Economic Dimensions of Autonomy and the Right to Development in Tibet

The key pivot point of exclusion rests on this concept of ownership of the development process. Ethnically defined exclusion is in part driven by the marginalization of Tibetans from the effective decision-making processes that affect their region. This being said, participatory frameworks, such as those that are popular with institutions like the World Bank or the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will do little to affect this disempowerment if not backed up by substantive ownership. In this regard, participatory methods could be conceived as procedural 'ownership', although in many cases their application is more aptly described as a form of managerial devolution of implementation without necessarily impacting the content of that which is being implemented. Ultimately, wealth rules, and in this sense, the empowerment of Tibetans within their own development must start with effective rather than symbolic ownership.

This implies Tibetans investing, owning and running businesses in the dynamic and high-value added sectors of the economy. In other words, what is required is not only an emerging Tibetan middle class that is rooted in a junior partner position of local administration, but also Tibetan owned corporations, rooted in the ownership of local assets, using these assets to productive ends, and gradually progressing into increasingly complex projects. This would be the true meaning of local ethnic ownership. Tibetan-run corporations would tend to be more integrated into the local economy, working within local capacities and skill levels, and investing locally. Just as the Chinese leadership has understood and emphasized this aspect of ownership at the national level with regard to its integration into the international economy, so too should this be the focus of current efforts to intensify the integration of the Tibetan areas into the national economy. Essentially, this brings us back to the issue of the right to development, yet applied to a sub-national or ethnic level.