ABSTRACT
Although a new state, Bangladesh is an old country with a long-recorded history of several thousand years as a part of the Indian subcontinent. Politics, bureaucracy and local governments in one form or another have been in existence in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. However, the evolution of political process or governance, organizational development of bureaucracy, local government and their interplay in governance can be divided and discussed into the three broader categories of historical development. These are ancient and medieval South Asia, colonial South Asia and independent South Asia. This chapter provides an overall brief history of political governance and administrative development of South Asia focusing the light on four major variables: nature of political regimes or systems of governance, nature and institutional position of bureaucracy, nature of local government and overall nature of the relationships between politicians and bureaucrats in governance and development.
