"If every country follows the same development pattern, we lose laboratories for different ways of organizing for human flourishing." Could not agree more. This would have made an interesting pairing with philosophy group's recent (quite lively) debate over Curtis Yarvin's argument for monarchies... In any case, it was a pleasure to be your horse blinker on this one :)
You are mentioning that democracy is at odds with long term planning, because of election cycles. I would guess that is true in democracies where the elected officials have most of the power.
In the case of the direct democracy of Switzerland, elected politicians are there to discuss and enact laws, propose projects, and so on. but in the end, especially long term planning, it is the population who has the say, because everything can be voted by the population.
In the case of long term planning, most big projects are automatically subjected to population vote (e.g. Gottard base tunnel, 2000 Rail plan, ...). Once it is accepted, no elected politician can undo the voted project, or cancel the funding. The power that one politician helds is more limited than in all other democracies. Switzerland also has a tradition of compromise, which means that parties have to talk to each other, find a common ground, and try to implement changes as best as they can. This is how Switzerland managed to get one of the best public transport network in the world, how research output of Switzerland is high per capita, how the roads are well maintained, ...
Switzerland has also avoided the senseless multiculturalism that other European countries have foolishly allowed. The US is stuck with this limitation, and it was fine while the federal government was small. Creating a larger government was dangerous, and now the pressures of a large, diverse country interfere with decision making. The easiest fix would be to break up the countries into more manageable bits, but we know that will not happen.
We probably do need to roll back federal government and its budget in order to allow more state-level policy diversity. Most of our problems would go away if the funding were not there for policymakers to argue over.
Yes, that's what I was thinking about. Scale matters, and the most efficient way to govern 350 million people is a federation of states, which was the original goal. Now the federal government is massive. Federal spending went from about 3% of GDP in 1900 to 23% today.
Great article, I’ve been fascinated by the Gelephu project and have high hopes it will innovate on the Singapore model (so far one of the worlds best, if not its best, city!).
I too don’t know how to reconcile the long term international planning of a benevolent dictator with the short election cycles of democracy. The benevolent dictator will always win… until they get a leader who is not benevolent and lose. I’m working on an article about that now though so hoping to get to the bottom of it soon 😆
this is awesome. found it thru the ycombinator news forum. need more stuff like this.
a couple thoughts: you liken the pathway of bhutan to singapore, do you think part of singapore’s success is its geographic positioning in a high volume trading hub? does bhutan have this advantage and how will its path vary if it doesn’t?
Singapore was definitely lucky to be at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca and they built the foundations of the country by being open to trade. But now Singapore's economy is highly diversified, with high-tech manufacturing being a fifth of their GDP, which I found astounding as it's such a small state!
Bhutan has no geographic advantage and it's in a region of high tensions between China and India. However, they're building GMC on the flattest region of the country, a few meters from the border to India so they definitely want to take advantage of that. They want to sell GMC as a gateway to South Asia as investors or entrepreneurs would have more ease of doing business than in India where it's highly regulated and very hard to access as a foreigner.
They are not trying to be Singapore, but they are learning from their successful anti-corruption policies. They are trying to go their own way, but they are cautious and understand how much they can lose. This is a confident culture, but the king is unusually wise and cares deeply for his people.
Honestly, I didn't use my laptop once so I can't say about the internet.
Edge City was great! I also attended Edge Esmeralda in Healdsburg in 2024. It's a wonderful organization and I've met really interesting people who are open and nice. This was a bit different because we were a small group of around 30 participants, while a typical Edge City event has hundreds.
I wish I had visited Bhutan before I became disabled. It is one of my greatest regrets. I follow the Theravada tradition, but I would still like to visit the country and admire their art and architecture. I thought I had more time.
Sorry to hear that! I do follow a tour company who does Bhutan trips on horseback though, if that's something you might be interested in (and are able to do ), I can share the link.
If not, you can definitely access other temples and monasteries by car. We visited three or four this way. They're improving their road infrastructure.
"If every country follows the same development pattern, we lose laboratories for different ways of organizing for human flourishing." Could not agree more. This would have made an interesting pairing with philosophy group's recent (quite lively) debate over Curtis Yarvin's argument for monarchies... In any case, it was a pleasure to be your horse blinker on this one :)
My favorite horse blinker/emotional support hiking buddy!
You are mentioning that democracy is at odds with long term planning, because of election cycles. I would guess that is true in democracies where the elected officials have most of the power.
In the case of the direct democracy of Switzerland, elected politicians are there to discuss and enact laws, propose projects, and so on. but in the end, especially long term planning, it is the population who has the say, because everything can be voted by the population.
In the case of long term planning, most big projects are automatically subjected to population vote (e.g. Gottard base tunnel, 2000 Rail plan, ...). Once it is accepted, no elected politician can undo the voted project, or cancel the funding. The power that one politician helds is more limited than in all other democracies. Switzerland also has a tradition of compromise, which means that parties have to talk to each other, find a common ground, and try to implement changes as best as they can. This is how Switzerland managed to get one of the best public transport network in the world, how research output of Switzerland is high per capita, how the roads are well maintained, ...
Yeah, Switzerland is one of the best-run democracies for sure. A lot has to do with its history, and a lot with its size.
I'm not sure how a direct democracy would work in a country like the US with 38 times the population.
Switzerland has also avoided the senseless multiculturalism that other European countries have foolishly allowed. The US is stuck with this limitation, and it was fine while the federal government was small. Creating a larger government was dangerous, and now the pressures of a large, diverse country interfere with decision making. The easiest fix would be to break up the countries into more manageable bits, but we know that will not happen.
We probably do need to roll back federal government and its budget in order to allow more state-level policy diversity. Most of our problems would go away if the funding were not there for policymakers to argue over.
Yes, that's what I was thinking about. Scale matters, and the most efficient way to govern 350 million people is a federation of states, which was the original goal. Now the federal government is massive. Federal spending went from about 3% of GDP in 1900 to 23% today.
Great article, I’ve been fascinated by the Gelephu project and have high hopes it will innovate on the Singapore model (so far one of the worlds best, if not its best, city!).
I too don’t know how to reconcile the long term international planning of a benevolent dictator with the short election cycles of democracy. The benevolent dictator will always win… until they get a leader who is not benevolent and lose. I’m working on an article about that now though so hoping to get to the bottom of it soon 😆
Thanks for sharing your experience!
this is awesome. found it thru the ycombinator news forum. need more stuff like this.
a couple thoughts: you liken the pathway of bhutan to singapore, do you think part of singapore’s success is its geographic positioning in a high volume trading hub? does bhutan have this advantage and how will its path vary if it doesn’t?
Singapore was definitely lucky to be at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca and they built the foundations of the country by being open to trade. But now Singapore's economy is highly diversified, with high-tech manufacturing being a fifth of their GDP, which I found astounding as it's such a small state!
Bhutan has no geographic advantage and it's in a region of high tensions between China and India. However, they're building GMC on the flattest region of the country, a few meters from the border to India so they definitely want to take advantage of that. They want to sell GMC as a gateway to South Asia as investors or entrepreneurs would have more ease of doing business than in India where it's highly regulated and very hard to access as a foreigner.
They are not trying to be Singapore, but they are learning from their successful anti-corruption policies. They are trying to go their own way, but they are cautious and understand how much they can lose. This is a confident culture, but the king is unusually wise and cares deeply for his people.
What did you think of Edge City? Was it worth the time and money?
Also, how fast is the internet in Bhutan?
Honestly, I didn't use my laptop once so I can't say about the internet.
Edge City was great! I also attended Edge Esmeralda in Healdsburg in 2024. It's a wonderful organization and I've met really interesting people who are open and nice. This was a bit different because we were a small group of around 30 participants, while a typical Edge City event has hundreds.
I wish I had visited Bhutan before I became disabled. It is one of my greatest regrets. I follow the Theravada tradition, but I would still like to visit the country and admire their art and architecture. I thought I had more time.
Sorry to hear that! I do follow a tour company who does Bhutan trips on horseback though, if that's something you might be interested in (and are able to do ), I can share the link.
If not, you can definitely access other temples and monasteries by car. We visited three or four this way. They're improving their road infrastructure.