IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soudev/v16y2021i2p273-292.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Origins of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Katsu Masaki
  • Jit Tshering

Abstract

Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) is often dismissed by its critics as being an instrument for policy elites to address ‘national security concerns’ that started to threaten their grasp on the state around the turn of the millennium. This study problematizes this line of criticism that relegates GNH to an ‘invented tradition’ of recent origin. For this purpose, this study draws on Roy Wagner’s notion of ‘invention’ that draws attention to how various sets of meanings are brought together. A historical analysis of the country’s development plans points to several origins of GNH, including ‘Buddhism and Bhutan’s traditional socio-economic system’ and ‘outside concepts’ holding sway in international debates on development. GNH has undergone a long and gradual process of elaboration in view of Buddhist mores and development discourses, while also taking into account national security concerns. This study concludes by warning against the reductionistic stance of GNH critics, in favour of a more balanced perspective that captures the multiplicity of the origins of GNH.

Suggested Citation

  • Katsu Masaki & Jit Tshering, 2021. "Exploring the Origins of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 16(2), pages 273-292, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:16:y:2021:i:2:p:273-292
    DOI: 10.1177/09731741211039049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09731741211039049
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09731741211039049?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Randy Schroeder & Kent Schroeder, 2014. "Happy Environments: Bhutan, Interdependence and the West," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-13, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katsu Masaki, 2022. "Exploring the ‘Partial Connections’ between Growth and Degrowth Debates: Bhutan’s Policy of Gross National Happiness," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 86-103, January.
    2. Michela Loi & Alain Fayolle & Marco van Gelderen & Elen Riot & Deema Refai & David Higgins & Radi Haloub & Marcus Alexandre Yshikawa Salusse & Erwan Lamy & Caroline Verzat & Fabrice Cavarretta, 2022. "Entrepreneurship Education at the Crossroads: Challenging Taken-for-Granted Assumptions and Opening New Perspectives," Post-Print hal-03983114, HAL.
    3. Jinting Zhang & F. Benjamin Zhan & Xiu Wu & Daojun Zhang, 2021. "Partial Correlation Analysis of Association between Subjective Well-Being and Ecological Footprint," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Dorji Yangka & Peter Newman & Vanessa Rauland & Peter Devereux, 2018. "Sustainability in an Emerging Nation: The Bhutan Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:16:y:2021:i:2:p:273-292. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.