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

Abstract

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.