UNB, Dhaka :
Speakers at a seminar here on Wednesday stressed the need for making the capacity of state legitimacy stronger than its extractive and coercive ones to ensure good governance, equality and development.
They also said the civil society should play a stronger and constructive role by providing new thoughts, alternative views and solutions alongside pointing out the government’s mistakes in enhancing the capacity of state legitimacy. Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) arranged the seminar titled ‘Governance: A Critical Examination’ at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (Biiss) in the city.
Prof Dr Ali Riaz, Chair of the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois University, USA, presented the keynote paper at the seminar.
In his paper, Ali Riaz said state capacity, particular legitimation one, should be incorporated as a central element in conceptualising governance. Government is intrinsically connected to the state capacities. State legitimation capacity is fundamental to all other capacities. I insist that it should be a vital element in the conceptualisation of governance.
He said the state capacity should be measured by its ability to penetrate society, regulate social relationship the extract resources and appropriate use of resources in determined way.
The Illinois University professor said the state’s role in each society should not be viewed only in terms of its economic activity but beyond that to those functions that are essential to economic process and as an agency of hegemony as the source of ideology. The state capacity should include legitimation capacity, coercive capacity, extractive capacity and administrative capacity. But legitimacy capacity is a crucial one. It’s the power relations that make it possible for policies to be effective. A government can effectively intervene only when it has the legitimacy. This legitimacy is not only legal one but also moral one, he observed.
Ali Riaz also said the legitimation capacity of a state is dependent on the success of the sate in producing and reproducing an ideology and narratives which allow the sate to extract material and political resources The legitimacy capacity serves as the basis of other capacities of the sate to determine its nature.
He said in the country where state legitimacy capacity is weaker, the other state capacities become stronger, hampering the good governance, transparency and people’s participation and representation in development process. Speaking at the programme former caretaker government Hossain Zillur Rahman said legitimacy issue is very important for ensuring the good governance the rule of law and the better use of the other state capacities.
He said as the legitimacy is important the current government has put the development against the democracy to get people’s legitimation. The government is also using the aspiration of turning the country into a middle-income one as a discourse of getting legitimation. So, legitimation capacity is an important issue.
Speakers at a seminar here on Wednesday stressed the need for making the capacity of state legitimacy stronger than its extractive and coercive ones to ensure good governance, equality and development.
They also said the civil society should play a stronger and constructive role by providing new thoughts, alternative views and solutions alongside pointing out the government’s mistakes in enhancing the capacity of state legitimacy. Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) arranged the seminar titled ‘Governance: A Critical Examination’ at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (Biiss) in the city.
Prof Dr Ali Riaz, Chair of the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois University, USA, presented the keynote paper at the seminar.
In his paper, Ali Riaz said state capacity, particular legitimation one, should be incorporated as a central element in conceptualising governance. Government is intrinsically connected to the state capacities. State legitimation capacity is fundamental to all other capacities. I insist that it should be a vital element in the conceptualisation of governance.
He said the state capacity should be measured by its ability to penetrate society, regulate social relationship the extract resources and appropriate use of resources in determined way.
The Illinois University professor said the state’s role in each society should not be viewed only in terms of its economic activity but beyond that to those functions that are essential to economic process and as an agency of hegemony as the source of ideology. The state capacity should include legitimation capacity, coercive capacity, extractive capacity and administrative capacity. But legitimacy capacity is a crucial one. It’s the power relations that make it possible for policies to be effective. A government can effectively intervene only when it has the legitimacy. This legitimacy is not only legal one but also moral one, he observed.
Ali Riaz also said the legitimation capacity of a state is dependent on the success of the sate in producing and reproducing an ideology and narratives which allow the sate to extract material and political resources The legitimacy capacity serves as the basis of other capacities of the sate to determine its nature.
He said in the country where state legitimacy capacity is weaker, the other state capacities become stronger, hampering the good governance, transparency and people’s participation and representation in development process. Speaking at the programme former caretaker government Hossain Zillur Rahman said legitimacy issue is very important for ensuring the good governance the rule of law and the better use of the other state capacities.
He said as the legitimacy is important the current government has put the development against the democracy to get people’s legitimation. The government is also using the aspiration of turning the country into a middle-income one as a discourse of getting legitimation. So, legitimation capacity is an important issue.
