From ideology to the consolidation of regimes: what drives civil service reforms in Bangladesh?

There had been a number of initiatives in Bangladesh since its independence in 1971 to reform its ailing civil service. However, the outcomes of such initiatives are considered barely significant and did not contribute to improve the service. The essay follows an aetiological approach to find out the underlying issues that have shaped reform initiatives in Bangladesh with a view to providing a broader picture of the causes of dismal performance of the past reform measures. The study has revealed that there were numerous forces responsible for such efforts, most of which were short-lived and overlapping and not complementary to one another. Political ideology such as socialism and capitalism, spirit of independence, economic expediency, colonial legacy, influence of development partners, consolidation of regimes and influence of technology have been the main drivers of civil service reforms in Bangladesh. The early reforms initiatives were guided by the spirit of independence along with socialistic ideology. However, factors like economic expediency forced the country to change its ideological position and created an opportunity for International Development Agencies (IDAs) to influence the reform initiatives. Since then, it is the IDAs and western development partners which had the dominant role in setting the country’s reform agenda. New public management (NPM) and good governance practices were the major thrusts found in IDA driven reform initiatives. But, these agendas often lacked ownership and implicit agendas like consolidation of regimes prevailed over them