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* In 1989, the military government changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period. Among others, Burma was changed into Myanmar, Arakan into Rakhine and so forth. The research note uses the name Myanmar in accordance with the practice of the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. For consistency, the research note refers to the country's name as Myanmar. For names of places, the new names are given first and the old names are in parentheses.

In recent years efforts have been made to improve governance by ensuring institutional performance and policing for greater transparency to sustain liberal democracy in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Since gaining independence in 1971, The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been driven by internal power struggles and economic chaos, while attempting to develop a democratic society. A predominately Islamic country, Bangladesh’s representative government is battling poverty and rampant corruption. Although this study appreciates what Bangladesh has achieved so far, it seeks to deviate from the general trend that romanticizes Bangladesh’s democracy and its recent connection with new governance parameters. This study attempts to identify some of the major paradoxes that Bangladesh’s democracy is faced with. All these factors will be analyzed in the context of a contemporary notion of governance and democracy in Bangladesh.

In East Asia the government of each country has played a decisive role in state development by engineering economic miracle. South Korea has dramatically been transforming its economy and managing development of the most important public and private enterprises since 1960s. South Korean government provided a favourable institutional framework by prioritizing industrial growth, within which the private sector could flourish. All these unique features are obviously the basis of Asian version of capitalism. The unique Asian variety of capitalism is mostly linked with the industrial policy debate where the government plays an active and paternal role in guiding the economy and society. This paper tries to explore the development strategies and economic policies adopted by the government of South Korea to ignite change in favour of radical economic transformation and its efficacious performance to create a sense of urgency to bring about a hospitable environment for growth and competitive advantage. Against this backdrop this paper also figures out the lessons to be learned by Bangladeshi Government from Korean experience to emulate and also to address the country's economic potentials in order to catch up the economy of the Asian Tigers.

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. The World Bank made issues of corruption a major element in its governance agenda in Bangladesh. Global pressures to cooperate and compete, rising expectations of citizens and the need to reduce public deficits are changing the way Bangladesh needs to be governed.