A resilient state
Julfia Hasan, Harvard, Massachusetts
I take umbrage at the remark, "Bangladesh is not a failed state but a fragile state" made by Ms. Christine Wallich, Country Director, the World Bank, at a recent meeting held in Dhaka. According to Webster's dictionary, the word fragile means something easily broken and damaged; brittle; vulnerably delicate; lacking in substance; flimsy etc. Notwithstanding the daunting challenges that Bangladesh faces today, none of the above attributes apply to Bangladesh as a state. Perhaps the best example of Bangladesh's resilience (non-fragility) is the fact that the country has posted a five percent growth rate on an average over the past two decades and achieved significant human development, in spite of misconceived and incompetent advice from the World Bank. A further proof of the resilience is the modest political development the state has achieved, despite the acrimonious relationship between the two major parties in the country. The real fragility of our successive governments (not state) lies in their failure in containing diplomats posted in this country.
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