Governance Challenges in Bangladesh: old wine in not so new bottles?

Bangladesh is often seen as presenting a paradox: a country that has successfully managed significant socio-economic improvements and yet has also performed poorly in so many governance related measures. This chapter reflects on this paradox warning of the dangers of pathologising governance analysis. It then examining three future governance scenarios: one in which successful economic growth will be prioritised and will provide political legitimacy to ruling elite; a second in which regime change take place without introducing any substantial change to the quality of democracy; a third in which some hybrid governance configuration emerges that allows for improvements based on the grounded political realities of Bangladesh. The latter is packed with uncertainty but is consistent with a view that links future developments to historical trajectories and contemporary realities.