Book Name;
Politics of Gross National Happiness; Governance and Development in Bhutan
Author;
Kent Schroeder
All over the world, both states and individuals are in the rat race of GDP and GNP and its calculation believing that wealth accumulation is guarantee to their happiness.
But their thirst does not quench, if they get one targeted figure then their yearning for another one just set in. The quagmire of wealth hoarding engulf their soul slowly and they willingly submerge their happiness in it till death.
The GDP and GNP have no doubt value but they are useless and futile if they failed to give happiness and peace of mind to us. The term Gross National Happiness (GNH) was coined by the His Majesty the fourth King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk in 1970s.
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The concept encompasses that any sustainable development must take a holistic approach in the development of state and nation and that it must not ignore the importance and well-being of non-economic or spiritual well-being of individuals.
The 4 measuring domains or pillars out of total 9 psychological domains or pillars for the measurement of this, Gross National Happiness (GNH), were given by the Bhutanese government that were also endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2011.
This book investigate the GNH of Bhutanese government and it’s successfulness in getting its aim in the face of conventional power dynamics.
How the 4 basic policies of the Bhutanese government which are,
- Tourism (sustainable and equitable socio-economic development)
- Media (preservation and promotion of local culture)
- Farm roads (good governance)
- Finally Human and Wildlife conflict (environmental conservation) are used by them for the human development, governance of their country.
And how effective this catalyst may have been in bringing out the paradigmatic shift in the world economic and developmental concepts.
The nine chapters of the book is a good read for anyone who want to go beyond the conventional politics of calculation and spending!!
I am,
Murtaza Kaleem an educator, freelance writer, movie-watcher, melodious music listener and an avid reader about International Relations and World Politics with a decade long experience of education and teaching to students of different sociological and economic backgrounds. My social links are;
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