Bhutan and Gross National Happiness In the world of economics, there exists various ways of measuring development and

defining the nature of the word itself. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for one thing, is a commonly accepted method by which to measure a countrys economic growth. For the kingdom of Bhutan, however, this is not quite the case. Bhutan goes by a different scale, a scale foreign to most countries Gross National Happiness (GNH). GNP measures exactly what the name suggests the happiness of its citizens, in terms of economic, environmental, physical, mental, workplace, social, and political wellness. Though the concept extremely subjective at first glance, it has become a large factor in defining Bhutans domestic and foreign policies. There are two main objectives in Bhutans domestic and foreign policies. The first is that development has to be pursued in a self-styled manner suitable for the Bhutanese conditions, and the second is that the policies must contribute to the preservation of Bhutanese culture, stability, and peace. The first objective is essentially that developmental goals must be reached in a way that is tailored specially for Bhutan, in terms of taking into account their religious, cultural, and geographical aspects. In other words, they do not want foreign interference to affect the way they construct their policies. In the past years, Bhutans dependence on other countries, namely India, has created too high a level of foreign interference in the countrys policies. Because of the level of dependency the Bhutanese had on India, India had quite an effect on the creation of Bhutanese policy. Of course, as a country led by a government that is very protective and sensitive about the preservation of cultural identity, it is only natural for them to feel uncomfortable at that turn of events. Since the Bhutanese have a specialized and unique set of national interests and priorities, it would make sense for them to want to reject the way much of the rest of the world handles their policies. It is now the Bhutaneses expressed interest to continue expanding their foreign aid resource base and benefiting from them, but to also ensure that there will be no major political effects as a result of that any cooperation of that nature. This would seem to be rather ambitious, however, as one would assume that it isnt out of the ordinary for a country to have a political agenda while helping another.

Next, Bhutans policy holds environmental protection and sustainability at a very high priority. It other words, it is concerned with the preservation of its traditional religio-cultural identity, peace and stability. The Bhutanese elite believe that the preservation of cultural values is central to not only sustaining their national identity, but the maintenance of their sovereignty as well. Bhutanese policy is constructed in such a way that the risk of losing traditional values to modernization is minimized. It believes that to maintain development based on GNH, it has to maintain their basic development assets, which applies not only to their material possessions, like natural resources, but also to their religious and cultural milieu. One of the things that Bhutan has tried to do is to limit their exposure to the outside world. It has kept a very limited number of countries with which it has political relations of any sort. By keeping domestic relations at a low, Bhutan will (or has) theoretically be able to modernize while maintaining peace within the country. Yet, in the face of discouraging circumstances, including their geographical and strategic weaknesses, their policies have actually allowed the Bhutanese culture to remain strong. There are some problems that arise from relying on the GNH. For one thing, its a very subjective scale, meaning the policies around the GNF are very unscientific. Furthermore, an Economics professor Dierdre McCloskey criticizes the GNH, saying that the anti-consumerism it encourages might mitigate the economic growth of an area. It would not be unjustified to be worried about how using the GNH indicator will fare in the longer term, especially with many other countries growing, innovating, competing, and developing so rapidly. Bhutans practice of GNH fulfillment also makes comparisons of the economic growths of Bhutan against other countries difficult, because the scales consist of different indicators. Furthermore, its policies against too many diplomatic relations have strained its connections with various parties. On the other hand, critical response from the Bhutanese towards policies based on the GNH have been largely positive. Studies have cited major improvements in the education system, life expectancy, and infrastructure. If this positive response is sustained, perhaps other developing countries struggling to keep up with the worlds greater powers should follow suit.