Constraining Factors of Civic Engagement in Public Policy-making in Bangladesh: A Framework for Analysis

Abstract

Institutionalised engagement of civil society organisations (CSOs) in public policy-making is increasingly being emphasised in the literature of democracy and development. In a developing country like Bangladesh where the state has limited capacity in policy management, the engagement of CSOs might bring additional resources and responsiveness in public policy-making. From this perspective, this paper offers an analysis framework to explain the constraining factors of the civic engagement in public policy-making in Bangladesh. The central argument of the research framework is that the civic engagement in policy-making depends mostly on the quality of interactions between the state and the CSOs. Such interactions might be limited due to political constraints for government, and socio-economic and cultural constraints for CSOs. The political economy of developing countries requires a new role of state and CSOs in policy management, which is yet to be discovered. This paper is likely to contribute to assess the pressing needs of state and civil society interactions and explore how the political, economic and cultural factors prevent or facilitate the advocacy functions of CSOs. Overall, this framework is intended to generate some analytical options to rethink future research on civic engagement in public policy-making in emerging democracies like Bangladesh.