Ziaur Rahman’s legacy: puzzle, lesson and tragedy

Zia has gone through an almost Darwinian process of selection through the war with Pakistan and coups in Bangladesh. He has never denigrated politicians as a class – which is itself typical of the present day military rulers of many third-world countries. On the contrary, he has shown adroit political skills in bringing together diverse political groups and accumulating political power though coalition-building.

That’s from the last paragraph of Prof Talukdar Maniruzzaman’s ‘The Bangladesh Revolution and its aftermath’. This post is about some puzzle, lesson and tragedy about the legacy of the president assassinated 27 years ago today.

On devolution

In what follows, I make the case for devolution in Bangladesh, by which I mean elected local governments (district, municipal, upazilla, union councils) with wideranging responsibilities resulting in a devolution of political power from Dhaka to the local levels. I list general aruments for and against devolution before finishing with a discussion on what local government election might mean in the current political environment.

(More at UV).

What should a macroeconomic practitioner study?

I was talking to a friend about if we could go back in time and structure what we studied, what would our course structure look like.   Here is what I came up with. 

Comparing Pakistan and Israel

(Today is the 60th anniversary of the expiration of the British mandate in Palestine, and the creation of the State of Israel.  This post is based on an A-A-A post from July 2007.)

Why is it that so many Muslims seem to support almost any half-baked idea of separation as long as it’s a separate Muslim state and yet these same Muslims give absolutely no ground on Israel?

I have been asked this question a number of times.  There is a degree of validity in the implicit argument.  Pakistan is like Israel in that both countries were created on the basis of religion, partitioning the country that existed before, and causing large population displacements.  These are factual statements.  Turning from facts to opinions, I think Pakistan is like Israel in another way — partition of India and the creation of Israel were two of the worst mistakes made since World War II.  Yes, Pakistan is like Israel.

But is Pakistan really so much like Israel that one can make a case for a Muslim homeland in South Asia but not oppose a Jewish state in Palestine?  I think the answer is, no Pakistan is not that much like Israel.

I didn’t get ‘Life of Pi’

First published in September 2001, Life of Pi by Canadian author Yann Martel is a novel that explores religion and spirituality.  It won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2002.  This alone is a good reason for reading the book, and if you haven’t, don’t read any further because it may spoil an otherwise good yarn for you. 

This is not a book review as such.  Rather, it shows why I didn’t get the ‘deeper meaning’ of the novel.