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Happy Environments: Bhutan, Interdependence and the West

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  • Randy Schroeder

    (Departments of General Education and English, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada)

  • Kent Schroeder

    (International Development Institute, Humber College, 3199 Lake Shore Blvd. West, Toronto, ON M8V 1K8, Canada)

Abstract

There is a growing trend to understand economic and environmental policies in terms of multiple dimensions and “interdependence.” Bhutan is increasingly seen as an operational model with its Gross National Happiness (GNH) strategy. GNH, which is rooted in Mahayana Buddhism, is a framework and set of policy tools that conceptualizes sustainability as interdependent ecological, economic, social, cultural and good governance concerns. Bhutan’s practical GNH experience illustrates a significant ability to positively couple economic growth with a healthy environment. Can the “West”—with its legacy of either/or economics—learn anything from Bhutan’s multidimensional policy experiment? At first, it would seem not. It is questionable whether the West can replicate Bhutan’s unorthodox policy tools as we do not have a balancing set of Buddhist values rooted in mainstream culture. We are not equipped to respond to the many unintended consequences of interdependent policy because we do not yet understand what “interdependence” actually entails. There is hope, but much of it exists in the grey literature of ecological economics. This literature is in urgent need of greater exposure if we are to imagine and enact sustainability policy tools that are truly sensitive to interdependence, and thus follow Bhutan on its perilous but necessary journey.

Suggested Citation

  • Randy Schroeder & Kent Schroeder, 2014. "Happy Environments: Bhutan, Interdependence and the West," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-13, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:6:p:3521-3533:d:36648
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    1. Transparency International TI, 2012. "Corruption Perceptions Index 2012," Working Papers id:5186, eSocialSciences.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dorji Yangka & Peter Newman & Vanessa Rauland & Peter Devereux, 2018. "Sustainability in an Emerging Nation: The Bhutan Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Jinting Zhang & F. Benjamin Zhan & Xiu Wu & Daojun Zhang, 2021. "Partial Correlation Analysis of Association between Subjective Well-Being and Ecological Footprint," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Michela Loi & Alain Fayolle & Marco van Gelderen & Elen Riot & Deema Refai & David Higgins & Radi Haloub & Marcus Alexandre Yshikawa Salusse & Erwan Lamy & Caroline Verzat & Fabrice Cavarretta, 2022. "Entrepreneurship Education at the Crossroads: Challenging Taken-for-Granted Assumptions and Opening New Perspectives," Post-Print hal-03983114, HAL.
    4. Katsu Masaki & Jit Tshering, 2021. "Exploring the Origins of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 16(2), pages 273-292, August.
    5. Katsu Masaki, 2022. "Exploring the ‘Partial Connections’ between Growth and Degrowth Debates: Bhutan’s Policy of Gross National Happiness," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 86-103, January.

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