Developmentalism as a Disciplinary Strategy in Bangladesh

ABUL HOSSAIN AHMED BHUIYAN, AMINUL HAQUE FARAIZI and JIM McALLISTER, "Developmentalism as a Disciplinary Strategy in Bangladesh", Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 39, No. 2 (May, 2005) pp. 349-368.

Abstract

This article focuses on the working of developmentalism as a disciplinary strategy in Bangladesh. The formation of groups or cooperatives of traditional agriculturists/peasants may be seen as the first attempt in establishing the ‘development gaze’ over the peasants of Bangladesh. An examination of various techniques used in the cooperative formation process reveals that they are clearly interventionist in nature and are based on the modernist approach to development. Development deployed in the rural villages in Bangladesh resembles the deployment that took place in European societies when what Foucault (1991a) refers to as ‘disciplinary power’ was established.