ABSTRACT

This article considers two interlinked questions regarding the wider significance of the gross national happiness (GNH) development framework established in Bhutan. First, to what extent can GNH be considered a genuinely alternative development paradigm, distinct from the traditional pursuit of economic growth? And second, what are its prospects for survival in a globalising world? It argues that, while the government of Bhutan has succeeded in crafting a distinctive economic middle path, GNH’s integrity as a development paradigm has been undermined by its dual function as the centrepiece of Bhutan’s nation-building strategy. Based on close analysis of the actual trade-offs made by the government in operationalising the GNH framework, the article argues that, when these two competing visions of GNH have come into conflict, it is the nation-building version that has so far prevailed. In its treatment of these questions, the article also seeks to bridge a deep fracture in the existing literature on Bhutan by integrating less prominent work on the history of discrimination faced by the country’s minority ethnic Nepali population, with the more dominant and complimentary discourse on Bhutan’s experiment with GNH – which until now has largely ignored these darker aspects of Bhutanese policy-making.

摘要

本文考虑了两个相互关联的问题，这些问题与在不丹建立的国民幸福总值 (GNH) 发展框架的更广泛意义有关。首先，在多大程度上可以将 GNH 视为一种真正的替代发展范式，不同于传统的经济增长追求？其次，它在全球化世界中的生存前景如何？它认为，虽然不丹政府成功地制定了一条独特的经济中间道路，但 GNH 作为一种发展范式的完整性却因其作为不丹国家建设战略核心的双重功能而受到损害。基于对政府在实施 GNH 框架中所做的实际权衡的仔细分析，本文认为，当这两种相互竞争的 GNH 愿景发生冲突时，迄今为止盛行的是国家建设版本。在处理这些问题时，本文还试图通过整合关于该国少数民族尼泊尔人所面临歧视历史的不太突出的著作，以及关于不丹的主流和互补的论述，来弥合现有关于不丹的文献中的严重裂痕。与 GNH 进行实验——到目前为止，它在很大程度上忽略了不丹决策的这些黑暗方面。