Developing countries relying on the assistance of donors have become particularly prone to imposed conditions of aid in the form of requirements on specific reform strategies to ensure good governance. Donors or multilateral agencies have taken leading roles in defining good governance. The donors began to impose good governance conditions on provisions of debt relief and new loans or grants in Bangladesh in the 1990s. They widened conditionality to include transparent administration, the protection of human rights and democracy, as well as public sector reform in Bangladesh.

International organizations have increasingly used the issues of human rights in their policy and practice since the late 1990s. In the contemporary world feminist perspectives on the politics of rights have explored the strategies, tensions and challenges associated with 'rights advocacy' in various settings. Several articles on South Asia explore the dilemmas that arise from feminist praxis in the diverse location, and address the question of what rights can contribute to struggles for gender justice. This study seeks to provide an understanding of the political and social factors as well...

Across South Asia in the last two decades, there has been widespread emphasis on governance reforms aiming to reduce poverty through Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The recent development agenda has had great impact over the region, and this book finds that it largely widens the gap between the rich and poor, which combined with rising inflation, contributes to political instability.

The book analyses the discourses of development agenda and governance crisis and provides a survey of the region by not only focusing on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh but also on the smaller...