20th by 2020: Bhutan’s Drive for Improved Governance

20TH BY 2020

BHUTAN’S DRIVE FOR IMPROVED GOVERNANCE

© 2014 Asian Development Bank.

All rights reserved. Published 2014.

Printed in the Philippines.

ISBN 978-92-9254-620-5 (PRINT), 978-92-9254-621-2 (E-ISBN)

Publication Stock No. BKK146766-2

Cataloging-In-Publication Data

Asian Development Bank.

20th by 2020—Bhutan’s drive for improved governance.

Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2014.

1. Governance. 2. Social development. 3. Bhutan. I. Asian Development Bank.

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Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

Abbreviations

Preface

A national key result area in governance in the 11th Five-Year Plan of the Government of Bhutan is that by 2020, the country will rank 20th or better in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) annually prepared by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International. As of 2013, Bhutan stood 31st; back in 2009, it was 49th in the world.

The questions that this publication tackles are: (a) why focus on Bhutan’s efforts at strengthening governance; (b) what is it about Bhutan’s performance in instituting good governance in general, and in tackling corruption in particular, that merits attention; and (c) what specific areas could the government focus on for further improvements?

Bhutan is unique in so many ways, and its efforts at holistic development (i.e., encompassing economic, social, and cultural dimensions) make the country an interesting case. For an underdeveloped country with severe binding constraints such as harsh topography and being landlocked, to be able to perform as it has—for example, a forty-fold increase in per capita gross domestic product in five decades—is impressive. Also noteworthy are its efforts at instituting good governance, broadly defined. Its annual ranking in the CPI, tells a particular story about what the country has been able to achieve on this front.

The story that this report focuses on is, in essence, about the operating environment of two institutions that are at the vanguard of work on good governance in Bhutan: the Anti-Corruption