A. H. M. Kamrul Ahsan

Inclusive Governance and Marginalized Communities in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh confronts a South Asian governance paradox: why progressive policies for inclusive local government systematically fail to empower marginalized communities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Bangladesh's Rajshahi district--where the authors interviewed Dalits, persons with disabilities, and officials, and conducted community discussions--the book reveals the 'institutional tokenism' in participatory mechanisms such as Ward Shavas and Open Budget Meetings. Although mandated by the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009, these forums often function as staged performances wherein marginalized voices are recorded but not heard, consulted but not influential. The book identifies three intersecting barriers--elite capture, bureaucratic inefficiency, and symbolic violence--that transform inclusionary spaces into sites of exclusion. Moreover, the analysis presents comparisons with India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, highlighting shared patterns of performative inclusion despite diverse institutional architectures. Rejecting technical solutions, Panday and Ahsan argue that meaningful inclusion requires fundamental power redistribution and institutional cultural transformation. The book further introduces a diagnostic framework for adaptive inclusion that emphasizes continuous democratic learning, providing scholars, policymakers, and development practitioners with essential tools to identify and dismantle tokenism in their respective contexts.

This book analyses the challenges and possibilities connected to resource mobilisation in local government systems within South Asia; the book focuses on Bangladesh while placing the nation's experiences within the larger regional context alongside India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Local governments in South Asia operate within intricate political and administrative structures often marked by centralisation, limited financial autonomy, and socio-economic inequalities. Through case studies, surveys, and interviews, the book offers qualitative and quantitative data to provide a detailed investigation of resource mobilization, and chapters offer actionable solutions with practical illustrations for enhancing local government structures. The comparative approach acknowledges particular socio-economic and political contexts while identifying regional trends and transferable lessons for improving fiscal sustainability and governance reforms. The book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students working in South Asian politics, Asian development, and public policy and governance studies more broadly. Scholars will benefit from relevant analysis examining decentralisation, fiscal federalism, and good local governance in contemporary policy debates.