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Bangladesh and the rise of the rest

10 December 2010, 18:00 PM
STRATEGIC ISSUES
Sifat Uddin

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We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called "the rise of the rest''.;

Fareed Zakaria
The post American World

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'Henry Kissinger famously dubbed it a "basket case" at its birth in 1971, and Bangladesh appeared to work hard to live up to the appellation...No longer. Bangladesh has much to be proud of. Its economy has grown at nearly 6% a year over the past three years…. $12.3 billion worth of garments last year, making it fourth in the world behind China, the EU and Turkey. Against the odds …Bangladesh ought to be held up as a role model...'

Sadanand Dhume
Bangladesh 'Basket Case' No More
The Wall Street Journal

It has been a popular thing to say that China is carrying the world in the recovery from the Great Recession. No more it is the United States of America, the great rescuer of Great Depression of Thirties. In 2008 the lion share (57.90%) of world GDP growth was simply from other states and IMF estimated that by the year of 2012 emerging economies will be the major contributor to the world GDP growth. All these interesting developments were followed by, coincidentally, the publication of The Post American World (2008) by Fareed Zakaria, an India origin American expert on USA where he claimed that may be at politico-military level USA is remained as a single superpower but in every other dimension- industrial, financial, educational, social, cultural- the distribution of power is shifting from American dominance to many small states let alone the big powers like China, India etc. In this thoughtintriguing book Zakaria claimed that the emerging international system is likely to be quite different from those have preceded it; no more it is the era of American unipolarity as it had been since 1991 rather the era of rise of the rest. Now let us see the location of Bangladesh in this era of the rise of the rest. Though Zakaria never specifically mentioned Bangladesh as on promising member of the rise of the rest but let us see the prospect of Bangladesh following two developments including the last UN summit and the proposal from the US for sending troops to Afghanistan. Last UN Summit and Bangladesh
This year the UN General Assembly was special for Bangladesh. Simultaneously another- UN summit on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was going on in New York. Bangladesh received an award for their partial MDG success in reducing child mortality rate. The current child mortality rate in Bangladesh is around 2 percent. The UN set a target of reducing the mortality under-five by two-thirds since 1990 to till 2015. In recognition to their success in reducing child death UN awarded Bangladesh. Having such to two global summits side by side and receiving award in one summit automatically upgraded Bangladesh's position in the other. But already the global community knows Bangladesh for different good reason- its biggest contribution in UN Peace Keeping Force. At present 10,744 personnel are serving for UN across the globe. In that summit Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led Bangladesh from the front; was bold to claim and lively to make feel the presence of Bangladesh. She demanded pledged enhanced assistance of developed nations for developing countries as she addressed the UN MDG summit reflecting Bangladesh's centrality in the process. Hasina claimed for fund to recovery their environmental damages caused by global warming. Bangladesh aimed for at least 15% of any money which rich countries pledge to help developing nations cope with climate change. What I found that she was confident in her claim. In fact Hasina knew that this year Bangladesh come to participate with more better image and confidence- Democracy back on track; good MDG scores; highest peace keeping force provider for UN; going for war crime trial as her promise for human rights and Bangladesh's firm stance against crime against humanity. Having all these good scores in her hand she urged the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to involve Bangladesh in the policymaking and responsible duties of the United Nations as the country is capable of carrying out such trust. She made the plea during a meeting with the UN secretary general at the UN building in New York. Bangladesh in Afghanistan?
In an unofficial meeting US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard C. Holbrook found Bangladesh lucrative to offer sending Bangladeshi troops to Afghanistan. Bangladeshi counterpart Dr. Dipu Moni diplomatically kept the reply hiding by giving an impression that Bangladesh will consider this proposal in near future. Bangladesh has been generally critical of the US presence in Afghanistan, while being keen on fighting terrorism. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proposed a regional task force against terrorism to which the US has given an in principle approval. Holbrook's offer irritated Taliban more than Bangladesh Government. They warned Bangladesh (rather threatening) by reminding its (Bangladesh's) proper political wit shown so far about Afghan issue. I say that Yes, Bangladesh has enough political wit to not being worried about Taliban's warning. Bangladesh will judge the matter from the perspective of national interest not from the point of view of a fundamentalist group. As there is no UN peacekeeping force and the aggression on Afghanistan was not endorsed by international community, Bangladesh cannot take the risk for the interests of American imperialism. What Bangladesh can do help Afghan people to overcome illiteracy, infrastructural underdevelopment; medical backwardness and others. Bangladeshi workers, teachers, doctors and NGO activist may work under the supervision of international organizations working in Afghanistan. Bangladeshi policy-makers may join in the Afghan policy making bodies and thus can assist the US to help Afghan people. Bangladesh has already offered to send teachers and doctors to Afghanistan. The present context no how support Bangladesh to continue war anywhere, let alone other factors like military strategy or credibility or ability to war in Afghanistan. It requires economic strength, political stability within country and al last but not least grand popular support. At present nothing of these criteria can be fulfilled by Bangladesh to initiate a war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Epilogue
In international politics small states like Bangladesh are being cornered by big powers. The problem is rooted within the system- the international system is so much hierarchical that small powers hardly get attention. Anyhow Bangladesh successfully managed to catch the attention from actors like the US and the UN and now Bangladesh needs to maintain this momentum. Anyone will agree that the offer from the US towards Bangladesh is a clear depiction of Bangladesh's relevance and better image in international affairs. From other perspective this is a clear manifestation of major shift in US policy towards many small powers like Bangladesh. The US now feels the heat of the rise of the rest. States likes Bangladesh have abilities, potentialities to act; to work for global peace and prosperity. Now Bangladesh needs to stay on the track towards democracy and maintain steady economic growth to maintain present impetus and to keep the momentum as a member of the rise of the rest.
The author is a Masters in International Relations, University of Dhaka and freelance writer at- fairbd.net
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