Nationalism versus constitutionalism in Fiji

In: Nations and nationalism: journal of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Band 10, Heft 4, S. 519-538

Abstract

Since Fiji became an independent state in 1970 it has experienced three coups against elected governments. On each occasion, intervention has been justified on the grounds that the rights and interests of indigenous Fijians have been under threat from a government controlled by Indo-Fijians, the country's second largest ethnic group. The story of nationalism versus constitutionalism in Fiji is one in which all the efforts of institutional designers seem to have been consistently trumped by the successful manipulation of ethnic identity, especially (although not exclusively) by Fijian nationalists. But it also suggests that there is more the problems of stability in Fiji than the fact of ethnic difference. The article also critically assesses arguments which favor the develoopment of a new form of constitutionalism which dispenses with the liberal 'rule of uniformity' in favor of principles and practices that give explicit recognition to cultural difference. (Nations and Nationalism, ECMI)