Polity, Kingship and Democracy: A Biography of the Bhutanese State

Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Conceptions of Buddhist kingship. 2. Buddhist framework of a Bhutanese polity. 3. Founding of an ecclesiocratic state. 4. Expansion of the state. 5. Fragmentation of state power. 6. Rise of alternative power centre. 7. Monastic community and legitimation of rules. 8. Founding and consolidation of monarchy. 9. Building a modern state. 10. Decentralizing state power. 11. Transition to parliamentary democracy. 12. Coronation of a cakravartin. Conclusion.

The monarchy that embodied the Bhutanese state for the last hundred years has been the foundation and agency of Bhutan’s political sovereignty and socio-economic progress. Under its leadership particularly under Fourth King his majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck the kingdom has embarked on a unique journey towards parliamentary democracy.

In this book, Sonam Kinga looks at the emergence of the Bhutanese polity nearly four centuries ago. In contrast to historical experiences of many countries where modern states created national polities, he argues that the modern Bhutanese state embodied by the monarchy developed within an existing polity, which was first founded by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. As a modern political institution, monarchy in Bhutan was highly successful n pioneering wide-ranging socio-economic and political reforms.

The author analyses the foundation of the Bhutanese polity through a historical study against Buddhist background. He shows that the Bhutanese polity is founded on the interdependence of the secular and spiritual known as chhoesid zungdrel. This interdependence continues to find institutional expression in the person of Bhutanese leaders and in the laws of the kingdom. (jacket)