Politics and policy in achieving participatory governance in a developing country context

Abstract

In recent years, "participatory governance" has emerged as an important concept within the governance domain. It is a policy that insinuates participation of local citizens to implement locally based propeople development initiatives. International aid agencies have been pursuing this agenda with an aim to provide greater legitimacy to development projects for economic growth in developing countries. In response, the government of Bangladesh has been trying to implement participatory governance policies for aid-assisted development projects for the last three decades. However, empirical studies reveal that the level of participation of local citizens in development projects has hardly been improved despite such attempts. Relying on six aid-assisted project-based case studies, this article explores the reasons of such a failure and has found out that the dysfunctional political system and corruption in Bangladesh have compromised the role of the state in ensuring any meaningful participation of ordinary citizens in local-level development activities