Paper short abstract:

The political economy and history of development in Bangladesh illustrates the significance of basic protection against crises of subsistence and survival (e.g. disasters, famines) as the foundation of political legitimacy in developing countries exposed to economic and ecological insecurity.

Paper long abstract:

Bangladesh's unexpected development success rests on a foundation of basic protection against natural disasters (cyclones, excess flooding) and food crises (famines, price shocks) to which its ecological and economic conditions render it vulnerable. The paper argues that this protective foundation results from a social contract between the ruling elites, the rural masses, and their aid donors that emerged out of the political contention surrounding major episodes of subsistence crisis around the time of the country's creation (late 1960s and early 1970s). This social - or subsistence crisis - contract, has provided the bedrock for political legitimacy throughout the country's history. Whether regimes and elite groupings came to power through multiparty elections, took power through military coups, or borrowed power in constitutional caretaker arrangements, all have been held to account over their performance in protecting the population against disasters and food crises. The paper engages with Charles Tilly's seminal work on the histories of food supply in European state-making to illustrate the contemporary relevance of subsistence crisis protection to the national, but also to the international, legitimacy of elite rule.