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Bhutan's Road to Democracy
Council on Foreign Relations
Interviewee: Jigme Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan
Interviewer: Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer, CFR.org
September 25, 2008
In March 2008, Bhutan held its first parliamentary elections (BBC), shifting away from a century-old absolute monarchy. The largely Buddhist country of around 700,000 people is nestled in the Himalayas between Asia's giants, India and China. The head of country's first democratically elected government, Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley, tells CFR.org in an interview that the Bhutanese people were apprehensive about democracy because of the poor state of democracy in South Asia. He says he is confident, however, that democracy will work in Bhutan. Thinley also discusses Bhutan's relations with its neighbors, China and India. He says relations with India have shown continued growth "because of historical and economic reasons," but that relations with China "have not developed in an equal way."
Bhutan's road to democracy has been a rather unusual one. Instead of people demanding it, it was the former king who pushed a move toward democracy. In fact, news reports suggested that the people of Bhutan were quite apprehensive and reluctant to embrace the change. Why do you think such a decision was made, and do you believe such a top-down approach to democracy can work?
It will definitely work, and it has already started working. What one does need to understand is that the process of democratization in Bhutan was not something that was undertaken and completed overnight. It was a process that was initiated as early as 1953 by the third king of Bhutan, and then the fourth king accelerated the process, beginning in 1981 until the final step culminating in the electoral process where two parties vied for the privilege to serve the people. So between 1981 and 2008, we're talking about twenty-seven years. That's a long time. And during those years, various institutional arrangements for the functioning of a democracy, to support the democratic process, were already established.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
It makes a very interesting read.. bhutan is also ranked high on what is known as 'Happiness Index'.
Council on Foreign Relations
Interviewee: Jigme Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan
Interviewer: Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer, CFR.org
September 25, 2008
In March 2008, Bhutan held its first parliamentary elections (BBC), shifting away from a century-old absolute monarchy. The largely Buddhist country of around 700,000 people is nestled in the Himalayas between Asia's giants, India and China. The head of country's first democratically elected government, Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley, tells CFR.org in an interview that the Bhutanese people were apprehensive about democracy because of the poor state of democracy in South Asia. He says he is confident, however, that democracy will work in Bhutan. Thinley also discusses Bhutan's relations with its neighbors, China and India. He says relations with India have shown continued growth "because of historical and economic reasons," but that relations with China "have not developed in an equal way."
Bhutan's road to democracy has been a rather unusual one. Instead of people demanding it, it was the former king who pushed a move toward democracy. In fact, news reports suggested that the people of Bhutan were quite apprehensive and reluctant to embrace the change. Why do you think such a decision was made, and do you believe such a top-down approach to democracy can work?
It will definitely work, and it has already started working. What one does need to understand is that the process of democratization in Bhutan was not something that was undertaken and completed overnight. It was a process that was initiated as early as 1953 by the third king of Bhutan, and then the fourth king accelerated the process, beginning in 1981 until the final step culminating in the electoral process where two parties vied for the privilege to serve the people. So between 1981 and 2008, we're talking about twenty-seven years. That's a long time. And during those years, various institutional arrangements for the functioning of a democracy, to support the democratic process, were already established.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
It makes a very interesting read.. bhutan is also ranked high on what is known as 'Happiness Index'.
