Paper short abstract:

Based on a set of interviews with bureaucrats, political leaders, media personnel, functionaries in the development sector, and the civil society activists, this paper examines some of the salient features of the nascent democracy in Bhutan.

Paper long abstract:

Unlike other countries in South Asia, democracy in Bhutan is generally taken to be a gift from the benevolent monarchy. Interestingly, democracy in Bhutan did not emerge as a political response to the popular demands, something that have made other democracies in South Asia much more contentious, coarser and occasionally (some would say persistently) violent. Based on a set of interviews with bureaucrats, political leaders, media personnel, functionaries in the development sector, and the civil society activists, this paper examines some of the salient features of the nascent democracy in Bhutan.This paper argues that the anxieties and fears emanating out of a hasty and uncontrolled process of democratization is at the centre of democratic experiment in Bhutan. In this sense, much of political and institutional energy in Bhutan is expended on regulating, controlling, managing and calibrating Bhutan's 'pre-ordained' shift to democracy lest the sudden flurry of unregulated political activities and the unleashing of unaided democratic forces overwhelm this geo-strategically fragile nation. This national preoccupation with the disruptive and conflict-laden view of democracy has largely led to a situation where each and every step towards democratic transition appears to be institutionally calibrated. To put it provocatively, more than political parties, it is the Election Commission (and similar other constitutional bodies in Bhutan) that seems to have taken upon itself the mid-wifely role for the ultimate delivery of a healthy and full-blown democracy to Bhutanese people.