Bhutan’s capital city, Thimphu , is perhaps best known as the only capital in the world without a traffic light. The official arrival of television in the country did not occur until 1999, and the first road was not constructed until 1962. Bhutan, it would seem, is a country of little global significance. Wedged into the Himalayas between two regional giants, India and China , it is an isolated and mountainous country inhabited by less than one million people. The country has few resources in demand by the global economy and was largely closed off to the outside world until 1960. But Bhutan is significant. Jigme Singye Wangchuck , Bhutan’s fourth king , coined the phrase Gross National Happiness and famously declared “Gross National Happiness is more important than gross national product ”. The concept of Gross National Happiness , or GNH, articulates an understanding of development that moves beyond economic growth and incorporates multiple and interrelated social, economic, cultural, environmental, and governance dimensions. It is an attempt to construct development in a holistic manner that addresses the multiple dimensions of being human. Bhutan has made significant development gains since the inauguration of GNH as its national development strategy. Gross National Happiness is also gaining significant international traction as an applied model of multidimensional development . In 2011, the United Nations designated Bhutan to lead the design of an international happiness -focused development paradigm. Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Vandana Shiva, Ban Ki-moon, and even Prince Charles—a who’s who of the global development community—participated in the UN’s High Level Meeting to initiate the process. The results of Bhutan’s efforts ultimately helped shape the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Bhutan may be tiny but its outsized influence has put it at the forefront of putting a multidimensional development approach into action.
The growing international profile of Gross National Happiness speaks to its importance as an applied model of multidimensional development . But a curious situation exists. International enthusiasm is not matched by a clear understanding of the factors that drive the actual implementation of GNH within Bhutan itself. Conceptually, GNH is intriguing; operationally, its key drivers remain largely unknown. This is a critical issue as GNH policy is implemented by multiple and fragmented Bhutanese governance actors with competing political interests and development priorities. In this context, how does Bhutan actually put multidimensional GNH policies into action on the ground? Do competing interests impact the implementation process and, if so, how are they governed? Is it even accurate to speak of Bhutan’s development outcomes as being derived from GNH? Answering these questions is necessary if we are to more fully understand the potential of GNH in Bhutan. Answering them is further necessary if we are to better assess whether Bhutan’s experience offers insights for the effective governance of human development more broadly. This book explores these questions.
1 Gross National Happiness and Human Development
The growing international appeal of GNH is rooted in the global development community’s increasing turn to multidimensional approaches like the human development paradigm. Happiness , though, has a somewhat complicated relationship with human development . Both the happiness approach and human development are multidimensional development strategies that move beyond the traditional focus on economic growth . Yet some remain wary of engaging happiness as part of human development (Stewart 2014), while others see synergies (Bruni et al. 2008), and still others embrace it (Hirai et al. 2016). Key differences involve the ultimate ends of each approach as well as the nature of measurement. But in the context of governance and their practical application on the ground, the two are clearly connected. Human development and its accompanying measurement tool, the human development index , have become a dominant development paradigm promoted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) . The paradigm draws heavily on the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen , Martha Nussbaum , and others by conceptualizing development as increasing people’s freedoms to choose meaningful lives (Alkire 2005; Nussbaum 2000; Robeyns 2005; Sen 1999). Practically, it focuses on creating enabling conditions that expand people’s economic, social, and political choices so they can choose the kind of lives they have reason to value: healthy, educated, economically secure, and politically free. GNH treads similar ground. Based on a framework of four integrated pillars, later expanded to nine domains , it focuses on creating enabling conditions that promote the social, economic, environmental, cultural, and governance conditions that allow the Bhutanese to choose happy lives. The GNH framework, described in detail in Chap. 2, conceptualizes happiness not in the western notion of an individual’s often fleeting subjective happiness , but as a more foundational condition rooted in Buddhism with inherent ties to others and the environment. GNH creates the conditions for individuals and society to freely pursue this kind of happiness .
GNH differs from the human development paradigm in its foundation in Buddhism . It also differs in its ultimate goal: promoting happiness as opposed to human development ’s focus on agency, or empowerment, through choices. Despite these conceptual differences, both the Bhutanese government and UNDP recognize the compatibility of the two approaches in practice. The Bhutanese government has argued that the human development paradigm’s focus on choices makes it a means to happiness , which is the end goal of development. The happiness focus of GNH therefore represents the larger end to which the human development paradigm contributes (Royal Government of Bhutan 2005, p. 18). Both the Bhutanese government and UNDP further state that the mutual focus of GNH and human development on creating an enabling environment for people to reach their full potential makes the two approaches “wholly compatible and complementary” in practice (GNH Commission/UNDP 2011, p. 16). Analyzing Bhutan’s governance experience implementing GNH on the ground will provide insight for the implementation of applied human development strategies elsewhere.
2 Governance: A Key Ingredient for Success
Conceptualizing an applied multidimensional development strategy like GNH is one thing. Putting it into practice is quite another. Effective governance is the foundation upon which to operationalize development strategies (Grindle 2007; Hume et al. 2015; Kaufmann et al. 1999; Smith 2007). Unlike the concept of government, which is restricted to state actors, governance involves the interactions among networked public, private sector , and civil society actors in the exercise of power. It focuses on the rules, norms, values, and processes that structure these interactions. Governance means people are not merely the objects of development; they are active participants in achieving their own development. This is critical for multidimensional development models like GNH and human development that put people at the centre. Individual agency and collective action are a central part of development decision-making and action. Governance processes and structures that effectively incorporate and mobilize the participation of both non-state and state actors are vital to the successful implementation of multidimensional approaches like GNH and human development .
Fostering this kind of broad part...