The Birthplace Of 'Gross National Happiness' Is Growing A Bit Cynical
The road through central Bhutan rises through frost-dusted evergreens reaching a pass where travelers pause to take in the Himalayas majestically stretching across the north. Steep forests descend into valleys coursing with crystalline rivers and pine-scented air. The wind howls down the canyons furiously flapping prayer flags, and setting temple chimes to sing.
Shades of Shangri-La?
Perhaps, but don't tell the Bhutanese that.
Bhutan as a mystical kingdom, trouble-free and blissful, lives in the imagination of the West, Dorji Penjore says. Penjore is an anthropologist who has been researching Bhutan's biggest soft-power export: "gross national happiness."
He says "GNH" is an attempt to live in a way that's "holistic," not restricted to merely measuring economics like the gross domestic product, or GDP.
When Bhutan's prime minister introduced GNH to a United Nations forum as a paradigm for alternative development in 1998, it turned heads, and spawned a
