Bangladesh as the “Next Frontier”? Positioning the Nation in a Global Financial Hierarchy

Bibliographic Data

ID18961024
AuthorsP R Gilbert (0000-0002-1059-029X, University of Sussex, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume1
Issue1
Pages62-80
Publication date2019-01-22
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePublic Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2589-1707 • E-ISSN: 2589-1715
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/25891715-00101005
OpenAlexW2898341945
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited1

In this article, I examine the relationship between the speculative projects embarked upon by young entrepreneurs and bankers in Dhaka during 2013, and the attempts made by analysts and nation-branding experts to present Bangladesh as a worthy “frontier” for speculative foreign investment. In order to induce others to speculate on their visions for Bangladesh, they variously positioned the nation via reference to the ratings imposed on it by credit rating agencies, the emergence of regional hegemons including members of the brics , and the apparent decline of “formerly” developed European nations. As purchasing power comes to mark a nation’s position within a hierarchical global market, nationhood comes to be recast as consumer-citizenship. The speculative imaginaries projected by these entrepreneurs, bankers and nation-branding experts have the capacity to both reinforce and rework the hierarchies into which “frontier” nations are routinely placed by analysts in global financial centres

Economics · Economy · Foreign direct investment · Frontier · Hierarchy · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Vision · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Finance

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access