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18711. A Bibliometric Analysis of the Journal of Bhutan Studies, 1999-2017

Author:
Lingchen Dorji
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This paper describes a 19-year bibliometric dimensions and characteristics of the Journal of Bhutan Studies (JBS), from the earliest available data in 1999, to 2017. The result of the bibliometric analysis is based on two methodologies, namely descriptive statistics for quantifiable bibliometric characteristics, and impact analysis using both Garfield’s formula and Harzing’s Publish or Perish (PoP) software citation analysis program. Longitudinal trends were examined regarding the number of articles published, the number of citations received, the immediacy index, and the journal’s impact factor. A list of most prolific authors and highly cited articles were also established, including geographic distribution and subject matter of the articles.
Topic:
Research, Citation, and Bibliometric Analysis
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18712. Who is the Tigress in the Lair? A Preliminary Enquiry About Khandro Yeshe Tshogyel’s Visit to Taktsang

Author:
Sonam Kinga
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The holy site of Taktsang in Paro, Bhutan, is renowned for its association with Guru Rinpoche, his consort Khandro Yeshe Tshogyel and disciple Langchen Pelgi Sengye. Although a monastery was built at this site in 1692 by Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye, the fourth civil ruler of Bhutan, the site was visited and blessed by Guru Rinpoche as far back as the 8th century. Its sacredness has been reinforced by the visits and spiritual undertakings of great Buddhist luminaries over the centuries. Pilgrims and tourists visiting Taktsang are generally told two things associated with Yeshe Tshogyel, who was a Tibetan princess and an emanation of Lhamo Yangchenma (Sarasvati). One, when Guru Rinpoche transformed into Dorje Drolo (one of his eight manifestations) and flew to Taktsang riding on the back of a tigress, Yeshe Tshogyel had transformed into that tigress. Two, Yeshe Tshogyel did the Vajrakilaya practice at the cave of Sengephu in Taktshang.
Topic:
Religion, History, and Buddhism
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18713. Putting the Festival Participants Back into the Festival: Rethinking Communal Identity Formation in Buddhist Cham Festivals in Bhutan

Author:
Mareike Wulff
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This paper investigates how the practice of communal festivals in Bhutan results in forming communal identity, with a focus on Vajrayana Buddhist cham1 festivals. It seeks to close the gap between scholarly publications that address the formal content of festivals, and arguments for identity formation as an outcome of festival practices by centring the festival participants between these two positions. Drawing on the results of my long-term case study of the Korphu Drub, a cham festival performed by the Korphu community in Trongsa District, the paper shows how social actors carry out festival action in relation to their status and knowledge as community members throughout time. I trace the different age grades and genders in their lives coming along with specific social statuses, and connect these to the changing ascribed / achieved positions and works taken up during the festivals throughout one lifetime. This is to show how communal identity evolves as an ongoing process of reflexivity between the individual festival participant and his/her community. Last, I relate my observations to the concept of rites of passage and propose that the Korphu Drub can be understood as a substitute for missing rites of passage in Korphu, which additionally fosters identification with one’s community.
Topic:
Buddhism, Identity, Tradition, Communal Identity, Agency, and Festivals
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18714. A Dharma Raja and a Mahasiddha: A Note on the Spiritual Relationship Between His Majesty King Ugyen Wangchuck and Togden Shakya Shri

Author:
Sonam Kinga
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
In 1917, King Ugyen Wangchuck (1862-1926) made an offering of forty thousand English pounds to Togden Shakya Shri (rtogs ldan shAkya shrI, 1853-1919), who was raising funds for renovating and re-consecrating Swayambhunath (phags pa shing kun) stupa in Nepal. Approximately a hundred years earlier, i.e., on the fourth day of the fifth month of Water Bird Year (1813), Lama Sangye Norbu initiated the renovation which took five long years. He was one in a line of more than twenty lamas appointed by Bhutan’s Dharmarajas to the courts of Gorkha and later Nepal’s kings. He served during the reign of King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah (1799-1816) (Padma Tshewang, 1995, p. 238). Exactly a hundred years later in 2017, His Majesty the King commanded support for restoring the Bhutanese temple within the precinct of the same stupa, which was badly damaged by the 2015 earthquake. Call it historical coincidence or karmic continuity, the royal patronage of this important Buddhist monument by the first and fifth Druk Gyalpos – separated by a hundred years – reminisces Bhutan’s custodial rights over Swayambhunath and its monastic lands given as compensation to Bhutan by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1772 after the 16th desi, Zhidar relinquished Bhutanese control over the kingdom of Vijaypur at the former’s request!
Topic:
Religion, Spirituality, Monarchy, and Buddhism
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18715. Corporate Social Responsibility Practice in Bhutan

Author:
Jigme Phuntsho and Sonam Zangmo
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
Bhutan is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Its GDP grew from a $167 million (M) in 1985 to approximately $2.51 billion (B) in 2017. Annual GDP growth rate has been between 6-8 percent in the past decade, and with a per capita GDP of $3,096, the country is expected to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) by 2021. The traditionally agrarian economy is gradually transforming with the declining share of agriculture in respect to the increasing contributions to GDP from secondary and tertiary sectors (Table 1). High economic growth has been driven largely by investment associated with hydropower development and the share of manufacturing and service industry fall below that of comparable middle-income countries (World Bank, 2017).
Topic:
GDP, Economy, Business, Corporate Accountability, and Social Responsibility
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18716. Perceived Sources of Happiness: Things Bhutanese think would make them live a truly happy life

Author:
Karma Wangdi
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The Royal Government of Bhutan is constitutionally mandated to promote enabling conditions for people to pursue happiness. Although investigator-determined sources of happiness such as nine domains and 33 indicators of GNH index are being discussed widely among the policymakers and used as planning tools, participant-generated sources of happiness has not been studied in detail, let alone featuring in policy discourse. This study is aimed at answering two questions: a) what are the perceived sources of happiness for Bhutanese, and b) how does the perceived sources of happiness differ among people belonging to different socio-demographic subgroups. Text data collected through nationally representative sample survey involving 8,871 Bhutanese aged 15 years or older using open-ended question was content analysed, classified and coded using inductive category development approach and deductive category application approach. Inter-rater reliability test using Cohen’s kappa (κ) was conducted to ensure reliability of classification and coding process. A total of 18,850 statements of the perceived sources of happiness reported by 7,141 respondents were classified into 18 major categories and 42 sub-categories of sources of happiness. The most frequently cited source of happiness among 18 major categories is ‘money and financial security’ (19.6%) followed by ‘health and wellbeing’ (13.5%), ‘asset ownership’ (11.9%), ‘family and family relationships’ (11.2%), ‘access to facilities and services’ (11.1%), ‘education, employment and future success of significant others’ (8.8%), and ‘education, employment and job satisfaction’ (7.2%). The remaining 11 categories accounted for about 17 percent of the total responses. A significant gender difference in citation of sources of happiness was observed. The results also reveal existence of significant difference between different socio-demographic status such as rural and urban, age, and education in citation of the sources of happiness.
Topic:
Public Opinion, Survey, Attitudes, Happiness, and Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18717. Economic Growth, External Debt and Export Relationship: The Case of Bhutan

Author:
Jigme Nidup
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
Bhutan depends mostly on external debt for economic development. Most of its external debt is related to hydropower construction, which in total overshot its GDP by more than 100 percent. This has worried some sections of the society. However, Johansen’s cointegration test suggests that there is no long-term relationship between economic growth, external debt, external debt service and export in Bhutan. Further, findings from the unrestricted VAR indicate that even in the short-term, external debt and external debt service have insignificant relationship with economic growth, while it is the export that substantially helps the economy to grow. The Impulse Response Analysis (IRS) suggests that over a mediumterm period, a shock from external debt, external debt service can positively influence economic growth at least up to four and half years after initial negative effect. Whereas, export is found to positively impact growth all the way up to fourth year. Therefore, Bhutanese government should focus more into producing export-oriented goods and services in order to spur economic growth.
Topic:
Debt, GDP, Economic Growth, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18718. Inequality in Bhutan: Addressing it Through the Traditional Kidu System

Author:
Lhawang Ugyel
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
As global inequality is dropping, inequality within countries is rising. The problem of inequality is a cause for concern for nations as it undermines democracy and reduces welfare. Bhutan, a developing country in South Asia, also faces rising inequality. Based on the experience of the kidu system in Bhutan, this paper argues that the system is effective in reducing inequality of opportunity. The kidu functions as a welfare system in Bhutan, and is under the prerogative of the King of Bhutan. The traditional kidu system was reformed by the present monarch of Bhutan in 2006. It was improved with procedures, guidelines and entitlements in place to identify those most needing help. Through a dynamic and systematic organizational set up, it allowed for some form of means-tested social assistance to address inequality of opportunity in Bhutan. Particularly, the educational scholarships and the land reforms forms of kidu provides the poor and their future generations to escape from extreme poverty. The kidu system in Bhutan is a good example for other developing countries to institute an effective means-testing assistance and integrating a traditional system into the government mechanism.
Topic:
Inequality, Welfare, Opportunity, and Means-testing
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18719. Trend of Bhutan’s Trade during 1907-26: Import

Author:
Ratna Sarkar and Indrajit Ray
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
It is logical to expect that quantitative and qualitative changes in Bhutan’s export during the period of Ugyen Wangchuck should be corresponded by similar changes in her imports. For one thing, when a country’s export grows over a longer period, the accumulation of foreign exchange in that country enables her to import more. Indeed, since both exports and imports, especially their growth and diversification, depend on the changes in the domestic economy (along with changes in the rest-of-the-world), in most cases do we observe simultaneous changes in both these fronts. The present article seeks to assess to what extent Bhutan’s import changed during the years of the First Monarch. The organisation of the study is as follows. While section I seeks to measure the quantitative aspect of change in Bhutan’s import during the study period, the following two sections discuss the changes in the origin and composition of her import respectively. Section IV gives the summary.
Topic:
History, Economy, Exports, and Trade
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

18720. Bhutan: Notes* Concerning the Political Role of Kidu

Author:
Brian C. Shaw
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The original Tibetan concept of kidu (skyid sdug 1 or more informally kidu) has been variously considered as welfare, selfhelp and assistance. In the context of Bhutan, the concept has closely linked the moral authority of the monarch with the economic needs of the public. The paper considers both the politicisation of kidu (the competition for political space and authority by politicians of the First Parliament, against the received authority of the monarchs) and the de-politicisation of kidu (by the monarchs, notably through land-grant authority reaffirmed in the 2008 Constitution, the establishment of the Kidu Foundation and in other practical ways). Kidu rights and the authority of the monarch is reviewed, with especial attention to the future prospects of either diminution or extension of these rights in the future, as the kingdom endeavours to establish “Democracy with Bhutan Characteristics.”
Topic:
Politics, Democracy, Economy, Monarchy, and Authority
Political Geography:
South Asia, Tibet, and Bhutan