Now, it is clear that development does not mean that a Thai farmer should aim to
earn and spend like an American farmer. Westernization should not be the ultimate
goal of development, said Jan Servaes (1999) in his famous,“One World. Multiple
Cultures”book. The booming of economies at the expense of environmental dis-
asters or at the global climate change level should not be considered as desirable
development goals. They are definitelynotsustainable development goals.
The People’s Republic of China is a case in point. Recently, the Chinese gov-
ernment admitted that there are a number of cancer villages where water is no
longer drinkable due to chemical waste dumps in water ways. Smog from factory
smoke stacks caused respiratory problems too (thescientist.com). At present, citi-
zens in Beijing and other major cities in China, and in other developing countries,
are suffering from more than threshold levels of pollution in the name of mod-
ernization and growth. Instead of battling poverty, diseases and ignorance, gov-
ernments of developing countries implemented “modern” economic and
environmental policies to aggravate poverty-stricken grassroots and induce new
sorts of cancer and respiratory diseases out of ignorance.
The dependistas in Latin America in the 1980s proposed a new paradigm called,
“Dependency Paradigm”. Criticizing multi-national corporations and
neo-colonialism that moved natural and human resources around the globe in the
name of“globalization.”The dependistas were criticized as well, as they put too
much blame on outside actors and less on their own problem of internal colo-
nization in which the wealthier elites are exploiting the poor in one’s own country.
Many governments seem to ignore these lessons as well, including consecutive
Thai governments.
Now let’s move to the alternative paradigm: the Multiplicity Paradigm, proposed
by Jan Servaes in the 1990s. This paradigm emphasizes participatory communi-
cation and democratic planning strategies to achieve one’s desired goal of devel-
opment. Development goes hand in hand with social change and that must be
sustained too. If it is not sustainable development, our natural resources will be
exhausted and the environmental impacts, such as green house effects, climate
change, the dislocation of plates due to the melting of the ice in the North Pole, the
big hole in the ozone layer in the Southern hemisphere, etc. will drive our planet
into extinction.
Development cannot be achieved without sustainable social change! That is why
the Bhutanese government announced in 2010 that Bhutan is not going to consider
just the growth of GDP to be the only indicator for its development. The Bhutanese
use the term GNH or gross national happiness. Though, it is difficult to fathom the
level of happiness, it is obvious from a number of examples given above that
having more money does not mean having more happiness. The Bhutanese GNH
can be defined as good governance, sustainable socio-economic development,
cultural preservation, and environmental conservation. They are applying the
Multiplicity paradigm in their framework of sustainable development, it seems.
This is more congruent to the kind of development we want. We don’t want to have
cancer. We don’t want epidemics. We want a clean and green environment, clean
water and food, good education for our children, good medication and healthcare,
Introduction xxi