Dhar from the Throne: an Honour and a Responsibility

Spring Edition , March 20th, 2018 The 203 gups (heads of county) who received the Dhar (scarf symbolising confer of rank) from His Majesty The King in October 2016, are negotiating a new era in Bhutanese politics. As one gup, a veteran of more than 20 years as a village headman, described it: “The situation...

Dr Karma Phuntsho On Bhutanese Democracy

Spring Edition , March 20th, 2018 After two successive elections and governments, Dr Karma Phuntsho shares some of his reflections on Bhutan’s democracy and electoral practices with The Druk Journal. The Druk Journal: How would you rate the introduction of democracy to Bhutan in the past 10 years? Dr Karma Phuntsho: Democracy was not introduced...

Editorial: Coordination, Collaboration, Consolidation, and the Fourth C (Civil Society)

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The theme for this issue of The Druk Journal, “civil society”, is a critical element of democratic governance. It is an active sphere where civil society organisations (CSOs), non-government organisations (NGOs), and groups work in areas of common interest. This could include areas where the government’s impact is limited...

Civil Society is Important – But Not a Magic Bullet

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Introduction Towards the end of the 1990s, the Administrator of UNDP decided to establish a “civil society advisory committee” with members representing the global civil society community. This was a wise and timely decision, considering how important civil society organisations (CSOs) had become in the field of development cooperation....

Civil Society: Change, Challenge, and Chance

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The Change Bhutan has been going through a tremendous transition in all aspects of life. I have often been reiterating that, in the gap of half a century, the country has moved economically from subsistence farming to a consummerist market economy, socially from a totally rural country to a...

The Pros and Cons of the Traditional Self-help Mechanism: A Story from Shari Gewog, Paro

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Traditional Self-help Mechanism Traditional agrarian Bhutanese society relied on locally available self-help mechanisms to address various societal challenges. There were none of the registered civil society organisations (CSOs) which exist today. People relied on naturally formed systems that were based on local needs at the grassroots level in the...

Emergence of Civil Society in Bhutan

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Given that civil society is generally understood as the total space outside the domain of the government and private sectors in which civilians act collectively to pursue common interests, there is no denying that civil society in Bhutan existed long before we even knew what civil society actually meant....

Birth of the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB) – the First Non-governmental Initiative

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 An Interview with Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, one of the pioneers of NYAB The Druk Journal: How did the idea of starting the first non-governmental organisation, the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB), come about? Dasho Paljor J. Dorji: We felt that the growing number of youth coming out...

Nurturing Civil Society – Building Legitimacy, Ensuring Relevance

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Introduction The government of Bhutan has initiated a process to review the civil society organisation (CSO) rules and regulations, nearly eight years after the establishment of a formal registration system for CSOs. This is expected to provide a much-needed analysis of the direction and impact of civil society in...

Civil Society – Why it Matters

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Civil society refers to the web of interpersonal connections that includes community engagement, volunteer work, social support networks, and groups of people who get together to help each other and benefit society. These connections can be completely informal, encompassing people in the village helping out those who are sick,...