A Polity or Petri Dish? Bad Governance is a Symptom, Not the Cause

The recurring collapse of political systems is not caused by bad governance, but rather is a symptom of a deeper, systemic malaise rooted in undemocratic practices. This perspective challenges the interior minister's recent claims, arguing that the proposed solution of creating more provinces is misguided and potentially disastrous for a nation already fractured by internal divisions.

The author points to numerous countries with extensive provincial structures, such as Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia, which are paradoxically plagued by persistent bad governance, territorial disputes, economic crises, civil wars, and institutional breakdowns. This suggests that simply increasing the number of administrative units does not address the fundamental issues of accountability and democratic legitimacy.

The genesis of these systemic maladies is traced to decades of experimenting with undemocratic and authoritarian models, often justified by pretexts like ideology, faith, stability, or security. These approaches have consistently sidestepped the essential task of establishing a legitimate federal democracy. Crucially, fundamental questions regarding the state's objectives, governance system, citizens' rights, and resource distribution have never been adequately addressed through a foundational social compact.

Such a compact, built upon the 'will of the people,' is essential for securing legitimacy, recognition, order, and cohesion in a new state. However, post-independence, a small elite captured power, diverting resources for their own interests and stalling constitutional development. The article highlights a historical instance where a governor-general dissolved an elected constituent assembly in 1954, fearing the loss of arbitrary powers, thereby preventing the finalization of a constitution.

The common citizen has borne the brunt of these failed political experiments. The constitution eventually enforced in 1956 was neither truly democratic nor federal. It imposed an artificial 'parity' between the country's numerically disparate eastern and western wings, denying the majority Bengali population their democratic right to rule based on majoritarian principles and arbitrarily altering the country's structure.