Corruption in Bangladesh An Analytical and Sociological Study

This Analytical and Sociological Study of Corruption in Bangladesh seeks to break new ground on a subject which is widely discussed in virtually every area of public and private activity.
Corruption is a topic of interest and concern in academic circles, in the media, among people of different professions, within the civil service, among members of parliament, politicians, government officials,

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members of the business and financial communities, students, foreign investors, aid agencies and non-governmental organisations. In other words, the term corruption is not new to Bangladesh.
A general impression conveyed by the media and by popular discourse is that among ordinary people in Bangladesh, corruption is viewed quite clearly as 'a way of life'. A recent survey carried out by the Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad reinforces that impression: the survey found, among other significant data, that 95 per cent of respondents believed that the police were the most corrupt department in the land, followed very closely by the customs, the department of excise and taxation, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary. A solid 62 per cent of respondents believed that the primary responsibility for corruption in Bangladesh lay in the hands of government officials.
The extent to which corruption has become accepted as 'a way of life' in Bangladesh is challenging in its implications. A recently published feature on corruption in a leading weekend magazine, entitled, 'Corruption of Politics and Politics of Corruption' consisted of a virtual litany of dubious deals, underhand agreements and blatantly corrupt acts by political leaders and parties in Bangladesh, from the infamous regime of H.M Ershad, to the present leadership as well. But surprisingly, both the media report and the research conducted by the Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad, upon which it was partly based, appear to have generated little reaction. Certainly, there were no reports of a public outcry, not even a barrage of letters or telephone calls in response to these successive and extremely challenging expressions of public opinion and media analysis.
Does this mean that the people of Bangladesh are unmoved by the all-pervasive level of corruption in their polity? Or have they become so immune to its horrors, so cynical about what they perceive to be the unhappy reality of their lives, that they have ceased to care? Whatever the reasons, people appear extremely reluctant to believe that anything can be done about corruption.
Perhaps this is one reason for a marked absence of objective, analytical literature on corruption as a social exchange or process. There are, of course, other reasons. But generally speaking, there is a tendency to focus on the enormity of the problem, on the normative aspects of corruption, on the (undoubtedly) negative impact of corruption and indeed, to perpetuate the notion that corruption is its own culprit. The media report mentioned above, for instance, states at the outset that 'Corruption, in our view, lies at the root of the overall degeneration of politics and of a section of our politicians that we see today.' Thus, corruption is seen both as the root and as the effect of a situation, with the result that its salient features are often masked and its behavioural patterns difficult to discern.

Indeed, as far as Bangladesh is concerned, little is known about the manner in which corruption occurs, the process by which, presumably, it grows and flourishes, the conditions which are conducive to its existence and the structures which support its survival. Little is known about corruption as a process, as practice and as structural outcome. It can be said, therefore, that there is inconsequential independent appraisal of corruption as a social phenomenon in this country. Whatever independent or neutral discussion has been generated, tends to focus mainly on the political or economic aspects of corruption. Certainly, very few academic works have been devoted towards obtaining empirically sound, theoretical analyses of the subject from a sociological perspective with special reference to Bangladesh.
This Study will, it is hoped, redress the lack in several ways.
A major aim of this Study has been to seek out works with a sociological perspective of corruption in Bangladesh. As the Study will bear out, the search has been disappointing in the sense that only a few works of specific relevance have been found. Consequently, the challenge has been to identify and analyse the literature available, from a sociological perspective. Many works on the political or economic aspects of Bangladesh do contain data on social issues in general and corruption in particular and hence, such works have been included as sources on corruption. It is hoped that this Study will form the basis for further research on the subject.