%0 Journal Article
%T Security of Bhutan: Walking Between the Giants
%A Dorji Penjore
%J Journal of Bhutan Studies
%D 2004
%I Centre for Bhutan Studies
%X ¡®Vulnerability¡¯ best sums up the plight of small states in anydiscourse on security. Many size factors interplay to entanglemost small states in a network of insecurities, and smallnesshas seldom been beautiful. Small states have often been the¡®objects of conquest¡¯ in the big powers¡¯ scramble for dominionduring the colonial and cold war periods. They have beenconquered, cornered, exploited and reduced to mere bufferstates or pawns in war-games, sometimes changing manyhands, since their military ¨C the traditional guarantor ofsecurity ¨C was weak.A normative shift in the concept of security today broughtabout by uni-polar world and the process of globalizationdoes no good either, despite existing international law andpost-Kuwait, -cold war norms. The new security threat ismore subtle, dangerous and difficult to contain. While the oldmilitary threat still looms large, new forces working acrossborders are beyond their control, and this complicates thesecurity situation further. How will small states fare underthis new world order? There are both opportunities andchallenges arising from both the realist and idealist worldorders and the process of globalization.Bhutan is a small Buddhist kingdom with an area of 40,076square kilometers landlocked between India and China. Thesetwo Asian giants have asymmetric geography, demography,economy, military, natural resource endowments and civilizations vis-¨¤-vis Bhutan.1 But these two regional powershave been competitors, not partners in the regions, thuscreating a difficult atmosphere for its small neighbours. LikeNepal, Bhutan is like ¡®a yam between two boulders¡¯2 and thisgeo-strategic location makes Bhutan so important in bigneighbours¡¯ perception of security.Bhutan has never been colonized and as a result Bhutanesesociety has traditionally been sensitive to the issues ofsecurity, and preserving its sovereignty, independence andterritorial integrity has historically been a constantchallenge.3 The two great world wars and cold war havespared Bhutan unlike its neighbours. However, it was thefocus of big powers politics ¨C Tibetans and Mongols fromnorth, and the British India from the south. Today they arereplaced by China and India. Bhutan fought seven wars inthe north and three in the south to protect its territorialsovereignty.Its long history and tradition of political independence, UNmembership, political leaderships and successful bilateraland multilateral politics have indeed played a big part inavoiding the fates of its neighbours ¨C integration of Tibet withChina (1959) and Sikkim to India (1976). Bhutan closed it
%K Security issues in Bhutan
%U http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/admin/pubFiles/v10-9.pdf