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Happiness: Towards a New Development Paradigm
Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
www.newdevelopmentparadigm.bt
Happiness: Towards a New Development Paradigm
Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
II | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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IV | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Foreword
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Acknowledgements
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A di!erent vision for development – premises and principles
Executive Summary
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The need for a new approach
Towards a new development paradigm - a proposed model
VIII | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Challenges for the new paradigm
A transformative agenda for societal happiness - future options
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Table of Contents
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Figures
Boxes
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Women playing khuru in Gelephu, Bhutan. It is a traditional Bhutanese sport of throwing darts, often played only by men.
Photo Credit: Sangay Tshering
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Abbreviations
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A Di!erent Vision for Development
Bhutan’s perspective
2 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Societal progress must achieve physical, mental, emotional, and
spiritual wellbeing as a condition for the ful"lment of human
potential and for genuine happiness in harmony with nature
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Parallel global initiatives
4 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan hopes to contribute both to the UN’s post-2015
development agenda and to the worldwide
recognition of the need for new societal solu-tions to the emergent crises of sustainability
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6 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan’s vision for a new development paradigmThe premise
We envision the new paradigm emerging through a dynamic
process of global con-versation, participation and constant feedback
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The approach to transformation
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The new paradigm di!ers in essence from
the existing one by making the sustain-
ability of life on earth the top concern and recalibrating devel-opment to ensure
that life - of humans, other species and the earth itself - is valued
and prioritised
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Principles of the new paradigm
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Principles of the new paradigm are: 1) transformation in what we value; 2) reconsideration of the purpose of
development; 3) re-orientation
of humanity towards service;
4) recognition of our in-terconnectedness; and 5) ethos of cooperation
10 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Proposed working model of the New Development Paradigm
Our own separate interests will only be served by coopera-
tion, collaboration and integration of our
e!orts at every level
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12 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Shortcomings of GDP as a measure of progress
The Need for a New Approach
To assess the welfare of a nation it is neces-
sary to ask not how much the economy
is growing, but what is growing
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14 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Ecological crises
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Thriving communi-ties are the basis for
shared prosperity
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Economic and social crises
A new development paradigm must clearly focus on causes rather
than symptoms
16 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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If everyone were to consume at the current levels of a#uence, we would need four more planets to provide the necessary resources.
We need a billion people to live in
extreme poverty if we are to maintain the lifestyles of the
a#uent without creating even more
damage to our planet
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A crisis of governance
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The architecture of global governance has
been inadequate in addressing pervasive
issues of rising in-equality, social disrup-
tion, environmental degradation and
continuing poverty
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Towards a New Development Paradigm
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(B) Proposed dimensions of a holistic development agenda
Environmental conservation
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Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development
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A healthy environ-ment is essential not only for humanity’s
survival but also for the wellbeing of all
life forms
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Promotion of culture
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Inequitable develop-ment that bene"ts
only a few and excludes the vast
majority cannot bring societal happiness
The new development paradigm asserts the
right of cultures as well as all life forms
to survive and thrive, and recognises that their loss would im-
poverish humankind
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Good governance
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Responsible, transpar-ent and accountable government in the
public interest as well as active, informed
citizen participa-tion are essential
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(C) Use of resources in the New Development Paradigm
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(D) Outcome: Equitable and sustainable society - Bhutan’s experiment
An important step towards a new
paradigm is the re-placement of narrow
economic indica-tors with compre-hensive indicators
of living metrics
28 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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What is measured and counted not
only re$ects societal values but directly in$uences which
issues have priority on the policy agenda
30 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Limitations of GNH Index
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GNH Index is meant to orient the people
and the nation towards happiness
32 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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(E) Happiness skills
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The inner transforma-tion of our own mind-sets and behaviours is as important for
happiness as the trans-formation of the outer
conditions of wellbeing
34 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Personal tools for transformation
Bhutan’s culture has a rich tradition of profound wisdom
teachings and medi-tative practices,
designed to realise our inseparability from our world and from
our fellow beings
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Happiness skills support the sense of
autonomy, relatedness, and competence which
lead to meaningful pro-social engage-
ment - the foundation of citizenship and
collective happiness
36 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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Challenges for the New Development Paradigm
Substantive challenges
Happiness is described as arising from a sense of connectedness with nature, communities and the world, and as stemming from service to others
38 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Process challenges
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Implementation challenges
Research on the di-mensions of a new de-velopment paradigm
has to be accompanied by wider communica-tion and engagement
with civil society, business, academic, spiritual and indig-enous groups, and
citizens everywhere
40 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
A business-as-usual trajectory that has led to a crisis-ridden world
is no longer tenable
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A Transformative Agenda for Societal Happiness
A compelling and unifying story is vital to begin the societal transformation we
seek. This story would portray human nature as being coop-erative, the purpose of the economy as
serving people, and the ultimate vision of development as societal happiness
42 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
A new narrative
Partnership for change
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The shift to the proposed new
paradigm will require change on multiple
levels simultane-ously - individual,
community, organi-sational, national, and international
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Conclusion
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References
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48 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
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Annex: Biographies of the IEWG
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62 | Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan
ABOUT THE NDP INITIATIVE
NDP STEERING COMMITTEE
SNDP TEAM
www.newdevelopmentparadigm.bt
The Kingdom of Bhutan is honoured to offer this report as a contribution to the growing global conversation on a transformative post-2015 development agenda. The report is inspired by Bhutan’s development approach based on the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and proposes a New Development Paradigm (NDP) with societal happiness as its guiding vision. Such a holistic view of development has the potential to transform humanity’s relationship with nature, restructure our economies, change our attitudes to food and wealth, and promote caring, altruism, inclusiveness and cooperation.