Politicization of Professionals and its Impact on Governance

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirement of PA 423

Submitted To
Professor Dr. Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman Course Teacher Course: Applied Research (PA 423)

Submitted By
Exam Roll- 4240 Registration No- HA 4418 Research Group- Blue 1 Session- 2008-09 4th Year, 8th Semester

Department of Public Administration University of Dhaka

Date of Submission
17th January, 2013 i

Abstract
Bangladesh shares its history of political development with the British and Pakistan era. The political parties in Indian sub-continent struggled for the rights, freedom and justice in the society. Westminster style parliamentary democracy was the driving force of the political parties, and the party leaders were mostly known for their values, principles, and devotion for the causes of society. In that time Professionals were given high respect for their vision, charisma, courage, and sacrifices. Right after independence, Bangladesh has sad fate in terms of political development. The pioneering party Bangladesh Awami League omitted parliamentary democracy, brought changes to the Constitution, and the party itself became an autocratic organization. In 1978, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was formed; it became another major political party in Bangladesh politics. The following two decades after independence saw a lot of changes in state power, political institutions, party structure, party leadership, and subsequently a new party system developed, which is mostly known as undemocratic, unconstitutional, autocratic, and based on financial power, clientelism, and patrimonialism, and party chiefs became unchallenged. After 1991, these two parties come to power by turn through popular elections. Unfortunately, the regimes have been marked by indiscriminate politicization of Professionals and Bureaucrats within the government and by corruption and misrule, violations of state laws, which make the governance weak and undemocratic in practice. There have been academic studies on democracy and democratic practices in the different political institutions including that in political party but unfortunately there is no academic evidence about Politicization of Professionals. This study is focused not on finding the presence and practices of Politicization of Professionals, rather it investigates into the causes which hinder the governance process, here 5 major professions related to governance in question University Teachers, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and Journalists. The researcher for this short research project has supposed the factors power distance of society and socio-cultural values behind politicization of professionals, influence of political parties in politicization of professionals and politicization affecting institutionalization of democracy in government including impact on good governance. Under the study, interviews of the Professionals and Content Analysis are used. Though the feudal system has disappeared long back from the rural society of Bangladesh, but the society remains hierarchic, wherein liberal values are not practiced, and a section of elite people, now a days political actors define good or bad in the society. The same practices are reflected in the Professionals. Politicization of Professionals in the government remains an obstacle to sate governance. Influence of the political parties in politicization has been another setback within the parties for which the Professionals are perusing their own benefits rather than practicing professional ethics. This also affects the whole state governance. This study also reviews cultural values of Bangladesh society, to analyze the causes affecting Politicization of Professionals. ii

Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the Department of Public Administration of University of Dhaka for including Applied Research as an academic course which will help us in future career development. I am very much thankful to Professor Dr. Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman who gave us thorough out idea about research issue, research design, its methodology, key areas to consider during research, and selecting us for this topic (Politicization of Professionals and its Impact of Governance), which is very realistic and practical on the present circumstance of Bangladesh. I am indebted to him. I thank the Respondents, who gave us their important time, shared their experiences, understanding also for giving us longer time and answering our questions to fit in our hypotheses and to relate to the variables. It is my great pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to other members of my Research Group (Blue-1). 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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Table of Contents
Details Abstract Acknowledgement Introduction Background and Context Statement of the Problem Significance of the Problem Literature Review Related Research Objectives of the Study Hypotheses Conceptual Framework Politicization Professionals Governance Research Methodology Sources of Data Sampling Validation of Data Data Processing and Analysis Plan Challenges or Limitations of the Research Research Findings (Data Presentation, Analysis and Observation) Content Analysis (From Secondary Data Sources) Findings from Interview (Primary Source of Data) Linking Findings from Primary and Secondary Data Concluding Remarks References Appendix-1 (Sample Research Questionnaire) Appendix-2 (Contents from Newspapers) Appendix-3 (Soft Copy of the Research Report) iv Page ii iii 1 1 2 5 7 8 8 9 10 11 16 16 16 16 16 17

Part A

Part B

Part C

Part D

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Part E Appendices