites intervene
in the loan distribution process and often the real poor become deprived of their right to due
loan. During interview, the divisional head of the Rajshahi Directorate for Registrations of
Cooperatives have also admitted that in good number of cases it has been found that
cooperative leaders are actually local touts 41 who miss use the loans through conspiring
with the government officials 42 . Few respondents during the survey have also admitted that
cooperative officials were corrupt who demanded bribes to register their cooperatives.
Misappropriation of funds, internal conflict of the members as well as lack of proper
guidance and inspection from the cooperative officers and BRDB offices have often led
38 Bangladesh Population Census 2001(2003).
39 Observation note of Jannatul Ferdous, submitted 25 th September, 2006, page 20.
40 Observation notes of Jahangir Alam submitted 27 th September, 2006 page 5, 18; Ahmed Murad Chowdhury,
submitted 27 th September, 2006, page 10-11.
41 The English word is used here in negative meaning often used in Bangla conversation to mean cheat and
dishonest persons who earns leaving through improper monetary dealings and with the blessing of the local
political leaders or local elites.
42 Joint Registrar of Cooperatives, Rajshahi Division, 6 th May, 2006.
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cooperatives become inactive or dissolved though their names still hang on lists at the
cooperative office 43 .
Farmers who contribute most to the agrarian economy of Bangladesh have been
observed to be silent in the democratic age and also before. There have been only a few
scattered farmer protest and clashes with security forces on the crisis of fertilizers during the
season. Such non-participation of the cooperatives is partly due to the cooperative law that
does not allow cooperatives to make any demand to the government in the initial two years
from its registration 44 and partly for the ignorance of members at periphery units and for
political influence upon central cooperatives. Through conversation with BRDB officials it
became evident that on official matters, though the central cooperative members are the
formal decision makers and loans to periphery groups are sanctioned through their
signatures, practically the power is in the hand of these government officers 45 . This is true
especially for destitute women. So the participation and power formally given to the elected
members of the central cooperative committees, it is rather a farce and there is no initiative
to empower these women to the level to be able to understand their responsibility and power
to decide on their own.
Cooperatives that constitute 38% of the total CSOs surveyed in the present research
have hardly been found articulating their demands or participating in rallies or policy
making etc. though the vertical influence of politics are profound among them, specially
among the central cooperatives at the sub-district level. This tendency have lead the level of
43 Observation report of Mahmud Hasan, submitted on 25 th September, 2006 Page 1; Ahmed Murad Chowdhury,
submitted 27 th September, 2006, page 3. Md Jannatul Ferdous submitted 25 th September 2006, page 16,17, 33.
44 Cooperative rule 2004.
45 Interview with the BRDB officer, Poba Sub-district, 9 th October, 2006.
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CSOs involvement in participatory activities at the local level very low, however, the rate of
contacting political parties and leaders have remained high.
5.3.2.4.2 Local Social Welfare Groups and Cultural Sports Club
Another neglected section in the civil society studies and donor policies, is the local
social welfare groups and cultural sports clubs. These CSOs are mostly engaged albeit in a
small scale in campaign against dowry 46 , child marriage, and family planning; providing
community library; raising social and political awareness through entertainment like drama
and songs or just playing football. These are all registered under the Voluntary Social
Welfare Act 1961 47 . The rural society have been mostly studied from the context of NGO
projects and their beneficiaries but from the associational culture that have emerged among
the local residence on their own or through the influences of the activities of the large NGOs.
Often researchers have termed such local small welfare groups and clubs as inactive
(Siddique 2002:412). Observation from survey reveals that such inactiveness may be true to
some extent but cannot be accepted as a generalized trend. Surveyors did found some CSOs
to be inactive or dissolved like the cooperatives but they have also found good number of
dynamic CSOs belonging to this category also 48 . Such community organizations have
relevance for research from different point of views-welfare and relief, political awareness,
opinion formation and citizen mobilization. Naturally for the same reasons they may be
target of the political parties too. The number of such CSOs at local level has increased
rapidly since 1990 but most of them may not receive foreign assistance though a nominal
46 Money and/or property that a wife of her family must pay to her husband when they get married in South
Asia.
47 Development NGOs as well as medium and small NGOs also have to primarily register themselves under the
same act, or the Societies Registration Act 1860, then again register with the NGO Affairs Bureau if they want
to receive foreign funds.
48 Observation note of Jahurul Islam submitted 21 st September, 2006, page 5, 31.
226

government fund. While a few of such CSOs have been found to be registered only for
enjoying the government grant, another group of social welfare organizations have been
found working for the people for the last 50 or more years in the area. These groups have
been noted to be the first relief provider and worker during natural disasters.
The welfare groups and clubs have been found to be politically conscious, though not
participatory or enjoying a cooperative relationship with local council and TNO offices. It
had been observed that in spite the clubs and local welfare groups termed their organizations
as non-political the active members and chairman personally did have political affiliation
with either the ruling party or the opposition. Reflection of such party politics becomes
evident when other members supporting the same party get the most benefits and facilities
from the club 49 . When a club becomes tilt to a certain faction then its normal activities
become affected due to favoritism and politicization. Before, such CSOs have played
significant role in education, entertainment. CSOs leaders were also acceptable enterprises
for local arbitration known as Shalish. Now they have lost such acceptance because of their
political links and internal conflicts. Sometimes, local elites who have political identity, are
often related to such clubs and welfare groups and try to carry out their political objectives
through CSOs activities 50 . If the group members belong to the opposition party then they are
deprived from government grants and their registration is often threatened to be withheld.
These groups are also victim of government corruption. Often the officials ask for 30%
commission for processing the government grants they receive. Local council members
affiliated with ruling party also claim percentage to such grant otherwise threaten to blockade
49 Observation note, Momen Khan submitted 27 th September, page 11; Ahmed Murad Chowdhury, submitted
27 th September, 2006, page 15, 20; Md Selimuzzaman submitted 21 st September, 2006 page 9.
50 Observation report of Mahmud Hasan, submitted on 25 th September, 2006 Page 5, 7.
227

funds 51 . Naturally CSOs have no other way but to keep good relation with political parties,
particularly the ruling party for their existence.
Moreover, internal conflict and corruption 52 are also found among such small groups
which may be considered as another impediment against emergence of local CSOs as a
strong social force to participate at policy level. Though in average the CSOs have termed
local government to be the most cooperative actor (chapter 4) particularly the women groups
have complained about the non-cooperation of the local government 53 .
Such cooperatives and social welfare clubs have hardly been considered as civil
society force by researcher or donors but have been successfully targeted by the political
party for penetrating the rural society. These local CSOs have the potential to develop
collective unity, social and political consciousness among citizens but they lack necessary
resources and guidance. Hardly any initiative has been taken to include these CSOs in the
mainstream development projects of the donors. Among the respondent only one club
admitted that BRAC have provided them 150 books to enlarge their library. BRAC’s such
initiative after breaking away from ADAB may be considered as its policy of alluring local
groups to strengthen its newly formed federation FNB. Whatever, may be the objective, this
is a good but small initiative of BRAC to strengthen the local community. However, political
extortion and penetrations remains a big setback to vigilant civil society at the periphery level.
51 Observation note of Md Jannatul Ferdous submitted 25 th September 2006, page 16; Mahmud Hasan,
submitted on 25 th September, 2006 Page 1.
52 Observation note of Jahurul Islam submitted 21 st September, 2006, page 5.
53 Observation note of Md Jannatul Ferdous submitted 25 th September 2006, page 20.
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5.3.2.5 Intellectuals, Think Tanks and Citizens’ Group
Generally intellectuals are considered as the driving force for a civil society in
bringing democratic change and consolidation. In Bangladesh, university teachers, students,
lawyers have played glorious role in movements for autonomy, independence and democracy
during British, Pakistani and Bangladesh period as mentioned in chapter three. During the
democratic period intellectuals, thinks tanks and citizens groups have been found to be vocal
but already marked by their political color. This section of the civil society as mentioned
before is considered as the elites of civil society attracting media attention in the recent years.
Often only this section is identified as ‘the civil society’ in its traditional meaning in
Bangladesh. However, such core of the civil society though respected and noted by the
nation is very much politicized. Probably it is the university teachers associations and student
organizations of the national universities in Bangladesh that has the longest history of
political division. Such ideological and political division originated long before the
independence in 1971 as this section had important contribution to the independence
movement. However, since 1990s their political practice has deteriorated to its worst and
often is considered unacceptable. They have used party slogans and have engaged in party
sponsored activities. Students associations have turned into direct student wing of the
political parties, have never acted independently from the party directions and became
involved in arms politics. Their present performance has blurred their glorious role during
movements. Their present activities are hardly possible to explain or discuss in the Neo-
Tocquevillean model. Often such student and teacher politics is found to be the biggest
obstacle to higher educational environment in Bangladesh. This sub-section, shall focus
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mainly on the university teachers groups and their political divide and then thinks tanks and
citizens groups.
5.3.2.5.1 Intellectuals
It is said that now-a-days professors are becoming familiar for political identity than
research work or academic excellence 54 . At all national universities in Bangladesh, the
teachers are found to be broadly divided into two factions. On section are identified with the
AL and left political block and another to the BNP and Jamat political block. There may be
further factions among these two sections and the professors may not be directly member of
each party. During the election of the university teachers’ association, panels for candidates
are formed along these two political lines. Which government is in power determine which
panel wins most of the posts in the association. All other elected posts like faculty dean and
syndicate members as well as administrative posts like vice-chancellor, treasurer in most
cases are filled in by professors who support the ruling party or its coalition. The university
teachers’ associations and other associations representing each block of the teachers like Zia
Association (BNP), Bangbondhu Parishod (AL), Progressive Teacher’s Block (AL & Left)
articulate their views and opinions on most political events that are of national interest
through sending statements to the press, arranging processions or even going into strike.
However, during articulating such views, they don’t represent the entire teachers’ community
but their affiliated political block. Their statements always go in favor of the political party
that they support. Political appointments in national universities have become a regular
practice for several years with the growing involvement of teachers with political parties. The
university authorities give appointment to like minded candidates to increase their vote bank
54 Professor and elected member of the syndicate, Rajshahi University, 8 th October, 2006.
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to win in the teachers association’s elections and please the higher-ups in the government 55 .
The party government also pushes for such political appointments to ensure their strong hold
and control upon the universities-intellectuals and students during their period of rule and
also when they are out of power. Though they are professors, it is not only ideology but other
personal interests like appointment, promotion, administrative posts and other facilities that
indulge them to join a political block. The university professors interviewed (who themselves
are also involved in such university politics) have admitted such trend to be negative. In this
way teachers serving the highest educational institutions are bought by political actors. They
loose the strength to criticize university administration or the government actions even if it is
wrong and unjust. They have lost the ability for free thinking. Alarming is that the
polarization and division has become more distinct after 2001 56 . Interviewed professors
admitted the necessity of conscience and consciousness among the professors to accept the
right and wrong than blindly follow the parties. They also acknowledged that educational
atmosphere of the universities would have been much better and productive had such type of
teachers politics did not exist 57 .
Another powerful intellectual cum pressure groups in Bangladesh are the lawyers and
courts. The bar associations and the Supreme Court Lawyers Association have high influence
upon the state and government. It is said that in election years the election result of the
Supreme Court Lawyers Association forecast the outcome of the national election. This
55 The Daily Star 13 th August, 2006, Daily Star 9 th April 2005, The Daily Star 18 th September, 2005.
56 Professor, ex-vice Chancellor, Dhaka University interviewed on 21 st October, 2006. Professor ex-vice
Chancellor, Rajshahi University interviewed on 8 th October 2006.
57 The discussion on university teacher’s politics have been based on personal observation, interviews with two
ex-vice chancellors of Rajshahi University and Dhaka University, a syndicate member and ex-secretary of
Rajshahi University Teachers’ Association and a Dean of University of Rajshahi. Information has also been
gathered through news papers reports particularly those published in The Daily Star on April 4, July 27, 2007;
February 13, August 13, 27, December 27 2006; April 09, May 17 September 18 2005; August 25, December
26 2004.
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means the lawyers are also divided along party line just as the university teachers or other
trade union or professional group in Bangladesh. Moreover, the lawyers have also been
found in acts like agitation, processions, and even unruly activities to articulate their interests
and press home their demands (Ittefaque 12 January 2001, 29 March 2006, Jugantor 1 April
2006, The daily Star 16, 25 June, 2005). Bar association at every 64 districts are divided in
the same party line.
5.3.2.5.2 Think Tanks and Citizen Groups
A new trend since 1990s is the emergence and the voices of think tanks and citizens
groups in Bangladesh. Professor Rehman Sobhan and his Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
have already been high lighted in chapter two at the literature review section. The centre has
alliance with BRAC, Grameen Bank, Shujon (another like minded citizen group) in
Bangladesh and also with other Bangladeshi intellectual groups in USA. It may be
considered as another supporter of the new liberal model. The organization is well reputed
among the educated society and has a monopoly upon media coverage as it also have alliance
with the two dailies Prothom Alo and The Daily Star and a private TV channel –Channel-i.
Though the think tank has acceptability among educated citizens and have wide media
coverage it may not represent the opinion of the all the researchers, policy specialists and
intellectuals. The CPD along with Professor Yunus of Grameen Bank and 11 leading
economist and business personalities had lunched a movement for fair candidates that have
attracted a lots of criticism and controversy among different sections of the intellectuals
(mainly among fully left minded and centric-Islami tilt minded) in the early 2006. A series of
criticism and counter writing were published in news papers other than Daily Star and
Prothom Alo (Ittefaque 27 March , 10, 29 April 2006, 20 Jugantor April 2006). During
232

interview with the University Professors on the civil society in Bangladesh, it had been found
that CPD actions had full support of the intellectuals belonging to the AL block while half
hearted support from those belonging to the BNP block. Though CPD tries to arrange round
table meetings that include different sections of professionals and often leaders of both BNP
and AL, it actually represents the idea of a section of intellectuals. Unless new think tanks
emerge with the same strength, influence and financial ability and network, pluralism may
not be achieved among the elite civil society. A loose alliance may be observed among
eminent citizens with liberalist, secular mentality and those who are donor supported. But
they cannot be considered as the conscience of the entire civil society rather a slice of the
citizenry. Shujon- a new citizens’ group lead by another eminent economist and former
executive director of Transparency of Bangladesh (TIB) belong to the same intellectual circle.
5.3.2.5.2.1 Rajshahi Rakkha Shangram Parishod-RRSP (Movement to Protect Rajshahi)
During the field survey, a citizen group of Rajshahi city that had attracted media
attraction both among the local and national press –Rajshahi Rakkha Shangram Parishod-
RRSP (Movement to Protect Rajshahi) had been observed and its leader had been
interviewed 58 . The citizen group voice for the basic needs- like medical treatment, drinking
water supply, power supply, and gas supply for the people of the area, environmental
degradation in the area and against government decisions to move important offices and
building from Rajshahi and point out irregularities, corruption, and administrative failures
found in Rajshahi. They articulate their interest through petition, press conferences, round
tables, seminar and also public meetings arranged at open grounds, rallies and processions
protesting certain events, sit in, hunger strike, giving ultimatums and up to calling all out
58 A more detailed case study of the CSOs have been included in Appendix F
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strike (Hartal) 59 . Though the citizen group is working for the interest of the Rajshahi, it had
been found to be placed in an antagonistic position in relation to the Rajshahi city
corporation. It has good relation with press and media and cooperation with other nonpolitical
groups like professional groups, economic groups etc. Originally RRSP was formed
by a few merchants in the town, but later have attracted membership from all types of
professions-teachers, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers and other educated citizens. The
executive committee is elected in every two years. Besides membership fee, other sources of
finance are the local eminent businessmen and other sponsor organizations like banks,
enterprises, and national dailies. The organization claims that they have neither any relation
with the political parties nor with any political blocks. Rather they have come forward for the
interest of the citizens of Rajshahi as the political parties have failed to do so. The
organization have gained reputation and media attraction for its movement for natural gas
supply in the city and it came in direct conflict with the administration protesting
maltreatment of the patients in private clinics. The secretary had even been arrested and
tortured by law enforcement forces 60 .
However, if we go through the lists of advisory committee membership lists of the
RRSP, we may see presence of well reputed citizens of Rajshahi city that represents both the
BNP (but not Jamat) block and the AL and left block. However, the majority of members
belong to the left and AL block 61 . The convener of RRSP though claim to be non-political,
have been found to be a former elected member of the Board of Directorate of Rajshahi
59 Interview with the Convener, Rajshahi Shohor Rokkah Shongram Porishad, Rajshahi, 28 th September, 2006.
60 As admitted by the convener of Rajshahi Rakkha Shongram Parishod, Interviewed on 28 th September.
61 Proceeding of a Round Table Meeting on Development of Rajshahi, Published by Rajshahi Rokkah
Shongram Parishad. Rajshahi: May, 2006.
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Chambers of Commerce during the AL regime 62 and had links with the left groups in his
young age and found presently in a confronting position with the present administration.
During conversation with other citizens about RRSP, it had been found that, the organization
and its moves have been praised by all but the over presence of members of the latter block
have discouraged the BNP and right minded citizens to engage in the movement directly.
Besides, the elites and civil society leaders that support the ruling coalition are already
favored by the government and administration. Naturally, for the loyalty they have sold for
personal and group benefits prevent them from joining any movements that protests the
government policy. The polarization that have divided the whole society and civil society
have refrained the citizens from organizing in systematic movements in a united manner for a
common local cause.
So it may be observed that among think tanks and citizen’s groups both at the centre
and local areas in Bangladesh, it is the left and AL tilted groups than the BNP aligned groups
that are more active. Unless there is a balance among both the blocks and truly non-political
citizens groups are established, there might be big difference in the manner of articulation by
the CSOs and nature of government responses with the change of regimes.
5.4 Summary and Conclusion
The present chapter is a complementary chapter to the data analysis done in chapter
four with the aim to dig out the reasons for low participatory civil society in Bangladesh and
its insufficient contribution in consolidating democracy. The researcher assumed that
powerful influence of political structures particularly political party upon the civil society
impedes its democratic performance. Historical and political development and vertical
62 Annual Report Book 2002, Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce.
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cultural background have led the political parties to the position to co-opt and polarize the
civil society since 1990s. In chapter four, from survey data analysis it has become clear that
rate of participatory activities like policy making, advocacy, lobby is low and there is a
tendency among the CSOs to adopt vertical means to lobby the authorities than horizontal
ones and they often contact political parties for perusing their problems or demands.
The present chapter with same set of survey data has shown that CSOs perceive the
political parties to be the most influential actor in the political system. CSOs themselves have
rated market actors as medium powerful. Except the press and media, all other social actors
had been ranked at the lower positions. The survey data also showed their high tendency of
keeping personal relation with political leaders and contacting both the ruling and opposition
parties. Such tendencies have been found high in case of all categories and sections of CSOs.
However, CSOs working at the local level with out foreign assistance have found to be more
inclined to political contacts. Such high rate of political contact in Bangladesh is
comparatively distinct in contrast to other developed and developing countries in Asia (figure
5.1). Nevertheless, such high rate of contacting political parties is not enough to establish
our inference on the politicization and co-optation of the CSOs by political parties. There are
limitations in gathering information on political relation through direct questions and formal
surveys on CSOs. For overcoming such limitation other sources of data had been used and
qualitative analyses have been applied.
The second section of this chapter using different data—newspaper reports,
interviews, informal discussion, survey observation notes etc. have qualitatively analyzed the
tendencies of civil society having political links, vertical links, bureaucratic links and the
nature of using violent means by CSOs and style of their interest articulation. Moreover,
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some selected but important sections and actions of civil society in relation to politics have
been given special focus and been discussed on the basis of information gathered from
different direct and indirect sources. Through such discussions, politicization of the CSOs,
ruling party influence, faction or division within the civil society as well as the society along
party line have been pointed out as to be real fact.
First, a sample of news paper reports on civil society published from January to June
in 2001, 2006 and 2007 in three dailies selected on the basis of their neutrality, acceptability
and circulation had been coded and simplified using SPSS program. The simplified analysis
revealed high rate of political links, corruption, and violence in CSO related reports. In 39%
of the reports, CSOs or their leaders had been termed corrupt having links with the
bureaucracy, party, violence, extortion and patronage, nepotism. Though 29% of the reports
were on interest articulation of CSOs, among those reports 20% also mentioned about
violence and 19% about strike and 33% articulation was by the same group of think tanks
and citizen groups. Such numbers imply the strong influence of Gramcian model for pressing
demands in antagonistic way rather than through negotiation and bargain and lack of
pluralism among the advocacy groups. The harmony expected from a vibrant civil society
group in Neo-Toquevillean model is absent here. This is due to the influence of movement
based historical development of Bangladesh and violent street politics practiced by the
political parties as well as the irresponsive governments during the democratic age. These
facts support the hypothesis of the political influence upon the civil society and presence of
corruption, patronage and other illegal means in civil society and state interaction.
It has also been found that means for articulating demands are more violent and acute
than expected in a democratic setting. Gramcian elements or outlook are still present in
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liberal democratic framework in Bangladesh. Interest articulations through violence and
strikes do not imply to high civil society participation or a vigilant civil society, but lack of
proper harmony among the state and civil society relation and presence of deprivation,
extremism and emergency in the political system. Normal or formal means of pressing
demands or interest articulations can hardly make head-a-way in Bangladesh. Survey data
also shows that such formal means have been found to be unpopular among the civil society
organizations. Not all organizations have the ability to protest violently, it takes place mostly
at the meso and central level. Besides, such violent protest does not always bring satisfactory
results. Again the number of CSOs with the capacity of arranging round table meetings or
forming policy papers and attract attention of the media and government is also very few.
Lastly, important five sections of the civil society and their political relation have
been focused on using information gathered from newspaper reports, interviews, field visits
and observation notes. Through such discussions, our augments on strong political influence,
patronage, corruption, political polarization existing in different sections of the civil society
and at both local and national level have become more evident. The development NGO
community has been found divided and polarized among party line. They may not be directly
involved with a party but need to maintain indirect link with them to carry on their projects.
Due to polarization, NGOs now seek the shelter or patron of one party when it fears
persecution from the other.
In case of professional groups like the school teachers association, it has been
exposed that political parties have exploited the nation based network of such CSOs as an
instrument for winning elections. As these professional groups are already penetrated and
polarized, their united movements often fail to reach their goal as the government uses such
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division to weaken their strength and arrive at negotiations in favor of the state not the civil
society groups. Political link and violence have given rise to corrupt and criminal labor union
leaders. The collective bargaining associations instead of articulating the financial, social
demands and rights of the poor workers and labors, have turned out to the be the magic lamp
for labor leaders for accumulating wealth, seizing not only the basic wages of the labors but
sacrificing interest of the public industries and enterprises. Trade organizations also have
strong link with the political actors.
At the rural periphery level, large numbers of cooperatives and small welfare
associations and clubs have been found to be the source of opinion formation, collective
unity, with the potential to generate social and political consciousness among the citizens.
Though such local indigenous civil society organizations resembles with Putnum’s soccer
clubs, bird watching groups, they have been neglected by the development practitioners.
However, organizational strength and ability to form collective and individual opinions have
attracted local elites and political parties towards CSOs. They have used the patron-client
social structure to penetrate the local clubs and welfare organizations. Political affiliation and
politically motivated function of the members and internal conflict have eroded the quality,
image of such CSOs and their strength. The central cooperative leaders have been targeted by
local elites and political parties because of the large amount of loan they control and
distribute to other primary unit cooperatives.
At the meso and national level there are the intellectuals, think tanks and citizen
groups which are considered the conscience of civil society as well as its driving force.
Discussions have revealed the university professors to be politically colored and their
political affiliation is connected to not only ideology but personal interests like appointments,
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administrative posts, promotion etc. Student association reached to such political and violent
level that it may be no more be considered as civil society organization. In case of think tanks
and citizens groups, lack of pluralism and unity have been revealed. Pattern of membership
and participation in such non-political citizens groups also reflects the political divide in the
society.
From our discussion it becomes clear that civil society both at the local and national
level are under political pressure or politically linked by vertical forces. The political
penetration is evident both at the periphery and at the core of the civil society. Where ever
financial resources and votes (opinion formation) are in some way in control of civil society
organizations, they have become target for political penetration. This may explain the
division among NGO community as well the teachers associations and also labor unions and
cooperatives. When the civil society is co-opted controlled, the leaders and members are
working not for the interest of the groups they represent but for personal gain, status-quo and
the political parties, they can hardly perform their vigilant role. Instead of monitoring the
state apparatus, they are contributing to the misdeeds of the government and political parties.
If they continue to be under political pressure and remain divided among themselves along
party line, civil society organizations can hardly gain the necessary independence and strong
character to emerge as vigilant forces. Lacking such vigilant power, a civil society, no mater
how it is vibrant, may not contribute to democratic consolidation.
In case of Bangladesh, democratic consolidation by civil society is to take place
mainly in four ways. CSOs, particularly the NGOs are in headway for civic education but
that have led them to become target of political parties. In case of interest aggregation, it has
been seen that the civil society at the local level are hardly engaged in such acts. Those at the
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centre and meso level engage in such activities through formal and horizontal means are very
few and follow same type of liberal secular ideology. The other way of interest articulation is
rather violent and very much entangled to politics and political parties. When the core of the
civil society and as well as the periphery are co-opted by the political party, they cannot play
in any significant role to monitor the state and market. As often the civil society leaders are
corrupt and political and vertically linked to the government, they hardly can ensure any
honest participation and representation of different segments of society in political decision
making.
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Chapter 6
Conclusion
6.1 Introduction
Political actors do play a powerful role in shaping civil societies’ vigilant nature. The
previous chapters show how civil society in Bangladesh has been less involved in actions that
are related to politics and democracy. These chapters also identified the powerful influence
of the political actors in deterring the ability of civil society in contributing democratic
consolidation. This chapter first answers the research question, 'why the civil society in
Bangladesh can hardly contribute in democratic consolidation' based on the findings in each
chapter, then moves on to the discussion on implication of the study on Bangladesh
democracy, liberal democratic theory and donor policies. The present chapter argues that,
civil society in Bangladesh may be termed vibrant from its activities and success in social
development, but it can hardly be termed vigilant because of its low participatory nature and
politicized and divided attributes. This also qualifies the prevalent assumption of the liberal
democratic model often incorporated in donor policies, which emphasizes the positive and
direct relation between civil society and democracy.
The study points out the impracticality in the donors’ policy and expectation from the
civil society organizations in Bangladesh. The present study concludes that donors should not
take ambitious policies to strengthen civil society with high expectations like democratic
consolidation in developing countries like Bangladesh. Unless political consensus grows
among the political actors to accept the political game democratic consolidation is hardly
possible with the efforts made by a few selected civil society organizations. This also
requires concomitant institutionalization of political structures and economic development.
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6.2 Answer to the Research Question
In this study, civil society in Bangladesh, its nature, action and political relation has
been investigated through three different attempts that ultimately support the inferences on its
vibrant nature considering social development; its high rate of involvement in social welfare
and low performance in participatory activities; and its weak, divided and politicized nature
in respect to democracy.
The third chapter, at first, based on comparative discussion argues that it is the
political actors who determine the nature of democracy and level of civil society strength in
developing countries. In case of Bangladesh, political parties and leaders have been pointed
out to be the prime reason for a weak civil society. However, donor policy, social
circumstances, historical development, culture and law also have combined effect in the
development and nature of civil society here.
Donor policy, natural disaster, poor economy and culture of philanthropy and charity,
web of registration laws have led to vibrant civil society consisting of both world class
development NGOs working with nationwide organizational base as well as small welfare
groups and cooperatives, active at the local level. Such vibrant civil society does show
evidences of civic engagement and collective activity and a high orientation towards service
provision and social welfare rather than participating in local governance or exerting people’s
right. Moreover, though the culture of group formations and collective activities is very
common in Bangladesh society, the internal nature of the CSOs have been found to be
reflecting the vertical social relations like kinship, clientelism etc. Democratic and horizontal
relationship between civil society leaders and members are hardly found in those
organizations, whether it is a cooperative, NGO, labor union or a professional group, while
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most of the CSOs may possess very much democratically organized written constitutions and
rules.
Vigilant nature of the civil society, that is more related to politics and democracy has
been inferred to be highly influenced by political history, by political structures and
particularly by political parties in the 1990s. If we recall the figure 3.5 in chapter three, it
becomes clear how political parties and their governments have maintained their control over
the civil society organizations vertically through corruption, patronage, nepotism, special
legal and illegal favors, extortion etc., for attaining control on different institutional domains,
ensuring organizational base at the rural level and confirm their vote banks at all levels of
society. Moreover, the historical legacy of civil society and political party coalition on
different movements, and the ideological divide among the citizens due to historical roles of
different sections of the society have provided the necessary background and logic to divide
the society and civil society along partly line. Previous literatures and interviews have
identified such penetration of political parties at all stages of civil society both at the core
level and the periphery level. This has receded the participatory nature and strong voice of
the vibrant civil society.
Based on such inferences on civil society in Bangladesh, in chapter four and five, its
participatory activities and political relations have been investigated empirically using hard
evidences and direct information that supports our inferences on a less participatory civil
society and its politicization. Literatures on Bangladesh civil society is rich in analyzing and
evaluating the social welfare functions, however, the present research for the first time has
investigated its participatory functions and political relations based on wide range of primary
and secondary data.
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Chapter four partially answers the question regarding inability of civil society in
consolidating democracy by distinctly showing the low rate of involvement in participatory
actions by civil society organizations. Besides the low rate of participatory activities, the
primary data also reveal a tendency among the CSOs to avoid issues that are more related to
politics and democracy that may lead them to a confrontational situation with the government
and political parties. If we recall tables 4.9 and 4.10 on the participation rate of civil societies
on democratic issues, it becomes evident that on sensitive issues like campaign against
corruption (12%), against street politics (3%), for independent judiciary (4%), etc., the
involvement rate was very low in contrast to the advocacy rates on education (40%), public
health (39%) or environment (30%). The data have also shown partisan tendency among the
CSOs, as they have a high rate in contacting directly the political parties to lobby the
government and on other matters too. The high contact with the political parties by CSOs in
Bangladesh, have been verified comparatively with other Asian countries, the Bangladeshi
case shows abnormally high rate (recall figure 4.9 and 5.1). The data have also shown the
low rate in coalition formation among civil society organizations.
Logically, when civil society has a low profile in participating in democracy related
advocacy, policy-making and forming coalition, but has high vertical contact with political
parties, it can hardly bring pluralism or aggregate interests of the communities and represent
all sections of the society.
Among the 504 CSOs surveyed, 80% are active at the local level. Among them most
organizations are cooperatives, local social welfare groups and small NGOs working in a
limited area. These organizations are formed mainly for welfare and economic purpose and
most of the members are poor farmers and destitute women. Average annual income of these
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poor members is only around US$ 330. Their level of education is also very low. Naturally
they are interested in the materialistic gain from such collective actions like agriculture loan,
micro-credit, employment training etc, rather than showing interest in the policy matters of
the local government or the change in national politics. Local NGOs are also concerned with
these types of persons as their beneficiaries. Some of the welfare groups are formed by local
elites or the educated persons of the area. However, they lack the necessary resources and
donor attention. Moreover, lack of internal democracy makes these CSOs often prone to
political co-optation.
In chapter five, findings based on qualitative analysis of news paper reports have
supported the inferences made in chapter three on politicization of civil society organizations,
penetration of civil society by political parties using vertical means like corruption, patronage,
special favor, nepotism etc., and also that the political divide existing at all levels of the civil
society—periphery, meso and central levels.
Moreover, from the data and information, high rate of using violent means and
extortion, strikes by both political parties and civil society organizations have been revealed.
This implies strong presence of Gramscian model of civil society and it does not refer to a
vigilant civil society but indicate the presence of deprivation, extremism and emergency in
the political system. In case of advocacy, besides, less participation, lack of pluralism have
been noticed, rather it may be termed a monopoly of a few liberal and secular minded think
tanks and citizens groups attracting the media and government and channeling their ideas and
advices claiming to represent the whole civil society in Bangladesh.
Sector wise discussion on civil society and political relations have exposed such
political links, co-optation and polarization of the civil society at the top elite level like the
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apex organizations of the development NGOs, division among intellectuals, as well as the
local level like small welfare groups. The same tendency has been found in CSOs with
nation-wide network like primary school teachers, labor unions, as well as those enjoying
local network like cooperatives. It has been found that, where there is control of vote and
resources in the hands of civil society organizations, they have become the target of political
parties. CSOs, instead of mobilizing such power towards bargaining with the political forces
and controlling state actions have been found to be penetrated by the political parties for their
valuable resources.
In a nutshell, service and welfare related activities have been found to be popular
among CSOs than actions that are more related to policy making, governance and democracy.
Moreover, these civil society organizations have been hinted to be neither horizontal nor
democratic internally. In consequence they have been found to be prone to politicization,
polarization and cooptation. These are the weakest points for the civil society to gain a
vigilant character. On the other side, the political environment in which the civil society
functions has also been found to be uncongenial to democratic consolidation and a strong
civil society. Though Bangladesh is formally a democracy, the political atmosphere is always
confrontational played by the two major political coalitions engaged in a zero sum game.
Politics is played by the rules of clientelism, corruption, patronage and extortion. The social
political interaction is also based on a vertical give and take relation. In the process the civil
society is co-opted and divided by the political parties. Naturally the civil society looses its
independent strength to emerge as a strong third force to contribute to democracy.
However, it is to be admitted that supporting data used to point out the relationship
between civil society and politics are just based on information gathered from news papers,
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esource persons, observations during field trips and the observation notes made by the
surveyors. These data helped to build strong inferences conforming to critical assumptions
made on civil society and political relations in the first and third chapter. Nevertheless, more
concrete data, gathered through in-depth case studies, participatory observations etc. to
completely prove the inferences on politicization, penetration and use of vertical means –
corruption, patronage, nepotism etc. have not been possible to assemble at this stage of the
research. Despite such weakness, the combined data used for identifying the vibrant and
participatory nature of civil society and its political relations should be considered sufficient
to identify the reasons behind the weak civil society and its poor performance in relation to
politics and democracy. Based on the findings through the present study, next we shall
examine the ability of the present civil society in Bangladesh in consolidating democracy.
6.3. Ability of Civil Society in Consolidating Democracy
As discussed in chapter one, for Bangladesh to achieve democratic consolidation, it is
necessary to ensure the combined effect of four major interacting factors, e.g., political
institutionalization, stable economic growth, formation of a democratic culture and a
participatory civil society. It has also been identified that a participatory civil society has four
main tasks to realize democratic consolidation. These are, civic education on political and
human rights, interest aggregation, monitoring of state apparatus and economic society and
ensuring better participation and representation of all segments of society in political decision
making. With the data and analysis revealed through the present study, it is now possible to
point out to a considerable extent the ability and potentials of civil society in consolidating
democracy in Bangladesh.
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On civic education, the performance of the civil society is satisfactory so far. At the
grass-roots level, it has been found that CSOs are involved in some types of civic education
and advocacy trainings like developing group network (24%), local representation and
ventilation of grievances (18%), providing education and service in exercising legal and
political rights (17%), and raising social and political awareness (30%). However, such
activities have been found to be performed at a far low rate than the CSOs’ involvement in
service providing functions like education (44%), economic empowerment (44%) etc.
Though low in rate in comparison to other service providing functions, raising political
awareness has become a part of the grass-roots projects of civil society organizations,
particularly among NGOs as the donors have put emphasis on such activities. The high rate
of voters’ turn out (over 70%) during the 1996, and 2001 elections is said to be partly due to
such awareness programs. Naturally, this must be evaluated positively for the citizens of
Bangladesh and its democracy. However, as discussed in chapter five, awareness programs
give the NGOs the opportunity to influence a large section of the voters’ decision regarding
to whom to vote. Naturally the contesting political parties have considered this as a means to
ensure a large vote bank. This led to political deals among the political parties and NGO
leaders, which ultimately brought partisan allegations against some NGOs and their coalition.
This divided the largest umbrella organization of development NGOs—ADAB.
In case of interest aggregation, civil society has been found to be inefficient due to its
low level of network and lower rate of participatory actions. Though the civil society in
Bangladesh has strong link with the political parties, it is not for channeling grievances and
pursuing for collective interest of the civil society through the parties. Rather political link
has been found to bring about division among the civil society organizations and their
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coalitions. In case of civic engagement at the local level, the Bangladesh case supports the
observation made in the CIVICUS project (2007) where it has been found that often in the
South, the local initiatives for social welfare and collective actions, voluntarism, charity etc.
are not coupled with a strong organized civil society in terms of levels of organizations,
networks, infrastructure, and resources. Excluding the foreign funded NGOs, most of the
CSOs particularly at the local level lack the necessary resources, organizational skills and
technical assistance that may help them form network, write petitions, or engage in other
forms of lobbying or advocacy. Moreover, Bangladeshi citizens do not enjoy social liberty as
much as developed countries or even neighboring India. Small local NGOs also try to avoid
playing political roles in public though they have to maintain political links informally for
their existence and execution of their programs.
At the capital level, only a minority of like-minded think-tanks, citizens' groups and
NGOs have emerged as the voice of the civil society attracting the media and debating with
the state. These few CSOs belong to a certain block and ideology (liberal and market
economy) group; they cannot represent the whole civil society that consists of different views
and ways of thinking. However, it is only these organizations that possess the necessary
technical, intellectual and financial support to attract the media, press and the government. So
the interest aggregations are not taking place in a bottom up manner but by a few elite
organizations at the centre.
Evaluating on the basis of participation and representation all segments of the society,
the low participatory Bangladeshi civil society can hardly make any success. Among the
CSOs surveyed, 68% thought that the civil society in Bangladesh could not influence
government and national policies. The survey also found that only 13% of the CSOs had
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succeeded in influencing the government or local government for a certain decision, budget
or policy that they supported. Besides, participation rate through lobby, advocacy and other
means like sending representative to local council and advisory bodies, have also been found
to be low 1 . Such findings rather refer to a low potential for the civil society to ensure
participation and representation of all segments of the society.
Lastly the most important activity of the civil society is to monitor state actions. Low
rate of participatory activities by the civil society at the periphery and meso levels has
already been mentioned. Moreover, analysis has shown that there are rather vertical links
between the political actors and the civil society and political parties have penetrated the civil
society. When the civil society organizations are already co-opted and controlled by the
political actors they can hardly act independently and stand against the excesses of the state.
Nevertheless, the potential or ability of civil society in Bangladesh in consolidating
democracy cannot make us very optimistic.
Not only the data that have been used for the present research, but observation of the
contemporary political situation of confrontation, corrupt and non-transparent government
and weak state do not depict a scenario that would provide any better environment for the
civil society to act strongly for democracy. Instead of protesting against the government or
corrupt politics, CSOs themselves have been found to become corrupt, unaccountable and
controlled by the political forces. Only in extreme deprivation CSOs or citizens' anomic
1 However, in different literatures, NGO reports and analysis of the international development agencies, the
civil society particularly the NGOs have been praised for inspiring the poor villagers not only to vote, but to
participate and win in local council elections. According to BRAC Annual Report for 2003, that year among
4484 Unions of Bangladesh, 3945 women candidates for union council election were among BRAC
beneficiaries and among them 2388 succeeded. This is the effort of only one NGO— the largest NGO in the
country. However, very few CSOs in Bangladesh are as large, well organized and networked and resourceful as
BRAC. Majority of the CSOs don’t have the necessary resources to support their members for such activities.
This has become evident through the main survey of the research that has interviewed large NGOs as well as
small local NGOs and small welfare groups and cooperatives both at the local and urban levels.
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groups have been found protesting against the government in the streets, which often turn
into violent clashes between the public and security forces. However, this does not represent
any strong or active civil society but a weak state and irresponsive government.
6.4 Neo-Tocquevillean Assumption and Donor Policies: Implication of the Bangladesh
Case
The present study not only pointed out the reasons behind the inability of civil society
in Bangladesh to contribute to democratic consolidation but also made attempts to qualify the
assumption on civil society and democracy by the main stream Neo-Tocquevillean school.
The school presumes that the more associations there are in a country the greater the
possibility that democratic institutions will improve. It is believed that efforts to produce
democracy through civil society and civic engagement may bring about macro social outputs
from micro social efforts, the democratic practices shaped in associational activities will have
spillover effects in other context and the same associational structures will operate in similar
ways in different socio-historical back ground. Such supposition has profoundly influenced
the donor policies on developing countries.
The Bangladesh case has shown that despite the existence of a good number of civic
groups and local associations and clubs at the community levels, civil society hardly
influenced or contributed in local government decision making, national policies, and
democracy. A good number of CSOs are working not only at the local level but also at the
meso and central levels; but these organizations can hardly be considered as autonomous or
well networked. Rather, most though not all CSOs, have been found to be politicized and
controlled by political actors and local elites, acting in favor of the status-quo rather than the
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people they represent. Moreover, a very few of them have been found to be active in actions
that are related to politics and democracy.
That civil society is an essential but not enough condition for democratic
consolidation- is a fact broadly accepted by the contemporary researchers on civil society.
Alagappa (2004) in his project on Asian civil society has pointed out to the same fact. In the
CIVICUS CSI project, positive relations have been identified between a strong civil society
and a strong state. Diamond (1996, 1999) has also mentioned the necessity of internal
democracy within the CSOs, and some ideal characteristics for a civil society to be able to
contribute to democracy. At the same time he emphasized the necessity of political
institutionalization and liberal economic growth. Such ideal condition and characteristics of
civil society may provide strong theoretical base for the study of civil society, but in reality
turns out to be impractical. Empirical investigation in developing countries like Bangladesh
reveals its inapplicability. For civil society to work well and emerge as a powerful sector to
bring and maintain democracy, it requires proper democratic environment that most of the
developing countries fail to provide.
But Diamond (1992, 1996) is optimistic that civil society movement and actions may
make through the undemocratic environment and contribute to better democratic atmosphere
in multiple ways like fighting against corruption, nurturing democratic values, bringing an
end to clientelism, bringing unity among social cleavages and so on. The Bangladesh case
has proved such expectations from a civil society to be unrealistic and normative. CSOs have
been found to be in no position to generate democratic values, reduce corruption or
clientelism. Rather the civil society leaders have been found to become corrupt, NGOs have
been found to be incorporated in the patron-client network and most of the CSOs to be under
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the control of the political parties. Under a situation of low level of economic development,
vertical social relations, instable political system and weak state, civil society alone cannot
struggle through. Rather on its way it becomes influenced by the negative forces existing in
the environment.
The present study is concerned about such theory, because international development
agencies and bilateral donors have used such Neo-Tocquevillean assumption to support their
policies on good governance and strengthening civil society. The Bangladesh case reveals
that such theory has been adopted half heartedly and not from a well empirical understanding
by the donors. First, local, indigenous CSOs that have the higher potential to generate social
capital, civic engagement and participation have been totally neglected from the development
projects, emphasizing only on a few selected NGOs formed and functioning according to the
Western notion of civil society. Second, the traditional trade unions, professional groups,
trade organizations, student groups etc. have also been overlooked in the civil society
strengthening program mentioning them as politicized (Hansen 1996). So the close
connection between the political parties and such CSOs and the lack of institutionalization
within the political parties themselves are in the knowledge of the donors to some extent. In
spite of such information, the donors are still targeting the symptom of the problem by
forming and supporting new CSOs but neglecting the real causes that may ultimately
inactivate the fresh few organizations too. Sprinkles of assistance and support for social
capital and civic engagement can hardly reach the goal of democratic consolidation.
Third, donors have placed high targets for civil society organizations overestimating
their ability and underestimating the powerful influence of the indigenous environments like
history, culture, politics etc. It must be realized by the donors that, developing countries are
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not plain lands where proper weeding, seeding and watering of new CSOs may bring new
democratic culture, good governance and corrupt free country that is, an all prepared ground
for market economy and liberalization. These are old societies possessing their own
indigenous social and political culture, tradition, political and economic trends. History,
culture and politics must be considered more carefully and sensitively before taking any
policy that targets not only social development but also democracy.
High expectation from a few civil society organizations may hardly bring in any
projected outcome in relation to democracy. Before undertaking civil society related policies,
donors must consider to (a) set achievable targets for the civil society organizations, (b) take
into account the potentials of local civil society organizations and (c) make continued efforts
simultaneously for concomitant economic development and political institutionalization.
Unless initiatives are taken to bring about a consensus among the social, political and
economic actors on democracy, democratic culture consolidation can ever be achieved. This
may be accomplished mainly through indigenous process and through realization of
democratic practice among all the stakeholders. Responsibility lies more with the powerful
actors that is, the political parties and their leaders.
6.5. Matters Remain Uninvestigated
Civil society though considered a separate entity from the state and market; is
simultaneously engaged in constant interaction with the state, society, market, family life,
culture and almost all segments that may be found in a political system. So researches on
civil society are always wide and multi-dimensional and it is difficult to identify the limit to
the study area for a particular research. However, it is not possible to include and analyze all
matters related to civil society in a single study. The present study has particularly
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concentrated on the civil society in Bangladesh and its relation to democracy. In the process,
though a good number of factors and issues have come out in discussion and data analysis,
there are still some of areas that have remained uninvestigated.
First, economic influence and relation to civil society, though mentioned in different
sections of the thesis, economic actors like corporate groups, business magnets and trade
organizations have not been deeply investigated in relation to civil society and politics in the
present study. Second, through the study, CSOs themselves have been identified as corrupt
and there have been accusation against their internal democracy and accountability. Further
investigation into such allegations has not been covered in the present study. Third, previous
literatures as well as the survey data on civil society in Bangladesh have identified weak
network among the civil society organizations. However, present research structure and data
collection format did not provide enough space for network analysis.
Though these issues are still pending for further investigation, from the aspects that
have been well focused and analyzed, it is definitely possible to understand the main reasons
behind the inability of the civil society in contributing significantly to democratic
consolidation. The civil society though vibrant and active at local level for social
development, has been identified as less participatory. Political parties and their vertical
penetrative policy to control, co-opt and divide the civil society have been identified as the
prime causes behind such low participatory civil society. Further, analysis on the market
relation and influences, internal corruption and network among the civil society organizations
would have led us to the same conclusion with stronger supportive evidences.
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6.6 Conclusion: ‘Vibrant but not Vigilant’
Bangladesh does have a civil society embedded in the country's culture, history and
political developments and it conforms to the idea of civil society both from the Neo-
Tocquevillean model as well as the Neo-Gramscian Model. The integrated model as
developed in chapter one (figure 1.1) has provided the flexibility to study civil society both
from its actions as well as interaction with other actors in the society. Dividing the
characteristics of civil society in two broad aspects—vibrant and vigilant, helps to understand
and analyze civil society from both its social (service providing) and political (participatory
actions) aspects. Such study on influential factors of civil society and then upon civil society
organizations themselves as units of civil society followed by their nature of political
interaction has led to come closer to the critical arguments made in the beginning of the
thesis.
The nature and dimension of Bangladesh civil society have been found to be
determined by a number of factors. Donor policy, economic situation and culture of
voluntarism and charity and easy process for registration, have led to a rather large number of
formal and informal civil society organizations. They have been found to be active at local
level and mostly concerned with social welfare and services. Indigenous initiative and donor
support have even led to establishment of world class NGOs on social development and
micro-credits. Survey data also supported such fact by showing the high rate of civil society
involvement in the grass-roots development. From such consideration, the civil society of
Bangladesh may be termed vibrant. Nevertheless, majority of the CSOs are concerned with
immediate needs and material aspects like poverty, disaster relief, health etc. rather than the
related policies and decisions of local or national government.
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However, historical development and political institutions have also profound
influences in the nature and function of the civil society, particularly for its weak
performance in relation to politics and democracy. This is what the present study was
concerned largely about. Political parties have been identified as the most influential factor in
the politics related activities of the CSOs. Empirical investigation has revealed a low profile
in the participatory nature of the CSOs. Further analysis on their political relation in the
contemporary Bangladesh, have indicated that instead of influencing the government and
political actors, the civil society itself has been penetrated, co-opted, politicized and divided
by the political parties and party governments. This has reduced their ability to generate
democratic norms, articulate interest or monitor the government. So the civil society has
failed to emerge as a vigilant force to uphold good governance and democracy. The present
study in different ways has pointed out to political actors, that is, the political parties and
political leaders as the prime reason for low participatory and weak civil society, hardly
contributing in democratic consolidation.
In recent analysis on civil society in other developing countries in Asia, like India or
the Philippines (Behar and Prakash, 2004; Quimpo, 2004; Franco, 2004; Rocamora, 2004), it
is the political actors that have been identified as the prime factor in determining civil society
influence and democracy.
In case of India, which is considered the most successful and stable democracy in
South Asia, civil society has its legacy in the historical movements for independence.
However, from a liberal democratic model overview of contemporary Indian civil society has
been considered as a weak one. Just like the case of Bangladesh, as Chibber (1999) pointed
out that, the traditional civil society like labor unions, professional groups, students groups
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are linked to political parties in India, the business organizations never acted like interest
groups and the large rural community groups have no influence on the government's
agricultural policies. Moreover, civil society has been found to have accommodated space for
uncivil and communal forces like RSS. There are only a few instances of non-partisan,
autonomous local based indigenous movements for causes like environment and culture
(Behar and Prakash, 2004). So, Indian civil society is the ground for different elements—
politicized, non-partisan and even uncivil. In all cases, it is the political forces that have
controlled or made space for the civil society to act in a democratic or undemocratic way or
remain silent or inactive. From such consideration, civil society in India can hardly be
evaluated as contributing profoundly to its democratic stability. The fact is that India
successfully developed the political consensus among the prime political and social actors
and also the culture to accept peaceful transfer of power. Moreover, accommodative and
compromising mentalities of the political actors and political parties for democracy have
been able to overcome the influences of dark side of civil society and continue the journey
towards democratic consolidation.
On the other side of the coin, though Philippine is noted for its high density of NGO
networks—not only in number but in vigor and scale—it is dominated by an elitist
democracy. Literatures and analysis on the Philippines’ civil society depicts an idea of a
vigorous civil society consisting of CSOs of different types and sections contributing in a
wide area of the state, society and politics. Strong CSOs’ network, government policies and
legislations have lead to CSOs in the Philippines to the extent of entering electoral politics.
However, such vigorous, participatory civil society has also been found to be ineffective in
influencing day to day politics. Practically, the civil society has been found to be controlled,
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ought and divided by the political elites who control the landed properties, national finance
and political power. So again, though not the political parties but the prime political actors
have been identified as the decisive factor in determining the political influence of the civil
society and nature of democracy.
This implies that, democracy, particularly democratic consolidation, relies on a
combination of conditions, where a participatory civil society is only one factor. However,
more important is the consensus that grows among the political, social and economic actors
and particularly the competing forces on democracy and political practices. Under such
consensus and compromise civil society may emerge as an effective force. So the
performance and influence of civil society in consolidating democracy depends on the culture
and consensus of other actors. Never the less, this must also be accompanied with a strong
state, economic growth, equal social distribution, administrative reforms and so on in case of
a developing country.
For Bangladesh it would require a drastic change in its social, political and economic
system. It is hardly possible in years or decades, to satisfy all these conditions for democratic
consolidation. Even if the civil society had all its ideal characteristics as expected by the
Tocquevillean school, it can hardly contribute positively for a consolidated democracy under
the contemporary situation. The present research has shown that the civil society is rather
weak from the view point of politics and often prone to be influenced by negative elements in
politics and society. Any revolutionary change in government policy to bring democratic
reform in the administration, political institutions and judiciary accompanied by desperate
drives against political corruption, as well as other forms of illegal dealings may ensure a
better order in the political system. However, the culture to rule or decide from above,
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vertical social relations, method of building social support in give and take manner and
political culture of opportunism or taking advantage of religious belief, ideology, and
historical legacies shall continue to exist. This implies that the possibility for a strong,
autonomous, horizontally networked, policy oriented civil society that is a civil society both
vibrant and vigilant is far from reality in the near future.
This does not mean that civil society has no chance to contribute to society and
politics. Policies should be undertaken to strengthen civil society accepting the social and
political facts and it should not be accompanied with high expectations like democratic
consolidation. Civil Society in Bangladesh has already shown its success to a recognizable
extent in social development, economic empowerment. However, for further development, it
requires more formal interaction with the government, better network and stronger voice that
is more participatory activities than it has been found in the present research. Though civil
society may not be able to overcome totally the influence of politicizations, lure of patronage,
vertical social relations, it has the possibility of improving and gaining a stronger position.
International and national policies should aim to get better output from such civil society
organizations accepting the influence of the negative social and political forces. In this way,
whatever positive outcomes are produced may be considered as achievements.
For democracy and democratic consolidation in developing countries—if this is the
actual target—donor agencies must focus on the civil society, political institutions and
related organizations simultaneously. Moreover, such policy must be based on in-depth
understanding of the history, traditions, social structure, indigenous culture and political
development of each region and country.
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Potential for further research in the field of civil society and democracy in
Bangladesh may be considered in two dimensions. Both are important to reach a more
comprehensive and concrete understanding of civil society and its political relations. One is
investigating deeply inside the relationship between civil society organizations and local
governments coupled with network analysis among civil society organizations. Other
dimension is comparative—comparing the civil society of Bangladesh with that of other
democratic developing countries like India or The Philippines to concretely determine the
reasonable extent or end for a civil society to contribute in democratic consolidation and
point out the prime political, social or economic institutions or combination of institutions
where actual key to democratic consolidation may be hidden in developing countries.
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Appendix A
Map of Bangladesh
(Source: Banglapedia at http://www.banglapedia.org/Atlas/bangladesh.htm
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Appendix B
Map of Rajshahi District
(Survey Area)
(Source : Banglapedia at http://www.banglapedia.org/HT/R_0079.HTM)
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Appendix C
Survey Questionnaire
(Bangla version of the following questionnaires were used for the survey)
Survey on Civil Society Organizations in Bangladesh, Rajshahi District 1
Name of the Organization:
Address:
Sub-district Rajshahi.
Address of the central office if your organization is a local chapter:
Respondent’s official designation in the organization:
• This is strictly a research survey having no relation with government, private organizations or
any International door agencies.
• Organization’s director or whoever is responsible for the daily operations of your organization
will answer and help the surveyor to fill in the questionnaire.
• Please select the answers that best represent your organization.
• The answers given in this survey can be individual respondent’s point of view and do not
necessarily have to represent the point of view of the organization.
• Some questions in this survey may not apply to your organization. Feel free to skip these
questions.
• If your organization is a local chapter then please try to answer your questions from the point of
view of the organization as a whole. If you are not able to do so, please answer from the point
of view of your local chapter.
• The identity of respondent to this survey will be kept confidential.
• Thank you very much for your kind cooperation.
[Section I: Basic information about the civil society organization]
Q1.1. Which of the 13 classification listed below best describes your organization? (Please circle only one)
1. Agriculture and farmer related organization
2. Economic or business organization
1 The questionnaire was structured considering the objectives of both the Project on Civil Society, State and
Culture in Comparative Perspective and the objectives and hypothesis for the present study.
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[Section I: Basic information about the civil society organization]
Q1.1. Which of the 13 classification listed below best describes your organization? (Please circle only one)
3. Agriculture and farmer related organization
4. Economic or business organization
5. Labor union or federation
6. Education and research related organization
7. Cultural organization
8. Government or administration-related organization
9. Social Welfare organization
10. Professional organization (medical, legal, education, engineers etc.)
11. Citizen’s group
12. NGO (including foreign or international organization)
13. Religious organization
14. Recreational or sports related social organization
15. Other, ……………………Please specify.
Q 1.2. Indicate below which national and local policies are of interest or relevant to your organization’s
activities? Choose all that apply.
1. Financial policies (Management of govt. money)
2. Fiscal policies (Government tax, debt…)
3. Trade and international commerce policies
4. Industrial promotional policies
5. Civic engineering, construction and public works policies
6. Transportation and traffic policies
7. Communication and information policies
8. Scientific technology and research policies
9. Local development policies/Rural Development
10. Diplomatic policies
11. International exchange, cooperation and aid policies including foreign debt problem
12. National defense and security policies
13. Law and order
14. Justice and human rights
15. Local government and administrative policies
16. Labor polices
17. Social welfare
18. Agriculture
19. Consumer protection policies
20. Environment, energy and natural resources policies
21. Healthcare policies
22. Education, academic, sports and recreational policies
23. Poverty alleviation
24. Culture and religion
25. Others,……………
Q1.3. What is the main purpose of your organization and the primary goal of your organization’s activities?
Choose all that apply
1. Providing information to members
2. Pursuing economic profit for members
3. Protecting the standard of living and rights of the members/clients
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4. Providing education and training opportunities for members/clients
5. Advocating on behalf of the members in order to gain subsidies from government
6. Assisting members in licensing and registration procedures
7. Providing policy recommendations based on technical knowledge for public policy making
8. Providing education and information for the good of the general public
9. Providing service to the general public.
10. Providing funds to other organizations
11. Others___________
Q1.4. Is your organization registered with any ministry or institution?
Yes___ No________
Q1.4A.If yes, name the ministry or institution_________________________
Q1.5. When was your organization founded?
Q1.6. How many members does your organization have? (Round off the exact number)
Individual Members Member organization (If it
has*)
*If your organization is an umbrella organization/ federation compiling other member organizations, like
ADAB, NGO Federation, Federation of Labor Union, Came etc.
Q1.7. Does your organization receive funds or some other type of financial assistance from outside
sources besides membership fee? If yes, in the space below, please write the names of the organizations or
government agencies that have provided financial assistance to your organization.
Yes_______ No____________
If yes, Name of the organization or agency ______________________________
Q1.7A: Are the financial assistances accompanied by condition? Yes .. NO….
Q1.8. How many employees does your organization have?
(1) Full time employees ________(2) Part time employees _______(3) Volunteers ____
Q1.9. What was your organization’s budget in Taka in the year 2004 or 2005
In 2004 ____________ or In 2005_____________ (a round figure is Ok)
Q1.10. What geographic area does your organization mainly encompass in conducting its activities?
1. Union/Ward-- 2.Subdistrict / Municipality--, 3. District--, 4. National --5. Global--.
Question 1.10A: When a policy related problem or incident occurs in the geographical area indicated
in Q1.10, how much influence does your organization have on these problems? Please Identify.
1. Strong influence 2. Some influence 3. Little influence 4. Hardly any influence 5. No
influence.
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[Section II Nature of Interaction with the State and Political Parties]
Q2.1. Circle the statement that describes the relationship your organization has with the government or
local government. Choose all that apply.
1. Accredited or approved by the government
2. Licensed by the government
3. Administrative guidance provided by the government
4. Cooperating with and supporting policies and budget activities of the government
5. Exchanging opinions with the government
6. Sending representative to council and /or advisory bodies of the national government
7. Offering positions to government officials after retirement
8. Receiving government funds or grants.
9. Receiving foreign fund through the government
10. Having joint projects or program with the government.
Q2.2. What are the obstacles or problems that you face in your interaction with the government (like
getting registration, approval of projects, grants etc. or negotiating your demands, pursuing for certain
policy or budget grant). Select all that apply.
1. Corruption in the Administration
2. No cooperation from the office staff
3. Over inspection by the government
4. Bureaucratic complicacies and red tapism
5. Unwanted political interference and pressure
6. Conditions entangled with foreign and government funds
7. Division and irregularities within your own organizations
8. Other______________________________________
Q 2.2A. How does your organization solve those obstacles or problems? Choose all that apply?
1. Bribe the officers
2. Use personal, friendship network to pursue or pressurize the administrative officials by
political leaders or high ranking officers.
3. Show political support to the party in power and use the political influence to get your case
done by the administration.
4. Other___________________________________________
Q 2.3. What type of relationship and communication do you have with political parties? Choose the
statement which best corresponds to your organization’s action today and ten years before.
1=Never communicate, 2=Rarely communicate, 3= Communicate about half the time, 4= Usually
communicate, 5= Always communicate
Political Parties Now Ten years before
Bangladesh Nationalist Party 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Bangladesh Awami League 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Jatiyo Party (including factions) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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Bangladesh Communist Party (any
faction)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Others 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Q2.4. During national elections, has your organization taken any of the following actions, and if so how
frequently? Choose the statement which best corresponds to your organization’s actions today and ten
years ago.
1= Never, 2= Some of the time, 3= About half the time, 4= Most of the time 5= Always
Today
Ten years ago
1. Played a role for nomination and election for
a particular candidate
2. Recommended a member/client of your
organization as a party/election candidate.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. Launched campaign for free and fair election 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
4. Participated as independent observers at
different polling stations during the election
day.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
5. Other………………………… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Q. 2.5. When your organization appeals to government/ administrations/ political parties, how often do
you take any of the measures listed below?
1=Never, 2=some of the time, 3=about half the time, 4=Most of the time, 5=Always
(1) Contacting the parties in the cabinet (by personal interviews, phone calls, with the
help of a broker etc.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(2) Contacting the opposition parties (by personal interviews, phone calls, with the
help of a broker etc.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(3) Contacting governmental department and agencies (by personal interviews, phone
call, with the help of a broker etc.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(4) Helping to draft legislative bills for political parties or governmental organization.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(5) Presenting research results or technical information to political parties and/or
government ministries. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(6) Sending representatives to local or national councils and /or advisory bodies to the
government 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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(7) Asking general organizational members to write letters or make
phone calls to political parties or government administration 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(8) Engaging in mass protests or demonstrations
(9) Organizing seminars, round table meeting, rally etc.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(10.) Holding press conferences in order to publicize ideas and let know organizations
position on different issues and incidents. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
(11) Forming coalition with other organizations or NGOs
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Q.2.6.Does your organization or any member have personal relationship with any of the following persons?
(Choose all that apply)
1. An elected parliament member,
2. A leader of the ruling party,
3. A leader of the opposition parties,
4. A mayor / Union Chairman
5. A journalist
6. A chief or a section chief from a department of a government/local administration (Secretary, D.C.
S.P. UNO),
7. A chief or a staff of an international organization, international NGO,
8. A judge or a magistrate of the national or local court.
Q2.7A. Has your organization ever succeeded in having a budget, policy, action or decision it favored
being implemented by a national or local government? Yes_ No _
Q 2.7.B. Has your organization ever succeeded altering a budget, policy, action, decision, or blocking the
implementation of a policy, decision, it did not favor? Yes_ No _
Q2.8. Do you think that your organization is an autonomous one and can function independently from the
government and political parties?
Yes_________ No___________
Q2.8A. If your answer is yes in which way do you think your organization is autonomous and
independent? (Choose all that apply)
1. Your organization is well reputed and is backed by the foreign donor groups. So you can easily adopt
your new policies and implement your projects.
2. As your organization has good relation and informal link with the government and political party you
don’t have to face any unwanted political pressure or control.
3. The policies of the present government and your organization are very much interrelated so you don’t
face any political interference.
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4. Local elites and Mastans (hooligan) now benefit from your activities and you no more go against the
interest of the status-quo. So you can do your work normally.
5. As you have been able to develop better network or coalition with other like minded organizations, you
have a strong platform to speak out and it protects your autonomy too.
6. We are able to provide by ourselves the major portion of our financial need
7. Other______ ________________________________
Q2.8B If your answer is no then why do you think that your organization doesn’t enjoy autonomy?
(Choose all that apply)
1. You are always under government scrutiny and unwanted direction
2. You often have to bribe the government through cash or kind.
3. You have to form your policy and project as directed by the donors with very little space for autonomy.
4. Financially you are very much depended on government and donor agencies
5. The local elite and hooligans are often creating obstacles in your everyday activities, demanding
political rent and turning the government and the public opinion against you.
6. There is often pressure from the opposition or party in power to abide by their ideology and decisions.
So you cannot act independently.
7. Executives and members of the organization give more preference to their political identity than the
interest of the organization.
8. Others______ _____________Please specify.
Q2.9. Do you think that your organization is somehow involved in national or local politics? Choose the
statement that best reflects your organization’s overall activities.
Yes_______ No__________
Q2.9A. If yes, does your organization involve in politics on its own or is your organization approached by
outside sources to become involved in politics? (Choose only one)
1. Most of the time we are approached by outside sources.
2. There is a balance between internal and external drives
3. Most of the time, we get involved on our own.
4. For our existence there is no other way but to meddle in politics.
[Section III Relationship among the civil society organizations]
Q 3.1 What sources does your organization uses to get information for its activities? Rank, in order of
importance, three from the list below.
1__________________, 2. _____________________, 3. ______________________
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1. Government
2. Local government
3. Political parties
4. Parliament members
5. Elected representative of the local government
6. Scholars or professionals, think tank
7. The mass media (Radio, TV, Newspaper)
8. Technical or trade papers
9. Foreign government
10. Foreign NGOs, international organizations etc.
11. Other domestic organization with similar interests
12. Members of your organization
13. Business companies
14. Others _______________
Q 3.2. How many times has mass media mentioned your organization during past 3 years? Write the
approximate number of times your organization has appeared on national or private television and/or in
any national or local newspaper or magazine. __________________ times
Q 3.3. To what extent do you think the following groups influence politics in Bangladesh? Rate each of
the following groups on a scale from 1 to 7 in terms of political influence. ( 1 stands for very little
influence, 7 stands for a lot of influence, and 4 is the neutral point.
1. Trade (labor) unions and federations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
2. Agricultural Organization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
3. Economic, business, and employers organization 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
4. Government Bureaucrats 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
5. Political Parties 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
6. The Mass Media 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
7. Large business /corporations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. Scholars and academicians 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
9. Consumer Organization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
10. Welfare Organizations, NGO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
11. Professional Groups
12. Women movement organizations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
13. Local governments 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
14. Foreign government and International donor agencies 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
15. Religious Organizations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Q3.4. What type of relation and cooperation does you organization has with the following groups? Rate
the following groups on a scale from 1 to 7 in terms of cooperation with your organization.
1 stands for uncooperative, 7 stand for cooperative and 4 is the neutral point.
1. Trade (labor) unions and federations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
2. Agricultural Organization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
3. Economic, business, and employers organization 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
4. Government Bureaucrats 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
5. Political Parties 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
6. The Mass Media 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
7. Large Business /Corporations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. Scholars and Academicians 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
9. Consumer Organization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
10. Welfare Organizations, NGO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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11. Professional Groups
12. Women movement organizations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
13. Local governments 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
14. Foreign government and International donor agencies 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
15. Religious Organizations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
[Section IV Problems and Prospect in the context of Civil Society in Bangladesh]
Q4.1. Below are listed important political decisions and events that have taken place in the last 15 years.
Please scale your organizations Participation, Position and Satisfaction to each of these decisions and
events. (if the event took place before the establishment of your organization then you are free to skip
those events).
1. 12 th Amendment of the Constitution for the reintroduction of parliamentary system of government
in Bangladesh.
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
2. Movement for a caretaker government in 1996 and the 13 th Amendment introducing caretaker
government system.
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
3. The water treaty with India for fair distribution of Ganges water in 1996.
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
4. Trial of Bangabondhu Shiek Mujibor Rahman Murder case
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
5. 14 th Amendment of the Constitution for Women’s representation in the parliament
Participation: 1._______ 2._________ 3. _________
Position: 1._______ 2._________ 3. _________
Satisfaction: 1._______ 2._________ 3. _________
6. National Strategy for Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction or Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
(PRSP)
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
7. The government decision to deploy Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to control the deteriorating law
and order situation.
Participation:1. No participation___ 2.Participation_________ 3.Strong participation ____
273

Position: 1.Against_____ 2 Neutral._________ 3.Favor _________
Satisfaction: 1.Dissatisfied_____ 2.Satisfied_________ 3.Very Satisfied _________
Q. 4.2. Is your organization involved in any of the following issues? Choose as many issues that
correspond to your organization’s actions. In which way you are involved in those issues- advocacy
(Negotiating and pressurizing the government in different ways and providing public education) or
service providing (materially helping citizens on those matters such as health clinic, financial aid,
legal aid, school, skill training etc.) ? You can circle both if it applies to your organization.
1. Political and human rights
a. by advocacy …………… b. by service providing……….
2. Rural development
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
3. Law and order
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
4. Women’s right
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
5. Education
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
6. Public health
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
7. Environment
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
8. Labor right and Unemployment
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
9. Corruption
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
10. Street Politics and Hartal (strike) Culture
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
11. Separation of the Judiciary from the executive branch of the Government
a. by advocacy……………. b. by service providing ……….
Q.4.2A. Do you think that there are some positive effects through activities of your organization
and other civil society groups on those issues you have pointed out?
Yes…………… No………………. Partially……………………
Q4.3. Is your organization involved in grass-roots level activities (for example micro-credit, education,
skill training, health and nutrition, relief and rehabilitation and so on)?
Yes…………. No…………
Q.4.3A. If Yes, Please specify your area of activity, you may select all that apply.
1. GO-NGO cooperation for rural development
2. Developing group network
3. Women empowerment
4. Local representation and ventilation of grievances to the authorities
5. Education and literacy
6. Health education and health service
7. Legal and human rights
8. Economic empowerment
9. Social and political awareness and participation
274

Q. 4.3B. How would you evaluate performance of your organization and the over all performance of
NGOs in those sectors that you have selected in question 4.3A. ? (1 stands for very little progress, 7 stand
for a lot of progress, and 4 is medium progress).
Performance of your organization: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Over all performance of the NGO sector: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Q. 4.4. How would you evaluate the role of international NGOs/ organizations and donor agencies in
strengthening civil societies in Bangladesh? (1= negligent, 7= highest and 4= medium).
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Q. 4.4A. Have your organization been benefited in any way by an international NGO or
organization?
Yes ________No___________
If yes, then in which way (Choose all that apply)
1. Financial assistance/donation a. directly
b. through a national big NGO
2. Technical assistance
3. Your organization was formally a branch of a foreign NGO
Q 4.5. Do you think that civil society organizations can successfully create strong pressure or influence
upon government in policy formation, in Bangladesh?
Yes………… No……………….
Q 4.5A If the answer is Yes, can you give some recent examples?
_____________________________________________________
Q4.5B . If the answer is No, why do you think that civil society organizations hardly can create a strong
pressure or influence upon government in policy formation, in Bangladesh? Choose all that apply.
1. Because they lack unity and strong network
2. Because most civil society organizations are partisan. They are influenced and controlled either
by the government or the opposition.
3. Most groups are not well organized
4. Advocacy groups are very few in comparison to service providing NGOs in Bangladesh.
5. The government and the politicians have no formal/informal obligation to pay attention to the
demands of civil society groups.
6. Patron–client relationship is still very strong in Bangladesh.
7. Others..(Please point out the reason)……………………..
Q4.6. What are the actions that civil society organizations could do in order to have a more effective
participation in forming government policies? Choose all that apply.
1. Create a stronger network with similar organizations
2. Ensure better accountability and democratic norm within the organizations themselves.
3. Demand responsible action from elected representative
4. Increase awareness among public on major social and political issues and policies
5. Come out of the formal/informal influence by political parties upon civil society organizations.
6. Others…(Please point out )……………………………….
275

Thank you for your patience and kind cooperation.
Signature of the interviewer…………………date……….
.
Signature of the interviewee………..
A Survey on Civil Society Organizations in Bangladesh, 2006
Open-ended Questions 2
(a) For politicians and government administrators
Interviewee___________________
Designation and Address_________
_____________________________
Date_________________________
1. Could you please explain what is the relationship between your organization or administrative unit and
civil society organizations (like NGO, cooperatives, professional group, labor union, chambers of
commerce etc.). What type of cooperation and interaction is taking place?
2. In which way do you think these civil society organizations help the government?
3. What type of cooperation do you extend to these organizations both officially and personally?
4. How would you evaluate the role of civil society organizations in formulation of government policies as
well as in their implementations?
5. How would you evaluate the role of civil society organizations in different development projects?
6. What type of people do you give importance to, when they come to you for solving a problem and for
settling a dispute?
A single citizen with the reference of an influential person, or
A group or representative of an organization, NGO, cooperative or a professional group, union or
A group having affiliation with a political party?
7. How do you regard members of different civil society organizations?
As a citizen or normal voter of the area or a supporter of the government or the opposition?
9. According to your own judgment or way of thinking, what type of role should such civil society
organizations play in the society and state?
2 Often the interviewees have been asked questions out side the format as supplementary questions. Besides,
some of the government officials and NGO officers have been inquired into particular matters that are related to
their function and jurisdiction of control like, officials rules on cooperatives, NGO activities. Again professors
and citizen groups and labor union leaders were also particularly asked about their related professional groups
276

(b) For scholars and civil society leaders
Interviewee___________________
Designation and Address_________
_____________________________
Date_________________________
1. Which portion of the society and what type of organizations do you regard as civil society? Please
answer from theoretical point of view as well as in the context of Bangladesh.
2. Where would you place civil society that you observe in Bangladesh? And Why?
(a) Against the government,
(b) In cooperation with the government or
(c) somewhere in the middle?
3. Is it possible to separate civil society or civil society organizations from the political sphere of the
country? Whom do you think is more influential in this case?
(a) The government is more successful and has penetrated the civil society organizations through
patronage, clientelism, nepotism, corruption and bureaucratic chain and using it according to its wish?
(b) The civil society has gained enough strength to keep the government’s actions within its limits and
ensure democracy? Or,
(c) The situation is something in between, with the government in an advantageous position?
4. How would you evaluate the role of civil society in development and democratization of Bangladesh?
5. Do you think that, performance of civil society at the grass root level is remarkable while at the national
level is rather frustrating or the opposite or something in the middle? Could you please explain the reasons
behind your position?
6. Whatever is the success or failure of civil society organizations in Bangladesh, we may observe that the
number of civil society organizations here is pretty large. What may the reason for such proliferation of
organizations? What type of organizations do you think are common here- service providing or advocacy
groups?
7. How would you evaluate the role and influence of donor countries, International development
organizations and International NGOs in the development and performance of civil society in present
Bangladesh?
(If the interviewee is affiliated with an international development organization)
8. Could you please explain your organization’s objectives in relation to the development of civil society
in the developing countries and specially Bangladesh?
a. What type of projects have you taken in the past and at present for strengthening the civil society?
b. What are the outcomes that you are getting through these strategy and projects? Are they encouraging?
or frustrating?
c. If the outcome is not encouraging, what may be the problem? In your way of setting the strategy and
estimating the outcome? or in the indigenous setting of these countries? Could you please explain?
277

CSO Case Study Data Collection Format
1. Type of Organization
2. Name of the organization
3. Self Introductory brochure or booklet (if available)
4. Organization’s historical development
5. Organization’s constitution, objectives and membership pattern
6. Nature of Activities
7. Financial sources and relationship with the financing actors
8. Relationship with the media
9. Relationship with other organizations
10. Relationship with the authority/government administration
11. Style and nature of negotiating with/ pressurizing the authority/government
12. Style and nature of inspection, pressure or interference the organization experiences from
the authority, government and political parties
13. List of successes of the organization in realizing its objectives and in its dealing with the
government
14. List of failure of the organization in realizing its objectives and in its dealing with the
government
15. Reasons for the success and failures
278

Appendix D
Survey Report
Survey on Civil Society Organizations in Bangladesh, Rajshahi District
Purpose: The objective of the survey is to understand the basic trend and characteristics of the civil
society organizations (CSO) in Bangladesh and their relationship to society, state and politics.
Survey Area: Rajshahi District consisting of 9 Sub-district and Rajshahi Metropolitan city. It is the
capital of North Zone of Bangladesh. Name of each sub-districts are-Poba, Durgapur, Puthia,
Godagari, Bagmara, Mohonpur, Tanore, Charghat, Bagha.
Survey Method: The survey was conducted with the help of surveyors who directly interviewed the
president or representative of the sampled organizations and filled in structured questionnaires
accordingly.
Survey Population: In Bangladesh there is no yellow book or any directory providing information of
non-government organizations. For the survey, non-profit and non-government organizations
registered or enlisted by any ministry or institution has been regarded as the target population.
However, full statistics of all these organizations are not available at one office or directory.
Accordingly, following types of organizations were targeted with their list being collected from the
affiliated government offices or institutions. In total the target population is 3768 3 . By category they
are:
1. 2540 Cooperatives registered under the ministry of Local Government, Rural Development
and Cooperatives, provided by the Cooperative Directorate, Rajshahi.
2. 793 Organization registered as Voluntary Social Organizations under the Ministry of Social
Welfare, collected from the Social Welfare Directorate, Rajshahi.
3. 129 NGOs according to the ADAB Directory of NGOs-2003 (updated and adjusted).
4. 108 Youth Groups registered under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, collected from the
Youth Directorate at Rajshahi. 4
5. 99 Labor Unions registered under the Ministry to Labor and Employment collected from
Labor Directorate Rajshahi. 5
6. 45 University of Rajshahi based registered cultural, academic, professional organizations
were collected from the Rajshahi University Office.
7. 21 prominent trade organizations in Rajshahi District as provided by the Chambers of
Commerce Rajshahi.
8. 33 registered Professional Groups. List formulated by consulting administrative officers of
Rajshahi District, University Professors and other local senior residents. 6
Sampling method: The total population of Civil Society Organizations is 3768. Target
population initially was 400. So with an expectation of 30% answer rate, the sample
3 This is a rough estimate of the total population of civil society organizations in Rajshahi city as the list of
trade groups and professional groups are not complete and even the list provided by the government offices
were found to be not updated with full addresses.
4 As the same organization can be registered with more than one ministry, there is a few possibility of
overlapping, especially in the case of social welfare organizations, NGOs and youth groups.
5 These lists of cooperative, social welfare groups, NGOs, labor union and youth groups were organized and
divided according to 9 sub-districts and Rajshahi city area.
6 Formal official list of trade groups and professional groups were not available.
279

population was made 1227 through random sampling with 3 as the random number. Every 3 rd
organization from the population lists was included in the sample list. This is about 33% of the total
population. To avoid bias, sample list of 1227 organizations were again divided into 400 groups with
3 organizations coming serially in each group. The surveyor had to try his/her best to interview only
one organization from each group with the first organization in each group getting first priority and
the 3 rd organization getting the 3 rd priority. If any organization is not available from one group, then
more than one organization can be interviewed from the next group. As the time and budget was fixed
and there was no chance of extension, the latter provision had to be included.
Sampling Population: Below are the numbers of sampled civil society organizations belonging to
different categories.
Table A-1 sampled civil society organizations belonging to different categories
Categories
Sample Size
1 Different Types of Cooperatives 838
2 Registered Voluntary Social Welfare Organizations 260
3 NGOs based on ADAB Directory 2003 35
4 Organizations listed under Youth Department 33
5 Labor organizations listed under Labor Directorate 32
6 Chambers of Commerce and trade organizations 6
7 Professional Groups 11
8 Rajshahi University based cultural, educational and professional
groups
Total 1227
12
Data Collection: The survey for Rajshahi District took place in September and October 2006.
(Particularly, From 9 September to 2 October, 2006)
Surveyors, that is 19 graduate students of Rajshahi University and one undergraduate student
of Bangla College as research assistant were contacted before hand. The first formal briefing session
with the surveyors was held at Rajshahi University on 7 th September. Second, briefing session was
held in 9 September 2006 in the morning. In the briefing sessions the objective and the process of the
survey was explained thoroughly. The questionnaire was discussed in detail. Every surveyor was
given a note book to use it as a diary for the survey period and write down every point that they felt to
be noted. They were also instructed about what type of things they were allowed to note down.
The survey began on 9 th September. The surveyors at first went to the Sub-district office,
collected the local map of the each area and met the government officials in charge of the social
welfare and cooperatives and updated the sample list they were provided and gathered more
information about the location of the organizations. Then they began their survey. In total 504
Questionnaires were filled in from 9 sub-district and Rajshahi city. The surveyors were to go to the
field every day unless they had class/exam or urgent engagements. In every two days, they in person
came to meet the researcher and submitted the filled in questionnaires and she checked those in front
of them, so that they don’t do the same mistakes again. Then they were given enough fresh
questionnaires for the next two days. The number of filled in questionnaire submitted and the number
of fresh questionnaire distributed for each day and the number of working days for each surveyor
280

were, recorded down. Everyday, from time to time, the researcher kept contact with them over phone.
Whenever necessary they also rang me. Table A-1 shows how many questionnaires were filled in
each days.
Table A-2 Questionnaires filled in each day
Date Number of Questionnaire filled in Percent (%)
20060909 9 1.8
20060910 4 .8
20060911 61 12.1
20060912 50 9.9
20060913 60 11.9
20060914 65 12.9
20060915 37 7.3
20060916 39 7.7
20060917 51 10.1
20060918 42 8.3
20060919 44 8.7
20060920 18 3.6
20060921 2 .4
20060922 9 1.8
20060923 7 1.4
20060924 3 .6
20060925 1 .2
20060928 1 .2
20061002 1 .2
Total 504 100.0
281

Problems faced initially: Just after beginning the survey, different types of practical problem began
to show up. The addresses provided in the list were not complete. There was no phone directory to
find out the contact number of the organizations or make appointment before hand. The biggest
problem was locating the cooperatives and finding the responsible person to answer the questions as
they did not have any permanent office. There was also problem with the long list of cooperatives
provided by the cooperative office. A good number of cooperatives in sample list have been found to
be non-existent or have been extinct. The same problem occurred in all Sub-districts. Surveyors had
to rely on the information provided by the Sub-district office and then by the local people and walk
for hours to find the addresses. There was lots of wastage of time and money. Moreover, in the case
of Social Welfare groups there had been also difficulties in locating the organizations as they have
changed their addresses or the organization is not active any more.
New Decisions taken during the Survey: So considering the time and budget of the survey, after an
acceptable number of cooperatives were interviewed, further interview with cooperatives were
stopped on the 14 th , September, 2006. The surveyors were ordered to give more emphasis on social
welfare groups, clubs and NGOs. Moreover, from 15 th September the besides sample list, they were
also given the total population list of social welfare organizations and NGOs. These two new
decisions were inevitable for finishing the survey in time and reaching the target with the limited
budget. To avoid biasness, the surveyors each day were to go to a certain zone (Union- A sub-district
is divided into unions) of a sub-district and interview available and active civil society organizations
of that union found in the list provided. Next day they went to survey in another union.
Survey output: Out of 3768 total organizations, 1227 were sampled for the survey. Out them 504
organizations of different category responded, so the answer rate is 41 Percent. The survey represents
13.5 % of the total population with an answer rate of 41%. The Table A-2 shows the statistics of the
all three steps-Population, sampling and interviewed CSOs. In bracket is percentage of the respondent
to the total population of each group.
282

Table A-3 The statistics of the all three steps-population, sampling and interviewed
CSOs
Categories
Total
Population
Sample
Size
Interviewed CSOs (% to
the total population)
1 Different Types of Cooperatives 2540 838 193 (7.6%)
2 Registered Voluntary Social Welfare 793 260 243 (31%)
Organizations
3 NGOs based on ADAB Directory 2003 129 35 22 (17%)
4 Organizations listed under Youth Department 108 33 13 (12%)
5 Labor organizations listed under Labor
Directorate
99 32 9 (9%)
6 Chambers of Commerce and trade organizations 45 6 6(28%)
7 Professional Groups 21 11 6 (18%)
8 Rajshahi University based cultural, educational
and professional groups
33 12 9 (20%)
Total (Answer rate 41% ) 3768 1227 504 (13.5%)
However, according to output of the data, the interviewed organizations again may be classified
according to the ministry or institution they have identified their affiliation with as shown in Table A-
3.
Table A-4 The CSO under affiliated ministry of institutions
Affiliated Ministry of Institutions
CSOs
1. Cooperatives-Ministry of Local government Rural Development and Co-operatives 186 (7.3%)
2. Social Welfare organizations-Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of health 237 (30%)
3. NGOs-Registered with Ministry of Social Welfare and NGO Affairs Bureau 22 (20.9%)
4. Youth Groups Registered with Ministry of Youth and Sports 10 (9%)
5. Labor Union (Registered with Ministry of Labor and Employment) 9 (9%)
6 Rajshahi University Group 17 (31%)
7 Registered with other ministries and institutions (Professional and Trade
9 (20%)
Organizations)
8 Women Groups (Registered with Ministry of Women and Child Affairs)* 14
Total 504 (13.5%)
*Note: The women organizations are mixed in the cooperative groups, youth groups and few are in the list of
social welfare organizations.
283

Again, the following Table A-4 shows how the CSOs have classified themselves as civil
society organizations and their percentage among the 504 respondent organizations.
Table A-5 CSO’s classification
Classification
CSOs
Agriculture and farmer related organization 92 (18.3%)
Economic or business organization 56 (11.1%)
Labor union or federation 16 (3.2%)
Education and research related organization 17 (3.4%)
Cultural organization 16 (3.2%)
Government or administration-related organization 1 (.2%)
Social Welfare organization 223 (44.2%)
Professional organization 8 (1.6%)
Citizen's group 2 (.4%)
NGO (including foreign or international organization) 33 (6.5%)
Religious organization 3 (.6%)
Recreational or sports related social organization 32 (6.3%)
Other type of organization 5 (1.0%)
Total 504
This shows that 44.2% organizations have identified themselves as welfare organizations while
18.3% as agriculture based. This is very obvious for an agrarian and developing country like
Bangladesh having a culture of voluntarism and accepting a large amount of foreign donation and
loan each year for human resource development and relief.
Field Visits: The researcher herself also visited the different areas where the survey was conducted
by private transport (Rent-A-Car). It was field trips to different areas sometimes with the surveyor in
charge of the area, often alone or with the survey assistant to me. The survey assistant was also sent to
different places alone. Here the researcher revisited the civil society organizations or the government
officers in charge of cooperative, others in charge of NGOs or Social Welfare organizations also met
the Sub-District Executive officers (UNO)— in charge of sub-districts. Some were kind enough to
answer inquiries and even give me interview about their relation to the civil society organizations in
their area. List of date and place for the filed visits are given below.
Field Visits in September, 2006
1. 10 th Poba Sub-district,
2. 12 th Mohonpur Sub-district,
3. 13 th Godagari Sub-district
4. 14th Tanore Sub-district
5. 15 th Durgapur Sub-district,
6. 17 th Bagmara Sub-district,
7. 19 th Charghat and Bagha Sub-district,
8. 21th Rajshahi city,
9. 27 th Puthia Sub-district and Rajshahi city.
284

Interviews and Case Studies: Besides the interview with structured questionnaires, the researcher
also interviewed some resource persons, for example, the Mayor and Parliament member of Rajshahi,
High Government Officials in charge of Cooperatives, Professors, NGO Executives, Sub-district head
and so on. Some interview was recorded with the permission of the respondent. Where they declined,
their answers were just noted down. Detailed information with the objective of doing case studies on
a labor union, three different types of NGOs, an advocacy organization, Chambers of Commerce and
a Professional Group have also been collected. In this connection, some surveyors also helped in
gathering information. This process continued even after the survey was formally over.
Questionnaire Cross-checking: When good number of filled in questionnaires began to pour in
every day, the researcher personally began to cross check each questionnaire and see for mistakes and
ambiguity and misses. Besides the name, address and string answers written in Bengali had to be
translated into English. As the surveyors were still going to the field the misses could be rechecked.
Besides, in most cases interviewers gave their contact numbers like (personal mobile number). So
they could be contacted if necessary. Afterwards, 5 more surveyors helped in this regard and cross
checking the 504 cases was finished by 27 September. These 5 surveyors were paid separately for
such assistance.
Data input, data cleaning and data analysis: The data input process began 28 th September. And it
took about two weeks to complete with the help of professionals. After coming back to Japan in
November 2006, inputted data have been rigorously cleaned and transformed from Excel to SPSS
format. After wards the actual data analysis process began.
285

Appendix E
I. List of Designation of Resource Persons Interviewed
1. Professor, Department of Anthropology, Rajshahi University
also the Chairman of the Rajshahi Chapter of Shujon-a national based citizen group. Recorded
interview on 23 April, 2006.
2. Professor, Department of Political Science, also Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, and ex-secretary
of Rajshahi University Teachers Association, Rajshahi University. Recorded interview on 23 April,
2006.
3. Professor, Department of Applied Physics, Ex-vice Chancellor of Rajshahi University. Recorded
interview taken on 8 th October, 2006.
4. Professor, Department of Applied Physics, Elected Member of the Syndicate and ex-secretary of
Teachers Association, Rajshahi University.- recorded interview taken on 8 th October, 2006
5. Professor, Department of Anthropology, and ex-vice Chancellor, Dhaka University. Documented
interview (due to technical problem with the recorder) taken on 21 st October, 2006.
6. Mayor, Rajshahi City Corporation, Elected Parliament Member. Documented interview (due to
technical problem with the recorder) taken on 30 th September, 2006.
7. TNO-Chief Executive Officer, Poba Sub-district, Rajshahi. Recorded interview, 10 th October, 2006.
8. Ex-TNO, Shathia – Subdistirct , Bangladesh. Recorded interview, 9 th October, 2006.
9. Senior Assistant Secretary (Government Officer), at present on deputation for PhD research at the
Institute of Bangladesh Studies, Rajshahi University. Recorded interview taken on 6 th May, 2006.
10. Rural development officer, BRDB, Poba Sub-district, Rajshahi. Recorded interview taken on 9 th
October, 2006 ( Introduced cooperative system and nature of BRDB management system).
11. Joint Registrar, Directorate of Cooperatives, Rajshahi Division, Rajshahi. Documented interview
taken on 19 April, 2006. (Introduced cooperative system in Bangladesh).
12. Officer in charge of Rajshahi Zonal Office, Tengamara Shobuj Shongho (TMSS). Documented
interview, 12 th October, 2006.
13. President, Labor Union, Rajshahi Sugar Mill, Rajshahi. Recorded interview taken on 26
September, 2006.
14. Convener, Rajshahi Shohor Rakkah Shangram Parishad,(citizen group). Recorded interview taken
on 28 th September, 2006.
286

II. List of Observation Notes used for the Describing and Analysis the Cooperatives and
Small Welfare Groups in Chapter Five
Each of the 20 surveyors who were assigned to interview the sample organizations with the
structured questionnaires, were given A5 size notebook to note down what they observe. They were
particularly asked to note down information and observation about the characteristics of the
organizations and the interviewee that may not be revealed through the structured questionnaire,
additional information that may come out through interviewing the organizations, the matters that the
interviewee seem to be avoiding, like political affiliation etc. and also their personal impression about
the organization, the study area and the survey itself. They were given the flexibility to write such
notes in daily basis or as a report and submit after the whole survey was over. As a result, some of the
surveyors wrote the notes, just like daily diary writings, other as a full fledged report. Though these
observatory notes are not well structured, they have provided genuine information about the grassroots
organizations from their personal observation and conversation with the organization leaders.
Such observations that have been verified through my personal field visits at the rural areas and local
administrative offices, have been considered as primary data for writing the section on the political
relations of the cooperatives and small welfare groups in chapter five. Following is the list of the
observatory notes used for present thesis. It must be mentioned that, these note are hand written and
are in Bangla language.
1. Jahangir Alam, Surveyor for Bagmara sub-district. Observation note submitted on 27 th
September, 2006. 23 pages note.
2. Momen Khan, Surveyor for Bagmara sub-district. Observation note submitted on 27 th
September, 2006. 30 pages note.
3. Selimuzzaman, Surveyor for Bagha Sub-district, Observation note submitted on 21st
Septemebr, 2006. 27 pages note.
4. A.S.M. Sarwar, Survyor for Rajshahi town and sub-urban areas, Observation note submitted,
on 25 th , September, 2006. 20 pages note.
5. Md. Jannatul Ferdous, Surveyor for Tanore Sub-district, Observation note submitted on 25 th ,
September, 2006. 37 pages note.
6. Mahmud Hasan, Surveyor for Tanore Sub-district, Observation report submitted on 25 th ,
September, 2006. 27 pages report.
7. Ahmed Murad Cowdhury, Surveyor for Durgapur Sub-district, Observation note, submitted
on 27 th , September, 2006. 22 pages note.
8. Md. Johurul Islam, Surveyor for Poba Sub-district, Observation note, submitted on 21 st
September, 2006. 33 pages note.
287

III List of Libraries from where the Newspaper Reports have been Searched and
Collected
News paper reports on civil society and civil society related events and movements
have been used in the present research in order to understand the civil society and political
relations in Bangladesh. The news paper reports have been sorted out with the help of 4
research assistance from the following libraries in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
1. Library for Transparency International Bangladesh, Gulshan, Progress Tower, Dhaka.
2. Public Library, Shahbag, Dhaka.
3. National Library and Archives, Agargoan, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka.
4. Library for Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Agargoan, Dhaka.
5. Community Development Library, 9/A Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
6. Library for National Institute of Local Government, Agargoan, Sherebangla Nagar,
Dhaka.
7. National Press Institute, Circuit house, Bailey Road, Dhaka.
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Appendix F
Selected Case Studies of Civil Society Organizations
This section provides brief case studies of four types of CSOs— Trade union,
Cooperative, Development NGO and Citizens Group. Each case study will focus on mainly
four points—basic information of the CSO, pattern of membership and election, relationship
among the leaders and members or beneficiaries and nature of interaction with the politics or
government.
I. Rajshahi Sugar Mill Labor Union 7
a. Basic Information
Rajshahi Sugar Mill Labor and Workers Union (from now on shall be termed just as
union) is registered under the Ministry of Labor and Employment since 1967. The union is
run on the basis of a detailed constitution. It represents 1234 members who are all labor and
office workers of the mill. The union posses two storied building located within the mill area,
where the office of the union is situated. Its main objective is protecting interest of the
workers and bargain with the authorities for wages, pension, and financial security for the ill
and injured workers. There are different ways through which the union may bargain and
negotiate with the authorities. Union is also given the democratic right to call on strikes.
Major financial sources of the union are membership fee, entrance free, monthly fee, special
fee, subsidy from the authorities and income from the property of the union. The union have
liaison with the other sugar mill labor unions joined under a federation and labor unions of
other industrial sectors.
b. Pattern of Membership and Election System
All labors and workers of Rajshahi Sugar Mill except security guards, office assistant
at the confidential section, are eligible to become members of the union and become a voter
and gain the right to contest in the union elections. They shall be always responsible for
paying the due fees in time, accept the decisions taken in the general council meetings and
7 The present case study is based on field visit, interview with the Labor Union leader, group discussion with
other workers and officers and the necessary paper materials-like constitution of the union, election results etc.
provided by the Rajshahi Sugar Mill, Labor Union Office.
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always work for the betterment of the union and interest of the workers. The union is run
through a 23 members’ executive committee with 17 members elected directly by the general
members in every two years. The committee, following constitutional rules shall work for the
implementing objectives of the union. In need they have the power to recruit necessary staffs
for running the union office and have the responsibility of financial affairs of the union. Such
decision shall be decided by the consent of the majority members of the committee. They can
take decisions for certain problem and issues, where the constitution remains silent. However,
most important responsibility of the committee is of bargaining with the mill authorities.
c. Relationship between leader and other members
The elected president of the executive committee is termed the collective bargaining
(CBA) leader. He is very powerful, has immense influence on the workers, and as well as on
other officers. He doesn’t work as a labor or worker after being elected and maintains a well
furnished office better than the office of the general manager of the mill. Status of the
elected leader and members are very different from a normal worker. Members of the
committee bargain on behalf of the rest of the workers for wage raise and other facilities.
However, voting system bring some democratic atmosphere in the union. Specially during
the election season, these leaders and other candidates has to pursue the workers who elect
them through a secret ballot. Practically, it has been observed that, the labor leader who
support the ruling party or those who are blessed by the ruling political leaders take over
actual power of the union and sometimes control of the mill itself. Even if these leaders do
not hold any elected post in the union, their influence and power are found every where.
c. Internal Politics and Reflection of National Politics
It has been found that this particular union is not totally controlled by the political
parties but also not independent of the political power. During elections of the executive
committee, the panels of candidates are formed according to party line that reflects the
national politics. However, though a panel is marked as BNP panel and another as AL panel,
candidates supporting other political parties (like some communist factions) may also be
found inside these panels. In most cases, influence of ruling party panel is huge among, the
members and the administration. However, there is no permanent voters’ bank for each panel.
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The voters’ decision changes with the change in national politics and performance of the
union president 8 . After going through the list of elected members and their political
affiliation, for 2001, 2003, 2005 9 , it had been found that election results reflected national
politics, in 2001 when AL was in power 10 of the elected members were from AL while 6
from BNP. On the other hand when BNP was on power in 2003 and 2005 the distribution
was just opposite with 9 BNP and 7 AL candidates elected in 2003 and 13 BNP and 4 AL
candidates elected in 2005. Within the sugar mill area influence of the labor union is
immense. The management recruits mill labors and workers with consultation of the union.
Each department of the mill administration has to move according to the wish of the labor
leaders. Central political leaders of Rajshahi district like parliament members, Mayor have
direct influence on the recruitment process and in determining sugar price and calling tender
for selling sugar 10 .
Rajshahi Sugar Mill Labor and Workers Union represent unions that are active in
medium sized, hardly profitable government industries, situated in a region far from the
central economic and production zone of the nation.
II. Pahar Pur Adarsho Shomobai Krishok Samity (Pahar Pur Ideal Farmers’
Cooperative) 11
a. Basic Information
In Bangladesh, there are varieties of cooperative with different status and monetary
power at different levels of the rural and as well as the urban society, mainly for providing
loans. At present the cooperative system in Bangladesh is under the control of the Ministry
of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperative and Bangladesh Rural
Development Board (BRDB) is in charge of the management of most of the cooperatives in
rural areas of Bangladesh. These cooperatives are organized mainly in two steps—Village
Cooperatives at the periphery and Central Cooperative located at each Sub-District. The
8 Group discussion with the Mill workers and Mill Engineer during field visit on 26 th September, 2006.
9 As provided by the office of the labor union.
10 The case study description is based on interview with President of the Labor Union of Rajshahi Sugar Mill
also information gathered through conversation with normal workers, labor officers, and engineer and lastly on
the documents provided by the sugar mill office on 26 th September , 2006.
11 The case study have been developed based on the field visit to Bagmara on 19 th September, 2006, information
the chairperson provided in the survey questionnaire and through personal interview as well as the observation
note provided by the surveyor Jahangir Alam, submitted 27 th September.
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central cooperatives committee is elected by the periphery cooperatives. Such cooperatives
are mostly formed by farmers but also by poor laborers, workers, fishers, small businessmen
and even destitutes. There are separate cooperatives for men and women. Periphery or
primary cooperatives are formed of 20 to 40 members at the villages; these groups again
elect one member to the college of electorate who ultimately elect the members to the
central committee at the union level amongst themselves 12 . At the rural area prime objective
of cooperatives is providing small-loans (5 to 20 thousand BDT) 13 to farmers and fishers
and small businessmen.
The cooperative under study is a normal periphery cooperative of 35 members who
are all male farmers. The cooperative is active in Bhobanaigonj union, under Bagmara subdistrict,
Rajshahi. It was established in 1984 and registered under the Ministry of Local
Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. Paharpur Cooperative is supervised by
the local officers of BRDB. It is a stable and old cooperative with a yearly budget of 150000
TK which means US$ 20205. This is rather a large budget in comparison to other
cooperatives in the area. The cooperative members have informed that besides loan it is also
engaged in other social welfare functions for its members and other villagers.
b. Pattern of Membership and election
The 35 members are all farmers living in the same area and they came together and
formed the group. Afterwards by contacting the BRDB office they became formally
organized, developed particular rules for the cooperative and with the help of the BRDB
office, registered themselves at the local cooperative office. First they had to form a common
capital with their personal saving and then began to receive loans from the BRDB office with
the supervision of the BRDB officers. They invest loan mainly for agriculture purpose and
irrigation. According to rule, the 6 members committee for the cooperative shall be elected
every year. However, for a long time there has not been any election and the chairman is
leading the cooperative for a long time. But, the chairperson is a popular person and has been
elected by fellow members to the electoral collage and ultimately elected as the chairman to
12 Interview with the BRDB Officer, Poba Sub-district, 9 th October, 2006.
13 Which means about US $ 70 to US $ 300.
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the central cooperative active at the Bagmara Sub-district. This central election was
conducted by the BRDB office.
c. Relation between the Leader and members
The cooperative has been identified to be involved in other social activities like
planting samplings, sending members for different employment trainings etc. So it is not
working just for the economic benefit of its members but also for their social wellbeing too.
In comparison to other members in the cooperative, the leader or the chairperson has been
found to be economically and socially in a better position. He is actively a supporter of the
ruling political party. With the help of BRDB officials and using his personal link with the
political leaders the chairman has brought better funds or programs for the cooperative.
However, this has been possible because of his position in the central cooperative and
relation with the higher ups which is hardly found in the case of other cooperatives.
d. Nature of Interaction with the government and politics
As the chairperson of Paharpur Cooperative is directly involved in politics, he have
led the cooperative into political actions. The cooperative chairman and members have been
found to be involved in different election related functions like, supporting and campaigning
for a particular candidate and again participating in programs for political awareness. The
cooperative besides, registration, receiving loans and guidance from the government are not
involved in other functions that may lead them to participate in policy making. For their
problem, they prefer to go directly to the leaders of the ruling party or the BRDB office or
Sub-District Administrative office rather than forming coalition with other cooperatives or
send petition etc. They hardly have any type of cooperation with social, economic or political
actors in the society, not even with NGOs. However, the chairperson admitted that before
having political connections they have faced problems like corruption, no cooperation and
bureaucratic complicacies in their dealing with the government offices for their loans and
registration. These problems were solved when they showed their political support to the
ruling party. He admitted frankly that political identity of the cooperative or its leader does
matter in decisions to sanction loans and government other facilities. The cooperative is
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hardly involved in any advocacy activities as the main objective of the members are not
networking or civic engagement but for some mutual economic benefit.
Despite of the fact, the cooperative thinks that it has some influence in their area it
works and it is autonomous. However, the reason for such autonomy is that first they have
now good relation with the ruling party, second, the welfare and economic objectives of the
organization resembles with the government policy and finally, the cooperative has been able
to build a stable common capital by itself since 1984 through lots of ups and downs. So now
it is not too much financially dependent on the government.
III. Thengamara Mahila Shobuj Shongho (TMSS) [Thengamara Women’s Green
Group] 14
a. Basic Information
Thengamara Mahila Shobuj Shongho (TMSS) is a well established development
NGO. It was first formed with the initiative of local organizers and after words received
foreign support and funds. TMSS is not as large or famous as BRAC or Grameen Bank,
however, it may be considered as a large NGO. Though it originated in northern region of the
country in 1980, it is now working nation wide and involved in the traditional micro-credit
and other social welfare activities like other development NGOs. TMSS covers 1614 unions,
247 sub-districts of 62 districts. It became involved with micro-credit in 1991 with the
financial loan provided by PKSF. It is involved in different sectors of activities like social
development, health, micro-finance, business promotion, education, human rights and gender,
fisheries & live stock, environment and forestry, agriculture and disaster management,
training etc. Interest rate for TMSS loan is 12.5% and for ultra poor 10%. TMSS have
received different national and international awards since 1986 till date for their performance
in social development, micro-credit and women empowerment. Among its 47 development
partners 16 are international development agencies or foreign embassies.
14 The case study has been written based on visit to TMSS Rajshahi Zonal office, Interview with the office in
charge 12 th October 2006, Annual Report of TMSS 2005 and TMSS website http://www.tmssbd.org/index.html
last intern access 5th December, 2007.
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. Nature of membership and election
TMSS is centrally governed by an executive committee consisting of 15 members and
they are elected by the general members of TMSS in every three years. The committee is
responsible for appointing the Executive director, selecting chartered accounting farm for
auditing, formulating TMSS policies and provide consultancies to run the organization. The
rule is that, in each zone or area where TMSS is active in the country, chairpersons of every
basic group that is sustainable for at least 3 years and also 1 or 2 local elites of the area
together join the general committee. Members of the general committee representing all
zones, vote for the members of the executive committee. The executive director is the
honorary secretary and she also has the power to appoint three more members from outside.
The process seems to be well thought and democratic for an organization. But if we observe
the member list in the Annual Report Book of 2005, then we may find that in this way only
two genuine beneficiary working at the periphery have been able to enter the executive
committee. Other is well established and famous social workers. This still may be considered
democratic in comparison to other development NGOs. The committee appoints the
executive director. However, since its initial age to date the executive director is the same
person and her picture hangs in the offices of the TMSS just the way the Prime Ministers
Picture hang in every government offices in Bangladesh. From the consideration of internal
democracy this may not be termed healthy. Actually Professor Hosne Ara Begum is the
legendary figure in TMSS. Without her leadership TMSS may not have developed into a
large NGO and her presence is necessary for the further enhancement of the NGO. The same
explanation goes for long leadership of the Professor Yunus of Grameen Bank and Fazle
Hasan Abed of BRAC. Charisma plays an important role in the development and strength of
large organizations in Bangladesh, just in the way it is important to party politics in
Bangladesh.
At the local level, just like other development NGOs, the micro-credit and other social
service are provided collectively to small group of beneficiaries. Each basic group is formed
of 10-30 women. First three days they discuss with the TMSS workers about their aim and
objectives. On the 4 th day training for micro-credit begins. Weekly meetings are held where
micro-credit as well as other types of social issues like sanitation, environment, women rights
etc. are discussed. Among them elections are held for the post of chairperson. Only in
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Rajshahi zone (that includes other neighboring districts of Rajshahi) number of such groups
under TMSS is 3543.
c. Relation among the NGOs and beneficiaries
As understood from the conversation and field visits, TMSS is working in the same way
as other development NGOs. It is a hierarchical managerial system, where the field workers
are trained in the central or zonal offices and they provide service to the beneficiary groups
accordingly. At group meetings of basic groups, the TMSS field worker coordinates the
meeting agenda and decides how the meeting will proceed and as well as collect the weekly
contribution of the members and their loan installments. Function of the NGO staff do not
provide any scope for considering the beneficiaries as equal member of the NGO staff, nor
can he/she consider herself equal to them. It is more like service provider and service
receiver relationship. Theoretically, it is expected that in time through the efforts of the NGO
staff the economic empowerment and development awareness of the beneficiaries these
groups will become autonomous. Practically there are very few instances of such
independency. The same comment may be made in the case of basic unit groups of other
development NGOs.
d. Nature of interaction with the government and politics
TMSS belong to the NGO group that was considered neutral CSOs during the 1990s.
TMSS still remains as a member of ADAB after its split and formation of a new coalition
named FNB. It maintains all the formal relationship with the government. TMSS participate
in every monthly coordination meeting with the District Commissioner and also at the subdistrict
level with the TNO. At the meeting they exchange their opinion, share problems with
the administration and also submit reports. The TMSS official in his interview admitted that,
his NGO do convey their opinion and advices to the government for rural development
policies. However, this is done in a hierarchical way. From the field the branch managers
convey their opinion to their higher bosses then it is conveyed to the zonal office. From zonal
office it goes to the central office. Then the central office consults the matter with the
government, PKSF and the donors.
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In the initial days, while working at the field, TMSS had problems with the local elites
due to clashes of interests. However, they have over come it in the last decade through
different initiatives like exchange of opinions between the prayer leaders and mosque
committees and different NGO officials. At present that is in 2006, local governments and
administrative units as well as local elites provide all the necessary cooperation to TMSS.
From the point of view of national politics and politicization of NGOs, according to the
NGO official TMSS tries to be in a neutral position. It did not break away from ADAB to
join FNB, again it is also not very active in ADAB functions. However, it has become tough
to work in a politicized and polarized environment. Naturally large NGOs enter into big
contract with the government on different social welfare projects. Often such joint venture of
NGO is considered as a political action by the opposition. When the opposition come to
power, that particular NGO is black listed by the government. Not only the parties to be
blamed. The NGO leaders have also made politicized decisions; there exists intra-NGO
tensions also. Moreover the NGOs are not totally transparent and not free from internal
problems. Taking all these together, in the coming days, it might be impossible to run a NGO
with out the shelter of a major political party.
IV. Rajshahi Rakkah Shangram Parishod-RRSP (Movement to Protect Rajshahi City)
a. Basic Information
Rajshahi Rakkah Shangram Parishod-RRSP (Movement to Protect Rajshahi City) is a
local citizen’s group organized by the middle class and elite persons of Rajshahi city with the
aim to protect the interest of the area, particularly Rajshahi city. The process for establishing
such organization began in 1997. The citizen group voice for the basic needs- like medical
treatment, drinking water supply, power supply, and gas supply of the people of Rajshahi,
environmental degradation in the area and against the government decisions to move
important offices and building from Rajshahi and point out irregularities, corruption, and
administrative failures found in Rajshahi. They articulate their interest through petition, press
conferences, round tables, seminar, public meetings arranged at open squares, rallies,
processions protesting certain events, sit in, hunger strike, giving ultimatums and calling all
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out strike (Hartal) 15 . Besides membership fee, other sources of finance are the local eminent
businessmen and sponsor organizations like banks, enterprises, and national dailies.
b. Nature of Membership and Election
Originally RRSP was formed by a few merchants in the town, but later have attracted
membership from all types of professions-teachers, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers and
other educated citizens. The membership pattern, executive committee, advisory committee
are based on written constitution. The executive committee is elected in every two years by
the members. Any citizen of Rajshahi may become a member of RRSP. However, only 140
citizens have been found formally member of the organization. It also has a 20 member
advisory committee consisting of local elite citizens of Rajshahi town. However, besides the
formal members the organization has the ability to ensure participation of a considerable
number of members and prominent citizens in the different events and activities organized by
RRSP.
c. Nature of relation between the leader and members
The RRSP is actually a group of like minded citizens belonging to the same social
class. Naturally the relationship between the leaders and members are so far congenial. It
have been observed that there are good number of members who are officially members but
not active at all. It is more common among the female members to become official members
due to their husbands’ involvement in the group. It is the executive committee that takes
decisions to organize the seminars, rallies and stage protests. Naturally all the petitions
placed to the authorities are decided by this committee. When the RRSP faces any problem
they try to solve the problems with help of their personal network and their relationship with
other professional organizations like the Bar Associations, Teachers’ Associations etc and
consultation with the advisory committee. In 2006, it is the convener not the Chair person
who has been found to be more active with his like minded fellow members in the name of
RRSP and received media attraction. This implies that, though RRSP is active and well
known CSOs, it is actually run by a few like minded leaders and concerned citizens.
15 Interview with the Convener, Rajshahi Shohor Rokkah Shongram Porishad, Rajshahi, 28 th September, 2006.
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d. Nature of interaction with the society and politics
Though the citizen group is working for the interest of the Rajshahi, it had been found
to be placed in an antagonistic position in relation to the Rajshahi city corporation governed
by the elected mayor of BNP— the party in power. In 2005 and 2006, RRSP had become
active in pointing out the irregularities found in the administration and protested against
government policies concerning Rajshahi. It came in direct conflict with the administration
protesting maltreatment of the patients in private clinics. The convener had even been
arrested and tortured by law enforcement forces 16 , this attracted the national media. The
organization claims that they have neither any relation with the political parties nor with any
political blocks. Rather they have come forward for the interest of the citizens of Rajshahi as
the political parties have failed to do so. The political parties (BNP, Jamat) to resist the
popularity of RRSP have supported the formation of new citizens groups, however, those
groups lack proper organizational strength and necessary citizen’s support. RRSP has very
good relation with press and media and cooperation with other non-political groups like
professional groups, economic groups etc. The organization has gained reputation and media
attraction for its movement of natural gas supply in the city.
However, if we go through the lists of advisory committee membership lists of the
RRSP, we may see presence of well reputed citizens of Rajshahi city that represents both the
BNP (but not Jamat) block and the AL and left block. However, the majority of members
belong to the left and AL block 17 . The secretary of RRSP though claim to be non-political,
have been found to be a former elected member of the Board of Directorates of Rajshahi
Chamber of Commerce during the AL regime 18 and in his young age had relation with left
organizations. Presently he is in a confronting position with the BNP and Jamat led
administration. During conversation with other citizens about RRSP, it had been found that,
the organization and its moves have been praised by the citizens but the over presence of
members of the latter block have discouraged the BNP and right minded citizens to engage in
the movement directly. For example, in the seminars organized by RRSP, good number of
university professors has participated. After going through their name list, it had been
16 As admitted by the Secretary of Rajshahi Rakkha Shongram Parishod, Interviewed on 28 th September.
17 Proceeding of a Round Table Meeting on Development of Rajshahi, Published by Rajshahi Rokkah
Shongram Parishad. Rajshahi: May, 2006.
18 Annual Report Book 2002, Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce.
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observed that all the teachers who presented there belong to the AL and left block. Besides,
the elites and civil society leaders that support the ruling coalition are already favored by the
government and administration. Because of the loyalty that they sold for their personal and
group benefits prevent them from joining any movements that protests government policy.
The polarization that have divided the whole society and civil society have refrained the
citizens from organizing in systematic movements in a united manner. Unless there is a
balance among both the blocks and truly non-political citizens groups are established, there
might be big difference in the manner of articulation by the CSOs and nature of government
responses with the change of regimes.
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Appendix G
Profile of Two Major Political Parties in Bangladesh
I. Bangladesh Awami League
Year of Establishment: 1949
Leaders: Founder leaders— Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, Shamsul Huq and Sheik
Mujibur Rahman; Leader that led the Independence Movement—Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman; Present leader—Sheikh Hasina Wazed (daughter of Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman).
Ideology: Socialism and secularism (during Pakistani period and also at the initial
years of independent Bangladesh). At present the party moves on with idea of liberal
democracy supporting market economy. With a foreign policy to develop better
friendship with neighboring India, AL terms the nation of Bangladesh as Bengali—
deriving such identity from its history, culture, attained sovereign and independent
Bangladesh through a united and determined struggle in the war of independence.
Naturally, the party has strong bond with the secular and left section of the society.
Party Type: Initially a revolutionary vanguard party, at present a catch-all party.
Voter’s Support: 40% of the total vote in 2001 general election (lost the election).
37% of the total vote in 1996 general election (won the election).
30% of the total vote in 1991 general election (lost the election).
Website: http://www.albd.org/autoalbd/index.php 19
Discussion:
Bangladesh Awami League (AL) is the vanguard party that led the independence
movement against Pakistani rulers. It was established in 1949 to represent the left leaning
faction of Muslim league of the then East Pakistan (present Bangladesh). In the course of the
Autonomy Movement of 1960s, AL became a popular regional party and came into
prominence under the charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujibor Rahman (Hossain,
2000:510). During the Pakistani period AL ruled the province with very little success in
democracy and ending up in corruption for a brief time (1956-1958) (Kochanek, 2000:532).
Its movement for loose autonomy from West Pakistan ultimately turned into an
overwhelming freedom movement. After a brief but bloody battle politically lead by Awami
19 In Bangladesh e-politics is not popular as the internet communication system is yet to develop to reach all
voters belonging to middle class. So the websites of the political parties may not be well developed, informative
and updated as it may be in other developed countries and even in neighboring India.
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League, Bangladesh became Independent in 1971 20 . Having Sheikh Mujibor Rahman as its
president, Awami League formed the first government and ruled until 1975.
Awami League in 1972 was composed of middle class, rural-based elite that was
steeped in the culture of patron-client politics. They were largely district and local town
lawyers and assistant lawyers and teachers who engaged in petty trade business. The party
was highly factionalized and was held together by patronage and charisma of Mujib. Mujib
ruled Bangladesh like a private fiefdom (Kochanek, 2000: 532). The behavior of AL during
this period reaffirms Lapalombara’s (1966:32) explanation for non-competitive one-party
rule in new developing countries. In the initial years of nation-building and state-building in
developing countries, the political leaders often try to avoid the luxury of pluralistic
democracy and become sensitive to political opposition. This is what happened in the case of
newly independent Bangladesh. Moreover, internal corruption, pressure for modernization,
constant demand from the newly active social groups and left revolutionaries impelled AL to
take an one party solution that led military coup de-tate and end of the regime with the killing
of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Since, then, up to 1996 Awami league remained in
opposition party.
Just after the assignation of the leader, in 1975, Awami Leauge became disorganized
and fragmented, and could not emerge as any powerful opposition against the popular rule of
General Zia in the early 1980s. During the Ershad regime (another Militray general), at first
Awami League (under the leadership of Sheik Hasina daughter of the slain leader Mujibor
Rahman) showed some support and also participated in the controversial 1986 election under
the military government. However, later, it formed a strong platform to oppose the autocratic
government and played an important leading role in the combined movement against the
Military rule in 1990. In the first election after reintroduction of democracy in 1991 AL was
defeated despite of winning 30% votes, and was placed in opposition bench in the parliament.
During this time, the party emerged as a non-compromising opposition who preferred to go
to streets and engage in agitation than expressing grievances at parliament. The party also
showed success in gaining and taking advantage of support from some portion of the civil
society that included a few well known NGOs and bureaucrats. This section of the civil
20 The AL leadership with the support of all the citizens of Bangladesh, was accompanied by the military
leadership of the Bengali officers who defected from Pakistani army and the international support from India
and USSR.
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society actively participated in AL’s non-cooperation program, demanding resignation of the
BNP government and for free fair elections under a neutral care-taker-government. This
helped AL to come to power and it formed the government with the support from Jatiya Party
(former military dictator lead party) after 18 years in 1996. Since then the already politicized
civil society, entered a new faze of politicization and polarization. After, five years of its
rule, in 2001 election, ruling AL again lost to the coalition of Bangladesh Nationalist Party
and Jamat Islami Party.
II. Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Year of Establishment: 1978
Leader: Founding leader—Ziaur Rahman; Present leader—Begum Khalida Zia (wife
of Ziaur Rahman)
Ideology: Since its establishment BNP believes in liberal democracy with market
economy. BNP composed the idea of Bangladeshi nationalism—that draws a line of
distinction between the people of Bangladesh and the ethnic Bengalis of West Bengal
and project the image of Bangladesh as a distinctive Muslim Nation. Naturally the
party attracts support from the centrist and right section of the society using its anti-
Indian sentiment and religious sympathy.
Party Type: Initially Personalistic Party, at present Catch-all Party.
Voter’s Support: 41% of the total vote in 2001 general election (won the election).
34% of the total vote in 1996 general election (lost the election).
31% of the total vote in 1991 general election (won the election).
Website: http://www.bnpbd.com/ 21
Discussion:
Considering its origin, BNP may be termed as Personalistic party (Gunther and
Diamond, 2003:187) . 22 The assassination of AL leader Shiekh Mujibor Rahman, was
21 In Bangladesh e-politics is not popular as the internet communication system is yet to reach all voters
belonging to middle class. So the websites of the political parties may not be well developed, informative and
updated as it may be in other developed countries and even in neighboring India.
22 Personalistic party is considered as a vehicle for a leader or ruler to win election and exercise power. Such
parties are constructed or converted by an incumbent or a national leader exclusively to advance his or her
national political ambition rather than any ideology or program. Clientelistic network and distribution of
particularistic benefit are the strategies of such party that are often found to have weak, shallow and
opportunistic organizational base.
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followed by a series of coups and counter coups. In the consequence, General Ziaur Rahman,
a hero of the Independence war, established bureaucratic-military rule. Bangladesh
Nationalist Party had been constructed by the incumbent army ruler (General Ziaur Rahman)
exclusively to advance his national political ambition and civilize his military regime. BNP
then was a broad-based coalition of political forces opposed to Awami League drawn from
the military, the business community, pro-Chinese communist radicals, pro-Islamic elements,
and former members of the AL who opposed Mujib’s one party rule. Many of these
organizations were banned or ostracized as collaborators because of their pro-Pakistani
records during the AL regime. In contrast to AL counterparts, BNP members were drawn
from the upper strata of Bangladeshi middle class and rich farmers in the rural areas.
Naturally, all these diverse interest were held together with charisma of General Zia and
patronage built on government jobs, bank loans, license and permits (Kochanek, 2000:533).
BNP then emerged as the only powerful civilian political force in Bangladesh until the next
series of coup de tat in 1981 and 1982. Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in May 1981 during
a failed coup and in another bloodless coup General Ershad captured the state power of
Bangladesh in 1982. Since then to 1991, BNP under the dynastic leadership of Begum
Khalida Zia-widow of the slain leader Ziaur Rahman, survived with the image of a noncompromising
opposition party.
BNP won the parliamentary election held in 1991, just after the successful mass
upsurge to topple General Ershad’s eight year’s autocratic rule. Since 1990s, BNP has served
two terms in office (1991-1996, 2001-2006) and one term sat at the opposition bench. Both
the BNP regimes were accused of corruption, nepotism, vote mugging and election
engineering by the press and opposition and ended amid severe political crises, violence.
304

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3. Dainik Jugantor http://jugantor.com/online/day.php?id=792&sys=3 last internet
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4. Dainik Prothom Alo http://www.prothom-alo.com/ last internet communication
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5. Bhorer Kagoz, 11, 12,13, 16 July 2001.
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