Post #3

Bhutan: Nationalism, Cultural Identity, & Economic Inequality

The term ‘nationalism’ refers to an ideology which promotes the interests of a particular nation — groups of people sharing a common language, history, and cultural identity, enclosed in the same geographical borders — especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining national sovereignty, often to the exclusion or detriment of those of other nations. In today’s globalizing age, as nationalism grows and more nations are able to assert themselves and their own agenda on a global scale, growing in power and national pride, the prospect for mutual agreement and common action diminishes, as pointed out by Zakaria in The Post-American World. “The central challenge of the rise of the rest,” Zakaria argues, “[is] to stop the forces of global growth from turning into the forces of global disorder and disintegration” (34). The ethnic expulsion of the Lhotshampa people from Bhutan, one-sixth of the population, provides an illuminating example of the dangers and disorder which can result from nationalist policies, even within a country’s own borders.

As a country which has never been under the rule of a foreign entity, the rise of nationalism in Bhutan was not attached to political movements for attainment of self-government, but rather grew among the Bhutanese people as an attachment to its distinct history, tradition, and culture. According to Bhutan: Society and Polity, “the origin of nationalism in Bhutan can be traced back to the 17th century when Bhutan, under the leadership of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, repulsed several Tibetan invasions,” ultimately uniting and establishing Bhutan as a single country. Over time, Bhutan has implemented many policies which seek to strengthen its national identity, culminating in the 1990s following the establishment of  the national cultural policy “driglam namza” — one language, one culture, and one nation — which placed restrictions on the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa people, seen as a demographic and cultural threat, and spurred sharp ethnic tensions. The result: over 100,000 people of the ethnic population were expelled from the country, making Bhutan the world’s biggest creator of refugees per capita (Maximillian Mørch, Bhutan’s Dark Secret: The Lhotshampa Expulsion, The Diplomat), and showcasing the devastating effects which nationalist policies can have.

Bhutan, with its diverse and distinct ethnic regions, strong cultural identity, and its government-guiding philosophy which aims to promote the well-being of the people within its borders, provides an enlightening demonstration of the difficult political challenge of balancing policy that promotes the strength of its national identity with the careful preservation of its unique cultural entities — as well as the conflict which arises when these motivations do not align with one another.

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As demonstrated by their guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness, economic inequality is an imperative issue in the eyes of the Bhutanese government. The GNH Index is categorized by nine primary domains which cover “both traditional areas of socio-economic concern such as living standards, health and education and less traditional aspects of culture and psychological wellbeing” (Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index, OPHI):

With GNH, the government of Bhutan has demonstrated an alternative path to governance, by prioritizing policies which promote the happiness and well-being of its population over GDP and traditional economic motivations. However, despite this holistic approach, Bhutan ranked lowly according to the 2019 World Happiness Report at only 95th out of 156 countries, suggesting that Bhutan still has a long way to go in addressing its domestic issues. As production grows in Bhutan, the country is faced with emerging economic threats of inequality and income disparity between the poor and non-poor. While there has been little comprehensive research into the intricacies Bhutan’s economic inequality — as studies based on household expenditure surveys can prove misleading — a GINI index of 37.4 as of 2017, ranking 80th in the world, indicates that the country still faces obstacles in narrowing the inequality gap.

As Tony Judt points out in Ill Fares the Land, inequality is a phenomenon that breeds many issues for those at the bottom, as economic disadvantage is linked to many important indicators of unhappiness. Accordingly, Bhutan, in its pursuit of achieving greater levels of happiness for its people, must continue its endeavor to develop policies which minimize the inequalities of income, the concentration of wealth, and promote a more equitable distribution of public facilities.