I've been coming across Bhutan in the papers a bit lately and have been intrigued. Reading about it from the throes of an industrialised life in an industrialised country, it's a little hard to believe that places like it exist. And in fact they probably don't, as I suspect that there is only one place like Bhutan and that is Bhutan itself.
Bhutan (for those who haven't heard of this tiny South Asian kingdom) is to be found at the eastern end of the Himalayas, entirely landlocked by its neighbours India and China. Presided over by the young and (as seems only right) handsome King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck who recently married a commoner in a colourful traditional ceremony, the country measures itself on the gross national happiness of its people.
Despite a strict government policy which, to the cynical, hardened types of the developed world, is likely to appear almost ridiculously "touchy-feely", and its strong disinclination to allow the outside world in (there were no roads until the 1960s, foreign tourists until the 1970s and television and the internet were banned until the then king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck (father of the present king and the country's ruler until his abdication in favour of his son in 2008) lifted the ban in 1999), the country has not been sitting still in solitary splendour in recent years.
In 1998 the king introduced a number of significant political reforms, transferring a most of his administrative powers to the country's Council of Cabinet Ministers and allowing for the impeachment of the king on a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. In 2007 the country made the transition from absolute to constitutional monarchy, holding its first general election. It is a member of the United Nations and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, whose 16th summit Bhutan hosted in 2010.
In addition, the country has come to recognise the need to develop economically in order to reduce its significant dependence on foreign aid, although it is stalwart in its determination to do so without sacrificing its environment or at the expense of its policy of gross national happiness.
It will be interesting to see whether, and if so how, this process of development works over coming decades. Is it in fact possible to become a developed (or slightly more developed) nation which still fosters environmental values and the happiness of its people? Only time will tell.