ABSTRACT
This chapter looks into the logic and politics underlying both nationalization and privatization in Bangladesh over the past four decades. It highlights the main features of industrialization and privatization policies, explores the factors that account for a gradual shift from one paradigm to another, and makes a critical analysis of the shift in policies. The chapter argues that both politics and pragmatism have influenced the shaping of policies as well as the shift. It further argues that privatization was undertaken more to serve the needs of the ruling politicians for political gain than to address market or government failures, or to conform to ideological predilections. The chapter also argues that the changes in industrial policies were basically driven by considerations of political convenience rather than economic rationality. Political imperatives dominated the privatization process; the importance of different factors and actors varied depending on the prevailing political environment at a given time.
