Asian Review of Social Sciences (ARSS)
Gross SAARC Happiness: A Perspective on Ethical Governance
Author : Nirbhay Kumar MishraVolume 8 No.2 April-June 2019 pp 86-92
Abstract
Since its inception in 1985 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC, hereafter), in the last three decades, has been making painstaking efforts, as a collective forum, to achieve its three basic goals: Economic Development, Good Governance through integrated Regional Cooperation by establishing a platform for the social, environmental and economic development. Despite giving impetus to their regional cooperative mechanism, SAARC has been struggling to achieve the objectives laid down in GNH (Gross National Happiness) a globally followed model developed by the Fourth King of Bhutan, in the 1970s. This paper tries to develop a view point to understand the proposed vision of Gross SAARC Happiness (GSH, hereafter) by putting emphasis on the very idea of development through critical ethical investigation into the various governance ideas adopted by the cooperative nations. One of the aims of this paper is to offer an explanation of the basics of happiness & development in that the social, environmental, and economic realms of life cannot be subjugated to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GNI (Gross National Income). Hence, the index of GSH is entrenched in the sustainable collective development on the one hand and the collective & individual happiness on the other. What will be crucial in achieving the model of GSH is that the cooperative countries have to practice enhanced political cooperation in maintaining collective peace, and they should refrain from the unsustainable models to achieve GDP. Rather, it is the inclusive growth which should produce individual happiness, collective wellbeing, and Sustainable development. The paper develops the method of ethical governance, by taking recourse to the idea of Sustainable Development Goals structured by the United Nations (UN), for the cooperative nations to adopt as an alternative governance mechanism in achieving the Happiness and Governance at SAARC in the replica of GSH.
Keywords
SAARC, Ethical Governance, Governance Mechanism, Sustainable Development, Gross Happiness
Full Text:
References
[1] Allison, & Elizabeth. (2012). Gross National Happiness, Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/6227393/ Encyclopedia_of_ Sustainability_Gross_National_Happiness.
[2] Dennett, D. (1971). Intentional Systems. The Journal of Philosophy, 68(4), 87-106.
[3] Habib, & Meer Ahsan. (2016, April 25). GDP or Happiness. Retrieved from http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/economics/gdp-or-happiness-1214482.
[4] Hussain Akmal, (2016). South Asian Cooperation: Towards a Humane World. In Rijiv Kumar & Amita Goyal (Eds.), Thirty Years of SAARC: Society, Culture & Development (1st ed., pp: 65-77). Sage Publication India.
[5] Kalegama Saman. (2016). Challenging Face: The Trails and Fortunes of Regional Cooperation under SAARC. In Rijiv Kumar & Amita Goyal (Eds.), Thirty Years of SAARC: Society, Culture & Development, 1st ed., 25-41. Sage Publication India.
[6] Kothari, A. (2013). Development and Ecological Sustainability in India: Possibilities for the Post-2015 Framework. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(30), 144-154. Retrieved from http://www.jstor. org/stable/23527999.
[7] Lempert, D. (2017). Testing the Global Community‘s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Against Professional Standards and International Law. Consilience, (18), 111-175. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26188797.
[8] Ludden, D. (2005). Development Regimes in South Asia: History and the Governance Conundrum. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(37), 4042-4051. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4417144.
[9] MAY, L. (2013). A Hobbesian Approach to Cruelty and the Rules of War. Leiden Journal of International Law, 26(2), 293-313. doi:10.1017/S0922156513000058.
[10] Muchkund Dubey. (2007). SAARC and South Asian Economic Integration. Economic and Political Weekly, 42(14), 1238-1240. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419435.
[11] Nanavaty Reema. (2016). Sewa’s Sister to Sister Initiative for Peace and Work. In Rijiv Kumar & Amita Goyal (Eds.), Thirty Years of SAARC: Society, Culture & Development, 1st ed., 176-182. Sage Publication India.
[12] Obino, F. (2009). SAARC: The Political Challenge for South Asia and Beyond. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(9), 118-125. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40278560.
[13] Rodrigo Nihal. (2012). Emerging Asia, SAARC and Regional Cooperation, Pluto Journals, 9(1), 49-55. Special Issue: China and SAARC.
[14] Sharan, & Shyam. (2016). South Asia‘s Mounting Ecological Challenge: Regional Cooperation is the Only Answer In Rijiv Kumar & Amita Goyal (Eds.), Thirty Years of SAARC: Society, Culture & Development (1st ed., 53-64). Sage Publication India.
[15] Smith, T. (2000). The Audience of the Nicomachean Ethics. The Journal of Politics, 62(1), 166-186. Retrieved from http://www.jstor. org/stable/2647602.
[16] Sparham Gareth (1992). Indian Altruism: A Study of the Terms bodhichitta and bodhichittotpada, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 15(2), 224-243.
[17] Sugden, R. (1993). Welfare, Resources, and Capabilities: A Review of Inequality Reexamined by Amartya Sen. Journal of Economic Literature, 31(4), 1947-1962. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/2728332.
[18] Jha, U. C. (2004). Environmental Issues and SAARC. Economic and Political Weekly, 39(17), 1666-1671. Retrieved from http://www. jstor.org/stable/4414925.
[19] Ura, K. (2005). Gross National Happiness. Sociological Bulletin, 54(3), 603-607. Retrieved from http://www.jstor. org/stable/23620628
[20] William D. Nordhaus (1994). Do Real Output and Real Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests Not, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1078, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.