The tuscule of custom The tuscule of the custom: culture and politics at a time of neoliberal turmoil in the South Pacific ; Le Crépuscule de la coutume Le Crépuscule de la coutume: culture et politique à l'heure du tournant néolibéral dans le Pacifique sud

Abstract

The Post-September 11,2001 years have been chartered in Melanesia by the direct re-engagement of the formal colonial powers (Australia and New Zealand) and by the obligation imposed on the young Oceanic states to implement neoliberal political and economic reforms. An "arc of instability" supposedly stretches from Timor to Fiji, with a string of "missing states" of which the deliction can only be addressed by military intervention and the establishment of structural adjustment plans recognised as a cure-all. This article sheds light on this turning point in international relations and policies to analyse its local achievements with respect to traditions, in a context in which Melanesian societies and cultures are now watched with an open critical eye by the training colonial powers. The decline of ethnocultural nationalisms in the region, enshered as state ideologies in the aftermath of independence, has a number of parallels with the current situation of biculturalism, a state institution in New Zealand since the 1980s, which is also now in crisis. ; International audience ; The Post-September 11,2001 years have been chartered in Melanesia by the direct re-engagement of the formal colonial powers (Australia and New Zealand) and by the obligation imposed on the young Oceanic states to implement neoliberal political and economic reforms. An "arc of instability" supposedly stretches from Timor to Fiji, with a string of "missing states" of which the deliction can only be addressed by military intervention and the establishment of structural adjustment plans recognised as a cure-all. This article sheds light on this turning point in international relations and policies to analyse its local achievements with respect to traditions, in a context in which Melanesian societies and cultures are now watched with an open critical eye by the training colonial powers. The decline of ethnocultural nationalisms in the region, enshered as state ideologies in the aftermath of independence, has a number of parallels with the ...