International Leaders: Bangladesh

This is a brief review of the complexity of the current leadership of Bangladesh’s Khaleda Zia. The review begins with a brief explanation of her coming into power and continues with Khaleda’s actions thus far in regards to Bangladesh’s overall condition.

Bangladesh is among the world’s poorest and most densely populated countries. Bangladesh’s political and economic instability have made it susceptible to terrorist organizations, such as Al-Quaida, who seek sanctuary from international organizations. Geographically, the country is dominated by the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and has annual monsoons and cyclones, flooding a full third of the country and impeding economic growth, over a third of which relies on agricultural production.

In terms of leadership turnover, Bangladesh is one of the most fascinating countries. Towards the end of the nine-month Bangladesh Liberation War (1970), Bengal forces received Indian aid and were able to achieve independence, becoming a parliamentary democracy under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1975, after a national famine, Mujibur began single-party socialist rule and was soon assassinated. Bangladesh’s following made a variety of changes, including removing socialism, initiating a multi-party election-based system, making Islam a state religion, and declaring martial law before returning to parliamentary democracy. One of Bangladesh’s assassinated leaders was Ziaur Rahman who had founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and reinstated the multi-party system. After the resignation of Justice Sattar (the acting PM) in 1983, Ziaur’s widow, Khaleda Zia was elected BNP’s chairperson. BNP formed an alliance against the then current regime and Khaleda was detained many times before the 1990 resignation of the autocratic ruler (Mohammad Ershad). She then served as the PM from 1991 to 1996, and since 2001. Sheikh Hasina, a daughter of Mujib’s, was PM from 1996 to 2001.

Khaleda has tried to focus on improving education, especially for girls, introducing free, mandatory schooling for girls, until the tenth grade. She has also attempted to improve the economy by encouraging investment and the reduction of (non-tariff) trade barriers from its neighbor, India and by encouraging privatization of state-owned enterprises (contributing to a GDP growth of over five percent over the past few years). Recently, agreements on trade, as well as drug trafficking, were signed with India. Khaleda is rated as 29th on Forbes Power Women list.

Though Khaleda has made positive strides to improve Bangladesh’s situation, there are still many issues which need to be resolved before Khaleda can lead the country out of its 50 percent poverty rate. According to the WTO, Bangladesh's main problems include civil unrest, political instability (both internal and external), natural disasters (such as annual flooding), and inadequate infrastructure. Inelasticity of demand for commodities worldwide means that Bangladesh’s terms of trade (in agriculture) decline relatively, as world incomes increase. Other problems include India’s lack of trust of Khaleda’s political alliances (which included parties that support fundamentalist Islam), mismanagement of state-owned enterprises and port facilities, a labor force growth that has outpaced jobs, inefficient use of resources, slow implementation of reforms, and corruption.

Finally, despite widespread poverty and corruption, Bangladesh remains a democracy. That is, elections are free and fair. Although it cannot be considered completely illiberal, it is also not a well-functioning liberal democracy. I wonder what category Zakaria (The Rise of Illiberal Democracy) would place Bangladesh in, as a country with corruption and lawlessness, whose government seems to have liberal goals.