The political economy of armed conflict. Beyond greed and grievance. Edited by Karen Ballentine and Jake Sherman (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003, pp. 317)

✍ Scribed by Gerd Schönwälder

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 33 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0954-1748
• DOI: 10.1002/jid.1146

✦ Synopsis

which at most levels tends to be geared towards general education, should be reformed to make it both more technologically focused as well as more relevant to the needs of the economy, especially one with such a large agricultural base. In the export sector, where only five products account for 90 per cent of all export proceeds (one product group, RMG-Ready-Made Garments-actually accounts for three-fourths of the total), there is an urgent need both to diversify the product range as well as to ensure that enabling factors such as the exchange rate, tariff structure, investment and subsidies are conducive to such an aim. The economy is one which is heavily import-dependent. In the financial sector, though major improvements have been realized in assisting the private sector to access credit (especially micro-credit under Grameen Bank type-facilities), there remains an urgent need to widen the financial base of the economy by encouraging a more vigorous capital market. This will reduce the excessive dependence that exists currently for financial intermediation to be supplied solely by the Banking Sector.

In summary, this volume is worthwhile not just in terms of its extensive coverage of these key challenges. It is also praiseworthy in terms of the manner by which most of the authors debate the importance of the issues. The debate is vigorous. This is no more true than in the fourth section of the book which concentrates on the political, institutional, and environmental issues which affect the Bangladesh economy, as they do all economies. As indicated in the preface of the book, the country has enjoyed a reasonable period of democratic institutions. The danger is that the benefits of this process become lost as the country's leaders try to grapple with the enormity of some of the socioeconomic problems in the country alluded to above. In fact, there are encouraging signs that this is not the case, and at both national and local levels capacity building in democratic processes is taking place. This is so, despite some reservations expressed in the book as to the transparency of the 2001 General Elections held in the country. Cause for optimism, however, still exists in such activities as the creation of Social Capital organizations (supported by local Grameen Banks). This volume will obviously be of interest to researchers on the economy of Bangladesh. It is both comprehensive and analytical. A wider audience, including development specialists who take an historical approach to their work will also find the book useful and interesting.