Mohammad Mohabbat Khan details the challenges facing the civil service in Bangladesh at the time, chief of which was to restore credibility in the mind of the public. He details some attempts at reform, which he characterizes as somewhat disjointed. He identifies the various commissions formed to assess and make recommendations for reforms, and describes their perceived failings and the obstacles they encountered. He assesses the challenges to reform when high-ranking politicians and civil servants are comfortable with the status quo.
Case Study: Energizing the Civil Service: Managing at The Top 2, Bangladesh, 2006-2011
At the time of this interview, Mohammad Mohabbat Khan was a senior professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was appointed to the post of professor in 1983. He earned an honors degree in political science, a master's in public administration from the University of Dhaka, a master's in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a doctorate from the University of Southern California. He served on the Bangladesh Public Service Commission and taught at universities in Jordan, Nigeria, Singapore and the U.S. He has written 16 books in the areas of governance and public sector reform.