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The king has begun an earnest attempt to codify Bhutan’s underlying philosophy of Gross National Happiness. The king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck wants to circulate the first draft of the constitution to all of 530,000 Bhutanese in an almost open source WIKI style project except you will be required to send in your suggestions. A referendum will be held at the end of this year to ratify the constitution.
Whether the king finally listens to his denizen’s suggestions or not, the move is certainly a right step in the direction of gradually instilling democracy in the country’s fabric. As I have always maintained, a benevolent dictator with the right intentions and foresight might always do more for his country than a pluralist democracy might ever dream of; the risk is too great. Power corrupts; we simply have too many historical examples of a ruler gone bad. What we see in Bhutan today is the willingness of the king to accept that the country is in fact more important than the monarch. ("The sovereignty, stability and well-being of the country must be placed above everything else. The country is more important than the king.").
It certainly is an interesting experience to see a constitution being drafted, floated out to the citizens for approval and suggestions, and finally being ratified to transform a country’s political structure from a virtual monarchy to a multi-party democracy. Is Nepal listening?
by Patrix | on Monday, March 28th, 2005 at 1:00 am | 
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April 1st, 2005 at 2:42 am reply
Robi & Nitin’s Indian Ocean Horizons: 2005-04-1
In this briefing: The Eternal Triangle (or Square?); Peeling the Skin off the Pakistani Onion; Peeling the Skin off India-Pakistan Relations; India, Energy, and Security; India - a Million Matinees Now; Keeping a Eye on Khan; The FBI is a Trusted Brand…