The middle path to democracy in the Kingdom of Bhutan

Asian Survey

Volumn 44, Issue 6, 2004, Pages 836-855

  Wangchuk, Tashi ^a  

^a Bhutan Museum of Natural History   (Bhutan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRACY; INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH; POLITICAL SYSTEM; STATE ROLE;

ASIA; BHUTAN; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; SOUTH ASIA; WORLD;

EID: 13644276407     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2004.44.6.836     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Leo E. Rose, The Politics of Bhutan (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press 1977)
2. "25 Years a King: his Majesty King Jigme Singay Wangchuck 1974-1999" (Thimpu: Center for Bhutan Studies, 1999), p. 8.
3. "76th Session of the National Assembly in Session," Kuensel [Illumination] newspaper, Bhutan, July 5, 1998.
4. Robert A. Dahl, A Prepace to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956).
5. Robert A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989).
6. "Proceedings of the 76th National Assembly" (Thimphu: National Assembly Secretariat, August 1998).
7. Michael Aris, The Raven Crown: The Origins of Buddhist Monarchy in Bhutan (London: Serindia Publication, 1994).
8. I b i d.
9. Ibid., p. 96.
10. Ibid., p. 98.
11. Karma Ura, "Development and Decentralization in Medieval and Modem Bhutan," in Bhutan: Aspects of Culture and Development, eds. Michael Aris and Michael Hutt (Gartmore, Scotland: Strachan-Kiscadale, 1994).
12. Tashi Wangchuk, "Changes in the Land Use System in Bhutan: Ecology, History, Culture, and Power," Journal of Bhutan Studies 2:1 (Autumn 2001), pp. 48-75.
13. E. P. Thompson, Customs in Common (New York: New Press, 1991).
14. Theodore Lowi , The End qfLiberalism: The Second Republic of the United States (New York: W.W. Norton, 1969).
15. Alexis de Toequeville, Democracy in America (New York: Doubleday, 1969), pp. 356-58.
16. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (London: Penguin, 1968 ).
17. UNDP, Bhutan, Human Rights: Strengthening Legal Protection in Bhutan .
18. Thompson, Customs in Common.
19. Dalai Lama, "Buddhism, Asian Values, and Democracy," Journal of Democracy 10: 1 (1999), pp. 3-7.
20. James Scott, Weapons of the Weak Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).
21. Robert A. Dahl, After the Revolution? Authority in a Good Society (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
22. Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 17 1.
23. Toequeville, Democracy in America, p. 412
24. Such practices have since been made illegal by the government.
25. Headmen are elected by a block of villages ranging anywhere from three to 10 villages per block. In this particular case, the incumbent headman was from another village.
26. Karma Ura observed 36 gewog or block level zomdus held in one gewog in 1991. Meetings at the village level are more frequent since they are called to discuss even minor issues affecting the village.
27. Putnam, Making Democracy Work.
28. Michael Aris, Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom (London: Aris & Phillips, Ltd., 1979).
29. 2004 Manualfor the Implementation of GYT Chathrim 2002 [2004 manual for the implementation of the Block Development Committee Act, 2002] (Thimphu: Decentralization Support Program, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, June 2004).
30. Ibid., Article 14, Section 2A.
31. A village zomdu could agree to impeach a headman, raising the issue at the gewog zomdu. Usually, unpopular headman are unpopular in all villages and consensus is arrived at unanimously.
32. "Discussions on the 2004 Manual for DYT and GYT Chathrims," Bhutan Broadcasting Service TV News, July 14, 2004, .
33. The DYT was empowered by the DYT Act of 2002. Previously, the DA also served as the chairman of the DYT. The DYT Act separates the role of the DA to actual implementation of development plans, while the DYT remains the decision-making body. The DYT chairman is elected from among the chimi or headmen from the district. For instance, development plan proposals and budget requests from the GYT are put to the DYT for approval. The DA then studies the technical and financial feasibility of the proposals and submits the plans to the DYT. The DA can also submit their own proposals for district-wide programs.
34. World Bank Report, no. 16113-BHU, Bhutan Country Economic Memorandum (Washington, D.C., December 20, 1996).
35. James Ferguson, The Antipolitics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1994).
36. Max Weber, Max Weber: Essay in Sociology, cds. H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946).
37. Ian Shapiro, Democracy's Place (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1996).
38. Dahl, Democracy and-Its Critics.
39. Orlando Patterson, "The Western Chord: Trust and Democracy in the Culture of Freedom," Storrs Lecture Series, Yale Law School (New Haven, Conn., April 12, 1999).
40. Villagers can do this not directly but through their representatives in the National Assembly.
41. Putnam, Making Democracy Work, pp. 173-76.
42. Stephen Holmes, "Political Theory and the End of Communism," Castle Lectures in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, Yale University (New Haven, Conn., February 1999).
43. Also, urban dwellers cannot run for the post of gup, because the GYT Chathrim of 2002 requires candidates to be full-time residents in the village where they are registered for census purposes. Low voter turnout (as low as 10%) during the 2002 nationwide gup elections has been attributed to eligible voters having moved away to urban centers.
44. Putnam, Making Democracy Work, p. 171.
45. Pem Thinley, "Issues of Migration in Bhutan: Possible Role for the International Organization for Migration," .
46. "Assembly Calls for a Proper Investigation into the JVT Attack and Action against Perpetrators," Kuensel, July 10, 2004.
47. Jigmi Y. Thinley, "Bhutan: A Kingdom Besieged," in Bhutan: Perspectives on Conflict and Dissent, ed. Michael Hutt (Gartmore, Scotland: Strachan-Kiscadale, Ltd., 1994), pp. 43-75.
48. UNDP, Bhutan, Bhutan Socio-economic Indicators, .
49. Government of Nepal, Ministry of Population and Environment, Population Projection for Nepal 1996 2016, .
50. Sangeeta Thapliyal, "Movement of Population Between India and Nepal: Emerging Challenges," Strategic Analysis 23:5 (August 1999).
51. Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, Smash and Grab Annexation of Sikkim (India: Vikas Publishing House, 1984).
52. This figure that all of the 90,000 are from Bhutan is disputed by the Bhutan government, which says that more than three-quarters of these people are Nepali citizens attracted to the camps by free food, education, health care, and a daily monetary allowance provided by the UNHCR.
53. George van Driem, Report on the First Linguistic Survey of Bhutan (Thimphu: Government of Bhutan, 1991).
54. "JVT Announces Results of Categorization," Kuensel, June 21, 2003.
55. "Assembly Calls for Proper Investigation into JVT Attack," ibid., July 10, 2004.
56. "Bhutan Committed to Finding a Lasting Solution," ibid., October 30, 2004, .
57. Arend Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977).
58. Rose, The Politics of Bhutan.
59. James Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
60. Putnam, Making Democracy Work, p. 171.