Fred W. Riggs: The Man, His Ideas and Relevance in the Contemporary World

Fred W. Riggs, whom I called as pitamaha (the great father), as the guru of gurus Bhishma in the Indian epic, Mahabharat was known. Although comparative study is not new (‘ancients’ wrote on that), Riggs made the concept his own, and advocated it very intensely. Here is a brief attempt to run the gamut of his ideas and see how they hold up in today’s world— a world that changed much and comprehensively. This is also an attempt to clear some misconceptions about is contributions as a “comparativist”. Problems may be universal, such as Covid, but the remedies can only be applied contextually and culturally—two concepts Riggs advocated. He was unjustly criticized as an ‘academic imperialist’ when he abhorred dictating to anyone. His was a ‘multicultural’ gift to be used within the ‘glocal’ context. ‘Culture’ and ‘context’ are not to be impediments to development, but essential understanding to reform, adapt and move on. The best lessons I learnt from Riggs are not to be dogmatic but to observe, adapt, protect stable political institutions and, most importantly, learn from past mistakes. In other words, remain a perpetual student.

SDG Gender Index and the Status of Women

Equal Measures 2030 introduces the 2019 SDG Gender Index in the global report that highlights the power of data for gender equality. The Index is the complete mechanism known to investigate the state of gender equality across 129 countries, 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and 51 targets correlated to issues innate in the SDGs. This study explores the progress of gender equality in South Asian countries, comprising Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The study indicates the poorer performance of South Asian countries in the SDG Gender index. It draws attention to the SDG-4 performances of South Asian countries as it has a strong gender perspective, grounded in evidence on the close links between girls’ education and social and economic development, including poverty reduction. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, the study explores SDG 2020 projections and assesses the performance and rate of progress and acceleration timespan for South Asian countries toward gender equality by 2030. The overall comparison confirms that the performance of no country has been satisfactory in the SDG Gender Index. Sri Lanka is leading, ranked 1st in South Asia, and 15th in Asia and the Pacific region. Bangladesh and Pakistan are the worst performers in South Asia. Equal Measures 2030 serve to enhance girls' and women’s status, champion their abilities, and advocate their equality through policies and actions at the ground level.

One Step Forward or One Step Back? Explaining the Performance Paradox in the Civil Service of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, two contrasting scenarios regarding the responsiveness of the bureaucrats working at the field level are present. Whereas some bureaucrats reach out to the people and respond to their demands, others remain unresponsive and unapproachable. So, why do the bureaucrats working at the grassroots, while performing under the same rules, same institutional context and reality, perform in two different ways while interacting with citizens? How can these two contradictory sets of understanding regarding bureaucratic responsiveness coexist in Bangladesh? This article attempts to unpack this puzzle by relying on a slightly modified version of historical institutionalism. Building on Bell’s model of ‘agent-centric institutional change’ and by using a modified version of Mahoney & Thelen’s framework of institutional change, it argues that dialectical interaction between agents (bureaucrats) and institutions (i.e., rules- both formal and informal, norms that affect the behavior of the agents) within the broader political setting can best explain the variation in behavioral pattern of the bureaucrats. The political context allows agents to exercise discretion in a specific manner in executing their roles and functions while being constrained by institutional rules and norms. The dialectical interaction between structure (political context), agent, and institution determines the current administrative reality, which has allowed the contradiction to emerge and sustain.

COMMENTARY: Global Britain: G7, COP26, Indo Pacific and the Commonwealth

Brexit was aimed at reclaiming Britain’s bartered sovereignty and regaining the power within and beyond Europe. The formal separation coincides with the ongoing post-pandemic rearrangement of the international order. With the strategic rise of the Indo-Pacific, it has become imperative for Britain and India to redefine their role in refashioning the global landscape in which a new continent, Eurasia, and a new water body, the Indo-Pacific, dominate. India has made its move; Britain, too, must.

Local Alignments and Global Politics: Military Bureaucratic Axis, Subaltern Protests and Political Reversals in PostColonial Pakistan

In the Cold War environment of the 1950s, Pakistan army sought an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom while they searched for allies in the Middle East and South Asia. At the same time, the military-bureaucratic establishment of Pakistan denied a democratic constitutional regime in the country and slowly transformed East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, into an internal colony. In East Pakistan, the pro-democracy movement was headed by Awami League (AL), a board coalition of constitutional autonomist and radical socialists and communist. Within the AL, Maulana Bhashani, a radical cleric, and his left wigs followers read into the global politics of Cold War alignment between the Pakistan and the USA to be a critical hindrance toward the democratization of politely, but constitutional autonomists within AL remained committed toward the Cold War military alliance. This lead to a split in the AL Consequently, In the wake of Suez War, global politics impinged upon local political alignment as much as local political alignment informed and influenced global politics in Pakistan.

Effects of Remittances on Health Expenditure and Treatment Cost of International Migrant Households in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh economy is characterized by remarkable progress in international migration, resulting in a considerable inflow of remittance. Although many studies have attempted to study the effect of foreign remittances on household expenditure patterns, no effort has been made to critically analyze the effects and implications of migration and remittance flow on migrant households’ health expenditure. This article attempts to explore the effect of remittance on the health expenditure of remittance recipient households (RRHs) and the impact of the cost of treatment. Descriptive and regression analyses and standard micro-econometric techniques were applied by analyzing the nationally representative household data set of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 of Bangladesh. Results show that RRHs are more likely to spend more on health matters and more likely to have higher treatment costs than non-recipient households. Thus, remittances are significantly associated with health expenditure and the cost of treatment. International migration seems to be a household strategy characterized by a high expected return.