Political legitimacy and the subsistence crisis contract in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s development achievements rest on a foundation of basic protection against the natural disasters and food crises to which its ecological and economic conditions render it vulnerable. This article proposes that this protective foundation results from a social contract between the ruling elites, the rural masses, and aid donors that emerged out of the political context of the country’s creation in the early 1970s. The article analyses the political effects of different crisis episodes – a major cyclone, war, refugee crisis, floods, and famine all took place in first few years of independent Bangladesh – to explore the role of political legitimacy in activating, negotiating, and enforcing this ‘subsistence crisis contract’.
. In addition to offering a novel interpretation of the political economy of Bangladesh’s development success, the article also widens the lens of the political economy of inclusive development, by drawing in insights from ‘social contract’ approaches to the politics of climate change adaptation, and the politics of famine and food insecurity, respectively. The conclusions discuss some of the implications for approaches to the political economy of inclusive development and aid practice, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings facing subsistence stress, disasters, or other effects of climate change.