{"title":"Reorienting the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness","authors":"Katsu Masaki","doi":"10.1177/0169796x241241254","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implicitly prioritize economic growth over social and environmental sustainability, and idealize industrialized, consumerist societies. In delving into ways to rectify these stances, the article takes up Bhutan’s policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which seeks to harmonize material prosperity, social and environmental concerns, and spiritual and emotional contentment. Unlike the SDGs that fail to acknowledge culture’s role in sustainable development, GNH pursues a vernacular pathway founded on a Buddhism-inspired holistic view of well-being. In reality, GNH is yet to elicit a structural shift toward a fully-fledged sustainable society. Nonetheless, it is worth analyzing how the Bhutanese state demarcates the space within which GNH is promoted, with recourse to a locally defined vision of sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":45003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Developing Societies","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Developing Societies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796x241241254","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENT STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implicitly prioritize economic growth over social and environmental sustainability, and idealize industrialized, consumerist societies. In delving into ways to rectify these stances, the article takes up Bhutan’s policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which seeks to harmonize material prosperity, social and environmental concerns, and spiritual and emotional contentment. Unlike the SDGs that fail to acknowledge culture’s role in sustainable development, GNH pursues a vernacular pathway founded on a Buddhism-inspired holistic view of well-being. In reality, GNH is yet to elicit a structural shift toward a fully-fledged sustainable society. Nonetheless, it is worth analyzing how the Bhutanese state demarcates the space within which GNH is promoted, with recourse to a locally defined vision of sustainable development.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Developing Societies is a refereed international journal on development and social change in all societies. JDS provides an interdisciplinary forum for the publication of theoretical perspectives, research findings, case studies, policy analyses and normative critiques on the issues, problems and policies associated with both mainstream and alternative approaches to development. The scope of the journal is not limited to articles on the Third World or the Global South, rather it encompasses articles on development and change in the "developed" as well as "developing" societies of the world. The journal seeks to represent the full range of diverse theoretical and ideological viewpoints on development that exist in the contemporary international community.