Local government in Bangladesh

The AA. analyse the Union council elections in 1997 in Bangladesh. The greater part of the paper is based on an in-depth study of one village (Boringram) where they trace the power structure in a historical context. The second set of data is based on a survey of selected unions in the northern part of the country where some NGOs have been active in mobilizing the rural poor. Using Mouzelis' framework of the mode of domination, they characterize it as the incorporative-clientilistic mode. The analysis reveals that in both sets of data the traditional power structure is breaking down. Boringram has undergone an economic development process which means that the rural poor no longer feel compelled to follow the traditional leaders. However, when it comes to candidates for the local government bodies, they continue to select representatives from the traditional land-owning classes. The NGO survey shows that some of the groups of poor they have mobilized had been able to get their members elected to the local government bodies. The AA. argue that this has lead to a partial break-down of the traditional power structure, but that the NGOs have become the new patrons of the poor giving rise to a different relationship of dependence.