‘New Politics', ‘Buddhist Economics' and ‘Cultural Integrity'

In November 2007 then Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont welcomed his colleague from Bhutan, accompanied by a high level delegation, to the Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness held at Wat Hin Mak Peng, a remote temple in the forest tradition, Nongkhai province, and at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

In his welcome speech at this "GNH3" conference in Bangkok Prime Minister Surayud said: "An enormous challenge is to develop new ways to measure appropriately the success or failure of innovative policies. Using old standards for new policies will not help. I do hope that this conference can help to advance our search for new approaches and indicators that will enhance contributions to sustainability. A cooperative framework for research should not only include Thailand and Bhutan, but also our colleagues within ASEAN and indeed from all regions of the world."

Gross National Happiness is more than a new index challenging GDP, the present dominant yardstick for measuring progress of societies. ‘GNH' is Bhutan's national philosophy and beyond that a global impulse for re-thinking development. Is Gross National Happiness of any relevance to the debate on ‘New Politics' in Thailand - presently overshadowed by the economic crisis and red shirted UDD activists shamelessly copying the 2008 strategy of the PAD yellow shirts (two rivaling groups of activists claiming promotion of democracy in Thailand), causing complete paralysis of creativity?

As a follow-up to the GNH3 conference a small development grant was provided by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) to explore opportunities for social transformation inspired by Gross National Happiness (GNH). Can GNH initiate a new development paradigm? Six small-scale dialogues over a period of one year are being organized at various locations in Bangkok. The aim is to shape a synthesis of new policy concepts interrelated with Gross National Happiness. This synthesis should sharpen the scope of emerging multi-stakeholder cooperation towards sustainable development in Thailand, in the context of Asian integration and global reform.

The first forum in this GNH Movement series was held on 26 August 2008

at SASIN Business School, hosted by Kittirat Na-Ranong, and was titled Today's Crisis. Opportunities for Change. By coincidence it was the day that Government House was invaded by the PAD. Speakers presented their views from various stakeholders' perspectives: Sulak Sivaraksa standing for engaged spirituality, Jon Unghpakorn for NGO and media, Prida Tiasuwan, business sector and senator Rosana Tositrakul, politics. The dialogue was moderated by Surat Horachaikul, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

Prida Tiasuwan said: "How can we make a paradigm for change happen? We can't put our hope on politicians that only think 4 years ahead. These problems need long term planning and vision from NGO's".

By now it is clear that the political crisis in Thailand does not stand alone. Wall Street is shaking on its foundations. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize recipient and former World Bank chief economist, stated: "The fall of Wall Street is for market fundamentalism what the fall of the Berlin Wall was for communism".

GNH is more than an alternative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) alone. Gross National Happiness was introduced by the previous King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he ascended the throne at the age of 17 years. It was a historic response to external pressure to open the isolated country towards modernization orchestrated by development agencies. The initiation of GNH coincided with E.F. Schumacher's book Small is Beautiful and the Limits to Growth project of the Club of Rome. Bhutan decided to open up only gradually and to carve out its own development path. It was not before 1998 that the present, and first elected, Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Y. Thinley spelled out the principles of GNH to the international community. These principles are referred to as ‘the Four Pillars' of GNH and include: 1. Cultural Promotion 2. Good Governance 3. Equitable Economic Development  and 4. Environmental Protection. Together the ‘Four Pillars' constitute conditions for a ‘happy society'.

In our research-development project we are now exploring how the Four Pillars of GNH resonate with principles embedded in concepts like Buddhist Economics, Human Security, Quality of Life, and - more indirectly - with ‘New Politics'. Common ground to be discovered, and increased transparency on fundamental choices to be made, would strengthen urgently needed realization of social transformation.

A first assumption that arises from exploratory dialogue and analysis is that the pillars of GNH may not just be an at random list, they may point at distinct ordering principles in society. Since the coup d'état of 2006 we are in a process of re-discovering the importance of the separation of legislature, judiciary and executive powers, the trias politica doctrine formulated by French statesman Montesquieu, in order to shape healthy political dynamics.

One step from there: we may equally need three properly distinguished spheres of influence to steer society as a whole beyond politics in its narrow sense. This would imply - an important argument in the current debate on democracy - that democracy, resonating with the Good Governance pillar of GNH, is only one of the mechanisms needed to effectively determine the direction of society.

From this tentative perspective it will be evident that democracy may indeed be the appropriate mechanism to rule the state, but genuine progress of society requires more than that. Any particular democratic system should be understood within this broader multi-polar context.

In addition to Good Governance, and thus democracy, we need a second GNH pillar: Cultural Promotion. Here the democratic state can be a facilitator and protector, but ‘culture' is a sphere of influence that should be independent from state intervention.  

We may discover that the Cultural Promotion pillar refers to the heart of an autonomous mechanism called civil society, or the NGO sector, including our religions. In the sphere of culture, democracy and majority rule are not the guiding principles, but freedom of expression and conscience. Ethics, morality, spirituality are nursed from this sphere.

And if Equitable Economic Development, the third GNH pillar, would be the guiding principle of the business sector and economics, its autonomous influence through ‘mindful markets' would complete a threefold mechanism to steer society towards genuine progress and sustainable development.  The term ‘mindful markets' was coined by David Korten in his book The Post-corporate World and points at an economy guided by responsibility, including mindful consumers, and community spirit, over ‘maximizing profit'. Close to a contemporary understanding of Buddhist Economics.

Whereas democracy defines citizens as equal for the law, in contrast, in civil society unique diversity of individual persons and the ways they socialize - so: inequality - is the ruling principle. And, a responsible business sector driven by equity, fairness and community spirit would imply that we recognize differences (persons have different needs and capacities) and attribute accordingly a fair share of duties and rewards to all.

It will be clear that today's reality is far different from this ideal "threefold" picture. Big business is driven by narrow self interest and penetrates the government sector (even in the USA, ‘the mother of democracy' government has been ruled by a powerful business lobby). As well as civil society: media depend on advertisements that pollute the mind of independent citizens, including children. ‘In return', the business sector ‘borrowed' the principle of freedom from civil society and wrongfully applies it to its free market fundamentalism. While the democratic state is based on majority rule that structurally treats minorities as unequal citizens: majority rule discriminates. In order to appease its citizens, the state has made the education system its own whereas in principle - based on the "threefold" analytical framework - education belongs to the civil society sector of free parents and children who want to build a sustainable future together through life-long learning. Religion patronized by the state or fundamentalism degrades to not much more than ritual or authoritarian power.

Sulak Sivaraksa, who received the Right Livelihood Award for his tireless  promotion of cultural integrity, in his groundbreaking speech Turning this crisis into an opportunity at the Royal Plaza, Bangkok, urges the initiators of the ‘New Politics' to look beyond shaping a mere new national power-share.

"Their (the PAD) mission should be to expose corrupt practices of the elitists and mainstream media and education, which have made us all succumb to the ‘new imperialism' of the USA and China."

Often the question is raised whether democracy is an imported notion that does not fit well in Thai culture. The same question may refer to the above drafted concept of a "threefold" society. It is true, it is not difficult to recognize the three principles of the French Revolution of freedom, equality and brotherhood in the above triad. What is new is to discover an emerging ‘tri-sector' structure of society related to these values, and especially the utmost importance of an autonomous civil society to balance out with the state and the business sector, as Nicanor Perlas, thinker and activist from the Philippines, did in his book Shaping Globalization. Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding. As long as civil society is underdeveloped in comparison to the state and the business sector, extreme actions as of the PAD and its copycat UDD will occur to claim balance.

We may have to look beyond the French Revolution to anticipate the ‘great transformation' that waits to be realized so urgently today. Dr. Ambedkar, architect of the constitution of India, the biggest democracy of the world, considered Buddhism to have its own revolutionary potential: equal or stronger than the French Revolution, as it is based on non-violence. In the light of this revolutionary understanding of the Buddha's teachings, the question can be formulated whether the Three Jewels in Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha correspond with an emerging value-driven tri-sector development of our society. The Buddha principle, after all, stands for liberation, realization of genuine freedom; the Dhamma for the law of nature to whom all sentient beings are equal; and the Sangha for the community spirit which underpins the synergy between the lay community responsible for economic livelihood - Buddhist Economics - and its role to care for the material wellbeing of the monastic community that teaches us.

"The point is that we have to really dig deep into our traditions - into our local wisdom and fundamental beliefs - and question ourselves to arrive at a genuine understanding of what happiness is and how we can achieve it, collectively and individually" said Prime Minister Surayud. 

A ‘happy society', and sustainable development as its prerequisite, can not be simply engineered. The Scandinavian welfare state, as promoted by former senator and Magsaysay awardee Jon Ungpakorn, can not be simply copied. We have to bring to the light the spiritual undercurrents of Thailand's cultural history in the context of Asia, facing the current overwhelming globalization.

This leads us to the last layer of our analysis regarding the challenges posed by the ‘New Politics', ‘New Economics' and ‘Cultural Integrity' debate.

As obviously is the case with the separation of the legislature, judiciary and executive powers, ultimately an overarching mechanism is needed to coordinate the separate powers into a well-balanced interactive whole. Similarly, a dimension of decision making is needed to bring together politics, business sector and civil society to remind these three stakeholder categories of their distinct missions and to define together the course of our common progress.  

 The three domains of influence have in common that they all bear, from their specific angle, responsibility for a natural environment that will constitute the foundation of life and prosperity for future generations. This strikingly corresponds to the fourth GNH pillar: Environmental Conservation.

Rosana Tositrakul emphasized that we can not solve a world crisis by fragmented thinking. We have to look beyond the technological and even commercial mindset with which ‘climate change' is inadequately being approached. In order to arrive at a new ecological awareness that searches for modes of decision-making and leadership that are equally based on the scientific and the spiritual realization of universal interdependence (paticca-samuppada).

New pathways to consensus building beyond democracy will emerge from ‘tri-sector' multi-stakeholder dialogue - and engaged debate with integrity - on our common future. Here there is no need to look to the West, Asia has its own rich traditions of consensus building.

Prime Minister Surayud stated at the GNH3 conference: "(..) I am moved to see so many young people among you. We certainly need not only to look back to traditional wisdom; we have to invest our trust in a forward-looking and creative new generation which dares to face up to the challenges of our time".

             In this framework the search for new indicators will make sense. A new National Progress Index initiative is being prepared in Thailand, inspired by Gross National Happiness. This is not about another ‘new' cocktail of existing statistical data applied to the same conventions. Vision translates into policies. Policies need social structures, leadership, public participation. The results have to be monitored by appropriate indicators.

Occasions to discuss some of the issues tentatively formulated in this article will be:

Buddhist Economics Conference - 9-11 April 2009 in Ubon Ratchathani

National Roundtable on Measuring Progress of Societies - 20 July 2009 in Bangkok

Buddhist Economics and GNH workshop - during 20 Years INEB conference, 15-18 November 2009, Chiangmai

Wallapa and Hans van Willenswaard are social entrepreneurs and founded Suan Nguen Mee Ma publishers. They can be contacted via

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From SEEDS OF PEACE : Vol.25 No.1 Jan.-Apr.2552(2009)
Faith and Spirituality in Dark Times