Can Bhutan Be a Stage 3 Capitalist Country?
Problem Statement: Can Bhutan be a stage 3 capitalist country?
Background:
The Kingdom of Bhutan was a small country located in the Himalayas. It has a very small population, about only 742,000 as of 2012. It has very minimal historical records as most of them have been destroyed by fires and earthquakes. Around the 7th century CE, Buddhism has been introduced and has been prevalent ever since. It pervaded all aspects of Bhutan’s culture and institutions, including its governance practices and popular traditions. Bhutan was unified in the 17th century by Shrabdung Namgyal, a Tibetan lama and military leader. Through the years, there were several events that affected the way Bhutan was ran. During the 1950’s, it began to slowly transition to democracy. In 1972, the fourth king of Bhutan announced the concept of gross national happiness, which is a measure that regulates people’s well-being and quality of life by focusing its principles on sustainable socio-economic development, good governance, local promotion of culture and environmental conservation. Bhutan then adopted this as its metric of progress instead of other more traditional measures such as GDP and other utility-based economics. It has also kept itself isolated from the world, resulting to moderate economic progress.
QUESTION: CAN BHUTAN BE A STAGE 3 CAPITALIST COUNTRY?
Stages of Capitalism
3.0 International Ecosystem Economy
Problem
Solution
Coordination Mechanism
– Bhutan is experiencing unprecedented growth, but in the process, is already having pressure to preserve the countrys heritage and natural environment
– 2012 Constitution mandated that at least 60% of the country remain forested
– Bhutan is the only country that not only uses Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as measurement, but also Gross National Happiness (GNH) as national measure of performance
Nature
– Proposed construction of four (4) hydropower plants threatens the critically endangered white-bellied heron to extinction
– Previous similar propose project had been rejected based on the predicted impact on the environment
– Use of clean renewable energy only
-Creation of National Organic Policy targeting 100% organic farming across the nation by year 2020
Labor
– Limited access to skilled labor force specially in agriculture