Super-bureaucracy in climate adaptation governance in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

State bureaucratic settings and associated governance patterns have an enormous impact on the planning and implementation of a country's climate development policy. Contextually, a typical superior bureaucratic framework with its decision-making power centred on climate adaptation projects funding prevails in Bangladesh. This paper deploys the concepts of Weberian bureaucracy and super-bureaucracy and its governance pattern to explore the power attributes of climate bureaus and associated bureaucratic practices and decision-making behaviour regarding adaptation funding in climate adaptation governance. The study employs all climate adaptation development projects (n = 573) financing in Bangladesh. The analysis finds that the general administration cadre employees rather than technical professionals are involved in multiple decision-making processes, including appraisal and approval and monitoring and evaluating projects holding powerful pivotal positions both centrally and locally. These super bureaus also expand their power resources in climate adaptation policy by governing big adaptation projects, keeping the project director position, and approving the said position. The power capabilities and interests of the super-bureaus accrue by creating new climate institutions too. The decision-making behaviour and governance pattern underpin a state of super-bureaucracy, which are not supportive enough of innovative policy-making through inclusive participation and collective decision-making for governing dynamic climate adaptation policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Super-bureaucracy
• power
• Bangladesh
• climate adaptation fund
• public administration cadre

Acknowledgements

We received funding from DAAD and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), Bonn, Germany. We obtained administrative support from Chair of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy, University of Goettingen and European Forest Institute (EFI), Bonn Office, Germany.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The cadre is the typical functional subdivision of public bureaucracy (Jahan, 2012), established under the law with a predefined position and structure and recruitment and promotion rules (Morshed, 1997). There are two types of cadre found in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS), the general cadre and the technical cadre. The general cadre qualifies through an exam consisting of subjects related to a broad range of general affairs (e.g., general Bangla, general English, Bangladesh affairs, international affairs, mathematical reasoning and mental ability, and general science and technology). An applicant holding at least a bachelor's degree can apply for a position under the general cadre regardless of the subject. On the contrary, the technical cadre takes an exam, at least a portion of their professional field and general affairs. Here, an applicant holding a minimum of a bachelor's degree in a specialised subject related to the post can apply for a position. For example, an applicant from the field of agriculture can apply for a position with BCS Agriculture. However, the same applicant and those from any other subject background can also apply for a position in the general cadre (e.g., the BCS administration cadre).

2 The ADP is the government's planning document prepared for a single fiscal year, which lists various development projects for different sectors and brief funding arrangements (Rahman et al., 2017a).

3 In Bangladesh, the local government has three tiers: Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad, and Union Parishad. The Pourashova or municipalities frequently replace many suburban areas based on the rapid growth of towns and population.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation: [Grant Number N/A]; DAAD: [Grant Number N/A].

Notes on contributors

Md Saifur Rahman

Md Saifur Rahman is currently working as a Visiting Researcher in the Chair of Tropical and International Forestry of TU Dresden, Germany. He is a Civil Servant of the Government of Bangladesh since 2005. His research and investigation concentrate on analysing climate change and forest policy, and bureaucratic and development politics.

Pradip Kumar Sarker

Pradip Kumar Sarker has currently completed his PhD from the University of Goettingen, Germany. He worked as a Researcher in the Department of World Forestry of Thünen Institute, Germany. His areas of investigation are on Local, Regional & Global Forest and environmental Governance; and Actor Power analysis in Forest politics.

Lukas Giessen

Lukas Giessen is the Professor and Chair of Tropical and International Forestry at the TU Dresden, Germany. His research interest centres on forest policy and politics and broader land-use governance and regional development issues, emphasising international governance influencing domestic forest-related policies around the globe.