Tantric State

A Buddhist Approach to Democracy and Development in Bhutan

Bibliographic Data

ID20031671
AuthorsWilliam J Long (0000-0003-1956-3500, corresponding author)
Year2019
Pages248
Publication date2019-01-24
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueTantric State (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780190843397.001.0001
OpenAlexW4243751107
Open LibraryOL27756995M
ISBN9780190843397
LanguageEN
Citations received8

Bhutan’s unique Buddhist-based democracy and economy provides an authentic basis for theoretical and empirical comparison with democracies and economies founded on liberal, Enlightenment principles. Bhutanese Buddhist and Western liberal conceptualizations of the individual “self,” “human nature,” and “the pursuit of happiness”—the building blocks of democratic and market-based economic theory—differ profoundly. Hence, Buddhist and liberal conceptions of what constitutes good government and appropriate economic development diverge in important ways, even though both Buddhist and liberal approaches are “democratic” and “market-based.” Because the two approaches—liberal and Buddhist—are based on distinctive philosophical traditions, this comparison elucidates new questions, frames of inquiry, and alternative understandings of democracy and development. The book describes how democratic political institutions and markets emerged and function in Bhutan, demonstrating how, in real-world terms, Bhutan organizes and operates a political and economic system consistent with its Buddhist worldview. It considers the nature of Bhutan’s unique political institutions and its economic touchstone, the pursuit of “Gross National Happiness (GNH)” (rather than Gross National Product), as its ordering principle for policy. The book concludes by reflecting on whether Bhutan’s unique model can withstand the forces of globalization and what insights Bhutan might have to share with the rest of us about dilemmas facing Western democracies and the need to pursue development in a more holistic and sustainable way

Buddhism · Democracy · Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Geography · Globalization · Happiness · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Bhutan · Religion and politics

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