Democracy is the most desirable form of governance. Democratic governance has a long history in many developed countries of the world. But democratic governance in developing countries needs vigilant scrutiny. This article by utilizing good governance framework analyzes various problems afflicting institutionalization of democratic governance in Bangladesh as the country’s experiment with parliamentary democracy during the last two decades has raised many questions. It appears that the only justification for the continuation of the present governance system is that representatives of the people are at the helm of state affairs. The malice of the present governance system is there for all to see. Parliament in the true sense of the term is barely functional and bureaucracy is highly politicized. In this fold, it has serious implications for the morale and efficiency of the public servants as well for the level, frequency and quality of service delivery. Though judiciary has given some judgements to protect human rights, controversy still persists as to whether its judgements are influenced by political considerations or not. Though press freedom exists with some limitations, there is still a growing concern as to whether print and electronic media serve national interest or pursue narrow self-interest of their rich owners.

The era of globalization presents both opportunities and challenges to the field of public administration. Dealing with the myriads of anomalous situations including wars, transnational epidemics, terrorism, financial crises, serious security-related accidents and transportation casualties has become a very important part of the public administrators’ daily work. The traditional practice of public administration is becoming more difficult due to scientific and technological improvements, as well as economic globalization that has been complicating socio-economic–political development, emerging issues are bringing about enormous transformations and challenges to government administration. Within the public administration of Bangladesh trust is increasingly becoming a crucial element of performance. Thus, trust in public administration leads to the discourse of trust in governance. This article, based on literatures on governance and trust in the system of governance, would look to analyze the state of trust in the governance system of Bangladesh. In that analysis we will discuss the pros and cons of present governance in Bangladesh. After such analysis we would like to draw the inference by delineating the potential process how trust can be successfully installed in governance system of the country.

In the final article of the special issue, we offer a reflection on the ideas presented by the authors and recommendations for future research on implementation and assessment of Global, International, and Intercultural (GII) competencies in higher education. Themes identified from the articles include the intersection of GII competencies and inclusive excellence in higher education, the importance of integrating GII learning into the core curriculum, and the high impact of interdisciplinary approaches. Parallel recommendations for future scholarship include: further application of the inclusive excellence framework to GII competencies research, additional study on methods for integration of GII learning into core curriculum, and attention to successful strategies for application within interdisciplinary settings.

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Purpose -The story of the Bangladesh public sector is not a happy one as it has often failed to uphold efficiency and equality in delivering services to the people. Hence leadership has a critical role to play to ensure equality, effectiveness and efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the present condition and future prospect of leadership development in the Bangladesh public sector by focusing on the efforts initiated both by the government of Bangladesh and international organizations during the last ten years. Design/methodology/approach -This paper has reviewed available literatures on theories of public sector leadership development and its application in Bangladesh to identify the state and future prospect of public sector leadership development utilizing available theories. Findings -The analysis shows that partisan politics, dominance of generalists, absence of long-range feedback and monitoring systems and lack of efficient and knowledgeable trainers are the major impediments to public sector leadership development. International organizations provide proposals, frameworks, technical assistance along with funds to develop the public sector leaders but in implementing the schemes they have a very limited role in the implementation process. Research limitations/implications -This paper does not offer much empirical evidence on public sector leadership development in Bangladesh, but creates the platform for further research on public sector training and leadership development with empirical data. Significant variables can be drawn out of this piece of work to design future research on this very important issue. Originality/value -This paper will help the interested individuals involved in the public sector leadership development in Bangladesh to understand the divergence between the efforts put in by the government and international agencies in developing public sector leadership.