This is a study of the development of classes and structure of the society of Bangladesh. It began by recognising the peripheral status of Bangladesh in the world capitalist system and explained the problem in terms of colonial and neo-colonial subjugation. Unlike other Third World societies whose forceful integration in world capitalism resulted in the underdevelopment of classes and social structure, in the case of Bangladesh, it was intensified with the prolongation of colonial domination. British colonialism was immediately followed by the clcss and colonial exploitation of Pakistani capitalism. Thus, the transformation of classes and the structure of the society in Bangladesh, within a dominant capitalist mode of production, created specific social features under successive forms of colonial domination. The British introduced bourgeois property relations in land but undermined the capitalist transformation of the economy by restricting the organic growth of the forces which could otherwise revolutionise the mode of production. Similarly Pakistani rule restricted capital accumulation in both agrarian and non-agrarian sectors and blocked the growth of capitalism and the classes related to it. At the same time, the impoverished peasantry being forced to subsist on agriculture, opened up new avenues of exploitation for the rural upper classes: rack-renting, usury and petty-leasing. Thus, in both cases the emerging relations of production were distorted and ushered in a 'deformed' capitalist mode of production: the 'colonial mode of production'. In the post-colonial actuation the security of capital accumulation generated conflicts amongst different propertied classes and conditioned various forms of class alliances for the perpetuation of the status-quo and the structure of the state. In the process, the different propertied classes entered into alliances with the neo-colonial metropolitan bourgeoisie through the mediation of the state and reinforced the status-quo. In the face of the alliance, the lumpen-proletariats cannot sustain the contradictions that occasionally surface under extreme conditions of exploitation and subordination.

This thesis focuses on the events surrounding the South Asia Crisis of 1971, beginning in when the Pakistani government launched its military crack-down in East Pakistan in the spring and extending to the conclusion of the Indo-Pak War by the year's end. It examines how President Nixon's administration and the US State Department viewed the events in South Asia, what they saw as being the appropriate response, and the differences in what they thought the US should do in response to what was happening on the other side of the globe. The analysis will reveal that the President and his primary foreign policy advisor, Dr. Kissinger, deliberately misled and misinformed the US State Department and its Ambassadors abroad in Pakistan and India in an effort to keep secret from them and the American public, the President's desire to support Pakistan and to blame India as the source of the conflict. The resulting confusion and misunderstanding by the diplomatic community raised tensions in the region, lengthened the conflict, and weakened America's credibility in the sub-continent. / text

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Literature suggests that the quality of education has diverse meanings in different contexts. This research aims to discover the perceptions of teachers and parents regarding the quality of primary education in rural Bangladesh. Family and community have important roles to play in child education. This research has also identified family and community factors that affect education quality. The research uses case studies (ethnographic in characteristic) and survey methods. Qualitative data were captured by semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Informants were teachers and parents. Data analysis was done by a process which was borrowed and adapted from the grounded theory approach. Data interpretation was underpinned by concepts derived from human capital and social capital theories. In the quantitative study, data were collected by questionnaire surveys among teachers and parents. The quantitative research findings complement the qualitative findings. The research findings unveiled three dimensions of education quality as perceived by teachers and parents: (a) the acquisition of good results and awarded scholarships, (b) the acquirement of skills, and (c) the development of values and attitudes. Here, (a) and (b) could belong to human capital concepts, and (c) may refer to social capital. The perceptions of teachers and parents are similar. Nonetheless, teachers pay more attention to children’s performance, whereas parents emphasize on their well-being. According to teacher and parent perceptions, the research suggests seven family factors affecting education quality: parental involvement in schools, family involvement in the children’s education at home, family structure, educational status, economic status, parental awareness and concern, parental commitment and family environment. The research reveals that the notion of “rural family roles” would be along the lines of a “co-institution of the school”, by means of the parents and family getting involved in the children’s education both at school and at home. In terms of the community factors, six factors that affect the quality of education, as perceived by teachers are: community involvement in the school, relationship between the community and school, community support and cooperation, values, willingness to become involved in the schools, its economic status and environment. Regarding the perceptions of the parents, the research identified five factors: financial position and environment, educational status, communication and support given to schools, community child care, as well as unity and cooperation among community people. The research also suggests that the notion of “rural community roles” would tend to be thought of as “doing something for the children”. There is also an ecological balance in the relations between the community and school. The research suggests that the human capital and social capital of the family, community and children reinforce each other in a reproductive loop. That means the human and social capital of family and community play a role in the creation of the human and social capitals of the children (quality education), and vice-versa. These observations on education quality add a new horizon to the knowledge base of primary education, and one that may contribute to policy-making and facilitate further research. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this research is to investigate the contribution of basic services namely water supply, electricity, sewerage, telephone, roads and drainage network etc. for urban living in Dhaka. In the last three and a half decades, Dhaka’s urban basic services governance has been functioning scantily because of supply shortage, sub-standard quality, lack of inter-operator coordination, resource constraints etc. Fragmented governance of urban services – which allowed functioning of several independent special purpose providers in the city - has been argued to be the key contributor by the concerned local researchers, academics, politicians, user groups etc. The same have professed integrated governance of these basic services under the single institutional canvas of a general-purpose metropolitan government headed by elected leadership as the potential remedy. The research is aimed at examining the prospects of metropolitan government for rendering improvements in this connection. In the process, the research investigated the institutional capacities of the selected service providers based on secondary information, carried out questionnaire interview on sampled users to gauge on their level of satisfaction with the present service governance. The above two investigations examined the effectiveness, equity, efficiency and responsiveness of the existing arrangement as in broad terms, these determines the governance performance. Additionally, the research reviewed cases of metropolitan government from overseas to learn how the arrangement can contribute in this regard. Investigation results from Dhaka align with the assertion that fragmented mode of governing urban basic services have caused the surfacing of the present ailing status. Review of overseas experiences revealed that metropolitan government arrangement has been quite successful in improving governance problems of urban services similar to Dhaka. Based on the results, the current research favors the establishment of a general-purpose metropolitan government in Dhaka with sole powers over urban basic services delivery and management. The research also suggests that key considerations for enacting such a governance arrangement needs to reflect on the prospects of consolidating functional and areal jurisdictions, financial affairs of urban basic services under its single institutional framework. The research is significant in context of Dhaka as well as Bangladesh in way that it crafts scope for conducting further examination on issues related to the strengthening of urban local government bodies, tentative functional domains and prospects of implementing metropolitan government in other Bangladeshi cities. / published_or_final_version / Kadoorie Institute / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Private television channels in Bangladesh have become a part of ruling parties’ politics. Without ruling party’s agreement none can get license of private television channels. Whenever a party goes to power it tries to give licenses to its cronies violating rules and regulations. It is an open secret in Bangladesh society. But the beginning of the private televisions in Bangladesh was a promising one. The first three channels--ATN Bangla, Channel-I and ETV-- got licences in a proper way during the first regime of Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh Awami League (AL) (1996-2001). Political ownership of private television was initiated by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) when it came to power at the end of 2001. The present AL government, after it came to power again in 2008, has been following the same path of political ownership in giving private television licences. The whole licencing process of private television is enveloped by a strong and vivid system of Crony Capitalism. Only the cronies who are very close to the chief of the ruling party or chief of the government are provided with the private television licences. That is the unwritten rule in giving private television licences in present Bangladesh. The private television owners in Bangladesh are businessmen cum politicians and politicians cum businessmen. There is a symbiotic relationship between politics and private television as well as private television owners and other businessmen in Bangladesh. The owners enjoy a status quo for their channels. It brings them very close to ruling party elites. This prompts other businessmen to invest in private televisions with political connections. If a well-funded investor proves her or his unquestionable loyalty to the ruling party or can earn the trust from the ruling party elites then s/he will be given licence. Most of the owners of private television channels belong to the two major political parties of Bangladesh, the two opponents – Bangladesh Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The working journalists in private channels try to maintain their professionalism in news reporting. But sometime they have to compromise with the owners’ interests – whether it is political, business or familial. Therefore one sort of tension and potential for conflict exits between the private TV channel owners and the working journalists. The study is a qualitative inquiry applying critical theory in a broad perspective, and the critical political economy of communication and media in a specific theoretical framework. It tries to answer the following questions: who are the owners of private television channels? What are the reasons that lead them to invest in the private televisions? What are the licensing procedures of private TVs? What factors influence the professional freedom of TV journalists? How power relations work between owners and journalists, owners and ruling political elites and other stakeholders. The study finds a vicious circle of executive-legislative-media power nexus to use private televisions for owners’ misdemeanors, power abuse, corruption and malpractices. This is a continuous threat to the professional freedom of television journalists in the country. The television owners and the state-power are ready to fire journalists and curtail their professional freedom if journalists do not honor their instruction of do’s and don’ts when it is needed. If a comprehensive policy for dealing with private television is not formulated, then private television will not help Bangladesh’s media democratization process rather it will be threat to democracy. / published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

As the role of the cities has gained currency in the sustainability discourse since 1990s, improvement of livability has been emphasized alongside with environmental conservation to enhance urban sustainability. Many developed countries increase urban density purposely to pursue better livability and environmental sustainability. Contrarily, cities in the developing countries densify haphazardly without any policy directives. Dhaka is a case in point. The goal of this pioneering study is to formulate recommendations for improving Dhaka’s planning system and policy in order to enhance its livability, by investigating the livability of Dhaka’s dense urban neighborhoods. To achieve this goal, this study addresses three research questions: what are the density attributes of Dhaka; how livable is Dhaka’s urban neighborhoods under a dense environment; and how have the urban planning system and policy influenced the density of Dhaka? The literature related to density, livability and sustainable urban forms was reviewed to establish the analytical framework. To examine the density attributes, this study investigated population density, building density and housing form mix. For the livability of the dense neighborhoods, it investigated public facilities and services provision, and the sense of community and safety. Further, the planning strategy, land use planning, planning and building regulations and land policy were examined to identify their influence on density and livability. Five neighborhoods from the planned and unplanned areas were selected for case studies, involving a questionnaire survey, interviews, field observation and documentary analysis. This study found that as a low-rise city, Dhaka’s extremely high density implies a very compact urban form. The planned areas are of relatively lower population density but have taller buildings and greater distance between buildings than in the unplanned areas. High density was also found in congruence with the Bangladeshi culture. Across the neighborhoods, the community facilities, safety and dwelling space standards were satisfactory. However, the provision of and accessibility to public transport, open space and sense of community were less satisfactory. The neighborhoods of the planned areas were more livable. Nonetheless, in the neighborhoods of the unplanned areas, the greater use of street corners fostered social contacts and safety feeling. The absence of density zoning and land subdivision controls, the ineffective land use planning mechanism, violation of the planning standards and building regulations have led to uncontrolled population growth exceeding infrastructure capacity. The lack of planning vision and the weak institutional capacity of the planning authority mainly accounted for these problems. This study recommends introducing land subdivision restrictions, density zoning, and scientific designation and formulation of land use zones. Strengthening of the institutional capacity of the planning authority is also important for enabling effective enforcement of planning tools, regulations and standards. By comparing the planned and unplanned areas, this study also recommends that planning and building controls should be effectively enforced to ensure greater distance between buildings. Open spaces should also be located within walking distance and more street corners should be planned to enhance the sense of community and safety. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Increased domestic and international demand for aquatic foods have greatly enhanced aquaculture practices and production in Bangladesh, which is reflected in the national economy. However, the impacts of a fast growing aquaculture sector through the involvement of stakeholders, poorer sections throughout the value chain and broader rural livelihoods are largely underdeveloped and have frequently been ignored. The present study explores the impacts of dynamic aquaculture sector on stakeholders at production level and supply chain and test the hypothesis that aquaculture is enhancing rural livelihoods and benefiting the poor. Three aquaculture production systems in three areas of Bangladesh were selected for the study. These were prawn production in gher system in Jessore, pond fish culture in Mymensingh and rice-fish farming in Dinajpur. This selection allowed analysis both the impacts of domestic and export marketing of aquaculture products. Participatory research data collection tools; focus group discussions and participatory mapping were commonly used along with questionnaire surveys to ensure participation of stakeholders. Aquaculture, in general, found to have had significant impacts on rural livelihoods. The greatest effect of aquaculture on farming households were observed in income and consumption. Integrated aquaculture systems were the regular source of fish and vegetables and constitute more than half of the fish and vegetables consumed by farming households. While income from aquaculture was the highest among the several household income sources, the main cash crop differed between the systems studied. Prawn, fish and rice was the main cash earning crops for gher farming, fish farming and rice-fish farming respectively. Qualitative investigation suggested that aquaculture not only increased income through greater production volume, but also improved farmers’ assets through income diversification to farm and non-farm sources. The other important outcomes of aquaculture were the enhancement of social safety nets through increased sharing of inputs and labour among farmers. Commonly the aquaculture systems were found to be more intensive with an increasingly commercial attitude over the last ten years, which affected the intra-household labour distribution leading to a greater role for women in production management. While the three activities; fish feed preparation, feeding and growing vegetables performed by vast majority of women could be attributed to their inherent involvement with agriculture, hard physical work like harvesting ponds and pond construction were mostly carried out by the women from poor households as a strategy to reduce hired labour cost. The women’s’ increased involvement in aquaculture not only increased their overall workload, but also empowered them in household decision making to some extend. However, involvement in decision making was related to the level of involvement in production activities. The impacts of aquaculture spread beyond the farming households to the broader rural livelihoods. Wage labourers and fishers (harvesting teams) two of the poorest groups of people directly involved were benefited most over the last ten years. Intensification of aquaculture increased the demand for hired labour leading to a structural shift in the agricultural wage labour market in farming communities. About half of the agricultural labourers were found part-time employed in aquaculture activities in Jessore and Mymensingh. In Dinajpur intensification of rice cultivation had a much higher effect on the demand for labour than aquaculture. Increased employment in rural areas increased real labour wages by about one fifth over the last ten years and subsequently improved livelihood outcomes. Declining fish catch due to both decreased natural fish stocks and more restricted property rights, professional fishers benefited by diversifying their livelihoods into the aquaculture sector. While, many of the fishers permanently changed their profession to prawn marketing in Jessore, the rest were full-time or part-time employed in harvesting ponds and/or retailing fish in markets. Such diversification of income greatly reduced seasonal vulnerability and improved livelihood outcomes. The role of fish marketing, which is a critical institution in rural livelihoods, was found to facilitate the growth of the aquaculture sector. High demand of aquatic products and the diverse options of marketing fisheries enabled farmers to meet their initial requirements. More commercial operations of aquaculture increased farmers’ awareness and linkages to markets. However, typically the worse-off farmers were the slowest to capture new market opportunities, often due to their poor resources and human capital. Fish marketing was found to be run by the private sector and government provided the infrastructure facilities, except prawn processing plants, which were developed by private sector. While the fish market transactions were fairly efficient, markets facilities and infrastructure were commonly poor and need of government investment for improvement. A gradual growth of fish and markets in the rural areas was observed in the study; this was driven by the increased demand for fish through increased population and supply from aquaculture. The marketing intermediaries provided important services despite their small share of consumers’ price and ensured a fair share for farmers. The auctioneers provided a vital role in running the supply chain with investment and credits, which ensured fair competition in the pricing process. Marketing of aquatic products was not only a mechanism of product transaction, but also provided critical livelihoods for rural poor. On average about one hundred people, including retailers were involved in auction markets and eight people in prawn depots. Importantly the number of people in marketing was found to have increase over the years. Access for different groups of poor people to marketing jobs was found to be significant in rural livelihoods. The asset base and daily earning indicates that more than three quarters of the marketing intermediaries were poor; some of them were from poorest and low cast Hindu society. Greater flexibility of entry and exit to the jobs enabled the poorer sections to diversify their livelihoods, which enabled to cope with seasonal variability of opportunities and stable income. The marketing employment provided then increased livelihood welfare and social security. Finally, it can be concluded that the promotion of aquaculture not only increased much needed food availability but also generated critical livelihoods and marketing is not just a mechanism of product flow, but also providing livelihoods welfare to poorest sections of the society. The micro level findings of the study regarding impacts of aquaculture indicate that aquaculture production and marketing have significant impacts on enhancing rural livelihoods in Bangladesh.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design