Citizen Participation in Bangladesh’s City Corporations: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Formal Institutions, Political Brokerage, and Citizen Influence

Md Nahidul Islam; Kazi S M Khasrul Alam Quddusi; Md. Hashem Reza; Kamrun Nahar Jharna

doi:10.64423/arpa.v34i2.112

Authors

Md Nahidul Islam Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, Comilla University, Bangladesh.
Kazi S M Khasrul Alam Quddusi Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Md. Hashem Reza Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Gopalganj Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, Bangladesh.
Kamrun Nahar Jharna Department of Public Administration, Gopalganj Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, Bangladesh.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64423/arpa.v34i2.112

Keywords:

Citizen Participation, City Corporations, Urban Governance, Political Brokerage, SDG localization; street-level bureaucracy; urban local government; policy implementation; Bangladesh

Abstract

This qualitative systematic review synthesizes evidence on citizen participation in the 12 city corporations in Bangladesh during the period under review, focusing on formal participatory institutions, political brokerage, and institutional authority. Four bibliographic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Bangladesh Journals Online) were searched, and citation chasing, hand searching, and grey-literature retrieval were performed for English-language publications from 2009 to March 31, 2025. Following the removal of 372 duplicates, 882 studies were independently screened by two reviewers (Cohen's kappa =.82), and 52 studies were included and appraised using the CASP or MMAT as appropriate. The analysis is based on Arnstein's power-based understanding of participation, supplemented by Fung's design dimensions and Fox's voice/institutional ‘’ teeth distinction. Formal participatory opportunities are well recorded throughout the corpus, but the evidence does not show a consistent link between the existence of such opportunities and citizen influence. The most common forms of participation are informational or consultative, and there are barriers to shared authority in the form of agenda control, non-binding outputs, central fiscal and administrative dependence, and brokered access. The review offers two interrelated concepts: a structurally embedded tokenism ceiling and a typology of substitutive, parasitic, and bridging brokerages. These concepts attempt to account for the possibility of apparently participatory institutions existing in conjunction with selective, mediated influence. There is still limited evidence to show participation in digital services, causal service outcomes, and variation across cities, and the literature is focused on Dhaka and Rajshahi only. Conclusions thus do not make general statements about all city corporations but are mechanism-based.

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