South Asia: Bangladesh & East Asia: Taiwan

1. To what extent did the political system appear to impact economic performance of countries you studied? Impact of political system on economic performance of Bangladesh seems to be negative due to extreme Political conflict which has led to corruption, poverty and severe problems in the educational system which badly affects the Bangladeshs economy. Thus the country is facing increasing instability. In opposition of over rising living cost and employment different political parties like Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League government constantly go for general strike closing of shops for many days which may last for more than half month. Such violent shutdown affect business, factories and educational institutions.
Taiwan has transformed itself from an underdeveloped, agricultural island to an economic power that is a leading producer of high-technology goods. In the 1960s, foreign investment in Taiwan helped introduce modern, labor-intensive technology to the island, and Taiwan became a major exporter of labor-intensive products. The new situation in Taiwans domestic politics has a large effect on the development of China-Taiwan relations. It leads China to develop a dual attitude towards Taiwan. The economic ties between China and Taiwan create a cleavage between Taiwanese businesspeople and Taiwanese farmers and unskilled workers. In Taiwans 2000 presidential election, this cleavage was not obvious, and therefore there was no political coalition based on this cleavage. However, after the policy of dont haste, be patient was replaced by the policy of positive openness and effective management in 2001.

The conflict between China and Taiwan is, arguably, one of the best opportunities to examine whether economic ties lead to peace given their more than fifty years of rivalry and the drastically growing economic ties between them over the past decade. Political impact on economic performance of Taiwan is not so bad. Even though the government has problem and going conflict with China regarding its sovereignty, government has supported country for the development activities. Even government plays a major role in economy through the ownership of major companies, fiscal and monetary policies, economic plans, licensing and contracts and also political connections with corporate leaders.

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The present analysis identifies a double jeopardy for the Bangladesh economy given the ongoing violent political agitation

All these may not only compel Bangladesh to miss out on the emerging global opportunities, but also experience weakening of the attained socioeconomic achievements.

In Bangladesh, corruption is considered as one of the major obstacles in the path economic development. It has become rampant all over the society in this county since the independence in 1971. In general, corruption is regarded somewhat obviously as 'a way of life' among the mass people of Bangladesh. Re-establishment of parliamentary democracy from a dictatorial military government in 1991 does not seem to have any influence on the nature and scope of corruption. Corruption is a severe problem in the public sector of Bangladesh from an international perspective also. Bangladesh had been ranked as the most corrupt country in 2001, 2002 and 2003 consecutively in Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Corruption in Bangladesh shifts away public resources from productive to unproductive sectors, lessens the efficiency of the public officials involving them into rent seeking, restrains government from implementing good policies, demoralizes public confidence in government and so on.

The question is: what has gone wrong? People are losing faith in the leadership and political parties. Why? For one, state power has been used for private and party gains, on the one hand, and suppressing the opposition, on the other. Strategic survival level value has been imputed to elections, so much so that the institution of caretaker government standsdiscredited. Money and muscle powers are concomitant of elections. Another concomitant is massive corruption. Failure of the parliament to emerge as the centre of national activities has been our second major failure. In the first phase, AL wanted to build parliamentary democracy on Indian model of single party dominance. Military rule followed that generated a habit of nonparticipation and noncooperation, a reminder of the Pakistan-day politics. But when democratic phase started, old habits did not go away. loss of credibility of most of the political, economic and social institutions of the country because of lack of good governance and lack of accountability. 2. Were government able to identify the problems they faced and how did they approach the solutions? 2 Garima Subedi Roll no: 08

 Bangladesh government was able to know that the reasons for the failure of the country development was high level of corruption, unemployment, lack of education and poverty.

Bangladesh faces twin threats to its democracy and stability: the risk that its political system will founder in a deadlock over elections and the growing challenge of militant Islamism, which has brought a spate of violence. The issues are linked; Islamic militancy has flourished in a time of dysfunctional politics, popular discontent and violence.

There have been 15 shutdowns in Bangladesh since the crisis began and the nation suffered losses worth $3 billion due to the frequent shutdowns.

Crisis of power is one of the major problems in Bangladesh. Moreover, most of the power plants are gas based which will be phased out in future. Misuse, system loss and corruption in power sector are the main issue regarding this crisis. Priority should be given to control misuse and corruption in power sector than generation of power. Proper utilization of renewable energy is the up most choice for solving the power crisis in Bangladesh because it requires low cost and less risk. Initiative should be taken to develop skilled manpower required for the power sector considering renewable energy sources. To overcome the problem of poverty and women backwardness Grameen Bank was previously launched and it is still providing its services to the poorest people of the nation. Even when staterun banks are involved in scandals, government allow Grameen bank to prosper to create economic and social development from the lower levels.

Taiwan faced problems or decline in four major parts i.e. economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.The main challenge Taiwan is facing is of rising wage rates which made their goods less competitive internationally. Even though these issues has not marked by the government some of the problems which government approaches are: Taiwanese government were able to solve the problems of land reform which helped to raise the agricultural productivity, improve the income distribution and do saving for investment in the industrial sector.

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Taiwan's economy is one of the "Four Asian Tigers", is export-oriented and specialized in production of electronics and machinery. Taiwan is one of the world's largest suppliers of computer chips, LCD panels, DRAM computer memory, networking equipment, and consumer electronics. Technology and innovation was in risk but the government plays an important role in the protection of intellectual property rights.

3. Did any of the countries concentrate on using resources that they already had in using it as a prime mover for development? Yes, Bangladesh is still using its low cost manpower for the manufacturing of different product which aid in the economic development of the country. The prime mover for Bangladesh was its jute industry which later on advanced to textile industry and currently running successfully as garment industry.
When Bangladesh came into beoing as a nation, jute and tea were its most export-oriented industries. Jute was Banlladeshs main export for decades, during the 1950s and 1960s. It produced almost 80 percent of the worlds jute. Leather and leather goods industries, high and high value added readymade garments, computer software and agro-processing sectors have been identified as thrust' sectors in the export policy. Although the leather and leather goods sector has enormous export potential the sector has not been able, till date, to achieve desired results. On the other hand, the readymade garments sector is expected to stage a breakthrough in the export of high-priced, high value added garments of newer categories after having survived successfully the initial phase of exporting low-end garments. Garment sector exports accounted for 9.5% of GDP in FY 2003/4. The garment sector is an important source of employment generation and currently provides employment for over 2 million people or approximately 3% of the labor force. As 90% of the workforce in the garment

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manufacturing sector is female, the garment sector is particularly important for womens employment. The garment sector is a key provider of employment and income to the urban poor.

Microfinance in the Bangladesh is another resource for the nations success. Due to the launch of Grameen Bank as a microfinance has completely changed the life standard of the poor and deprived sector especially helped to empower women.

In case of Taiwan the main resource for it is the human capital. Still today Taiwan made an investment in human capital as they give top priority to them. Investment in human capital can not only increase productivity but also improve the income distribution.Besides human capital Taiwans success story is due to its continuous innovation, invention and R&D.

4. What steps do you think Nepal should follow in the decades ahead to develop rapidly both on the political as well as the economic front? Nepal is one of the poor country in the world or we can say like it is one of the developing countries with lots of opportunities and resources. But due to political instability and interference and due to lack of education it has been lagging behind. Some of the steps in which Nepal should focus to develop in political and economic sectors are discussed below: Every business should be separated from the politics and political interference should be completely stopped. Corruption is inevitable throughout the world so if cant completely stop corruption then should be decreased. Government need to focus on travel and tourism as Nepal has great opportunities in this sector. So priority should be given not only in external tourism only but also to the internal tourism as well. 5 Garima Subedi Roll no: 08

Hydropower is another prosperous sector and the great resource for Nepal. Government need to enhance this sector so as to increase the flow of FDI and employment. Skilled and educated manpower is crucial for every development so focus on education in the major cities for long term development. Also education and job should not be commercialized.

Infrastructure such as roadways, bus services, bridges, airways, hospitals, education, Facilities (education, health, information, transportation, employment etc.) and

infrastructure (roadways, bus services, bridges, airways etc.) should be increased, decentralized and easily accessible to every citizen. Also focus on better working environment, security and flexibility in working.

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