Crisis, Governance, and Buddhism in Contemporary Bhutan (CRISIS)

This project aims to expand understanding of workable governance models in times of crisis through an ethnographic study of the role of Bhutan’s Central Monk Body (CMB) in ongoing management of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic markedly increased global inequalities, and its socio-economic effects are still being felt in Bhutan. Within this crisis situation, structures of state power are being renegotiated. Bhutan’s historical Buddhist governance model was based on a seamless union between religion and state. The 2008 constitution created a separation between the two, removing the monk body from government. Yet monks seem to be playing a prominent, but little understood, role in Bhutan’s ongoing ‘whole-of-society’ crisis response. This project explores the questions this raises about the workability of Bhutan’s secularist governance model, derived primarily from the Christian West. It also brings this case into dialogue with decolonial research in religious studies, anthropology and governance studies to address the broader question of how governance can be (re)imagined to mitigate crises in resource-poor nations. Bhutan’s acclaimed success in pandemic management and its status as the only sovereign state in the Tibetan and Himalayan region makes it an important case. Yet it is one of the world’s least ethnographically studied places. Drawing on my experience, knowledge and networks as a former government researcher in Bhutan and native anthropologist trained in the West, I will: a) conduct fieldwork to document the CMB’s role in crisis management; b) analyse what this reveals about governance in practice through the lens of Bhutan’s historical Buddhist governance model; c) assess the broader implications for workable governance in times of crisis; and d) apply the findings in policy recommendations. Skills and experience gained through this timely project will facilitate my transition into practice-oriented research as the next stage in my career.