Practice of deliberative democracy should be strengthened for participation of citizens in policy making process in context of worsening situation in electoral democracy in the country, experts said at a roundtable discussion on reflections on citizens’ engagement in development processes. They urged that both deliberative democracy and electoral democracy approaches should be run parallel. They also said that deliberative democracy would also expand the scope of participation of marginalised including poor and women in policy-making decisions by raising voices on their demands and rights. A strong deliberative democracy would also ensure proper utilization of resources in development project implementation process and accountability of public representatives through intensive monitoring of citizens, they added.
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University and International Growth Centre (IGC) Bangladesh jointly arranged the roundtable on Reflections on Citizens Engagement in Development Processes in Bangladesh and session on Leadership and Participatory Processes at the last day of the 3rd SANEM Annual Economists’ Conference held at the BRAC Centre in Dhaka on February 18, 2018.
The two key-papers titled Mechanisms of Participatory Development: Fairness Norms and Value of Participation by Serena Cocciolo, Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES), Stockholm University and Female Leadership in the Bangladeshi Garment Industry: Views from RMG Productivity Projects by Dr. Atonu Rabbani, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, were presented at the session. Dr. Sayema Haque Bidisha, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Ms. Anna Minj, Director, Community Empowerment, Integrated Development, Gender Justice & Diversity, BRAC also spoke at the session as discussants.
Dr. Mirza M. Hassan, Adjunct Fellow of BIGD presented the keynote paper on 'Institutionalizing Deliberative Democracy and Citizen Engagement in Patron-Clientelistic Settings' at the roundtable. In his paper, Dr. Hassan said citizens could shift their positions, opinion or preferences to an issue in the process of deliberative democracy while the electoral democracy was rarely capable to address such shifting preferences of citizens, until the next election. The democratic process in the country has been radically changing to cope with the present problems, he added.
Referring to the Ward Shabha of union parishad, Hassan said that it worked as a deliberative democratic forum as it arranged public meetings participated by the citizens of a particular ward in an union. It was found that ward Shabha had become a popular site for voicing complaints and claiming rights and making UP leaders publicly accountable for their performances and unmet promises, he said.
Criticizing the key-papers, Professor Rounaq Jahan, Distinguished Fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said that the democratic process since 1991 has been changing radically leading to a bipolar politics in the country. She called for tolerance in politics based on logically acceptable parameter to all parties. She hoped that all the political parties would exercise rational politics acceptable to the mass people in the country.
Prof. Jahan also said that deliberative democracy is not an alternative of electoral democracy rather the two approaches should go together toward deepening the democracy. Deliberative democracy would not work if electoral democracy does not function properly as the latter controls everything including state power in the country. She opined that marginalized people including poor and deprived groups should increase their participation in the process to get access to institutions, development and rights.
Dhaka University development studies department Professor Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam said that legitimacy deficit in electoral democracy distorted the process of deliberative democracy. There were arrangements of public hearings at different stage of local government and administration but participants were allowed to talk only in alignment of ruling party position, he said as a panelist.
BIGD Executive Director Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman said that both approaches should be run parallel. He also added in some instances deliberative democracy was also consistent with autocratic system where autocracy was practiced at national level and deliberative approach was followed at grassroots level.
BIGD senior research associates Syeda Salina Aziz and Sultan M Zakaria, among others, spoke at the roundtable as panelists.