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Let me assert from the outset that contemporary politics and governance in Micronesia are influenced to a large extent by the traditional system which underlies the modern system. This traditional system has given a unique Micronesian flavour to contemporary politics and governance, albeit undemocratic in some cases. With careful nurturing through regular briefings and consultation by government leaders, the traditional chiefs can be relied upon to muster the necessary public support for policy implementation. The customary power of the traditional chiefs in Micronesia varied from culture to culture. For instance, on Kosrae the power was centralised in a very powerful ruler, while on Yap, the power of the chiefs was decentralised and subjected to elaborate checks and balances built into the customary political relationship. In Palau, the power was vested in the heads of two alliances of villages. These alliances were involved in constant fighting for domination. In Chuuk, the most powerful traditional leaders were the village chiefs. In the Marshall Islands, the most powerful leaders were the two paramount chiefs, one heading each of the two island chains—the Ratak and Ralik. Surprisingly, for low island chiefs, these two paramount chiefs had absolute power. In Pohnpei, the power of the traditional leaders was exercised by a paramount chief in each of the five kingdoms. However, the exercise of their customary power is checked by the head of a chiefly parallel line whose relationship to the paramount chief is like a father-son relationship, the paramount chief being the father. In the outer islands of Chuuk and Yap, each island had its paramount chief. In spite of the varied power of the traditional chiefs in Micronesia, almost all of them inherit their position through their mother. In Palau, the senior women in the chiefly clan select the paramount chief. Yap is the exception to this general rule. Both the age of the mother and her son were important determining factors for the leadership position in all Micronesian societies. Quite often a young man who had customary claim to a leadership position would be bypassed in favour of an older man. When this happened, usually the older man served in that position until death, then the rightful holder of the title could assert his right. The exercise of customary chiefly power was the domain of men. In a few cases, women would become chiefs, but the effective power would be exercised by men. ; AusAID

Comparative Regional Analysis in an Era of Heightened Regional Salience -- Sources of Peace and Conflict Within Regions -- Whose Status Quo Is It, Anyway? Regions, Hierarchies, and Satisfaction* -- Asymmetric Rivals, State Capacity, and Regional Peace -- Regional Variation in Strategic Positional Rivalries -- Regions of Rivalry: Dominance Vacuums and Rivalry Prevalence -- Societal Heterogeneity, Weak States and Internal Conflict: Evaluating One Avenue to Territorial Peace and Instability -- Petroleum, Petrostates and Interstate Conflict: How Strong Are Some of the Relationships? -- Sources of Order Within Regions -- In Search of Common Grounds: A Preliminary Ordering of the Study of Regional Orders -- Intra-regional Trade and Regional Exposure to the Global Economy: Implications for Cooperation and Conflict -- States, Nations and Great-Power Expansion in their Neighborhood: Explaining the Russian War against Ukraine -- All That Glitters Is Not Gold: Comparing Regional Peace in the Caucasus and Central Asia -- Impact of the Rise of Eurasia on Grand Strategy for the 21st Century. .

Examines the ideology, aims, and prospects of the Muslim-led Refah (or Welfare) party led by Necmettin Erbakan, and reasons for its growth in membership.

In the history of international relations, economic, technological, and demographic developments have, over the centuries, caused the center of economic and political activities to shift from one locus to another. The modern world's history can best be understood as a process of historical change that began in the Mediterranean and subsequently diffused north to Atlantic seaboard states and then spread both westward across the Atlantic and eastward across the Eurasian continent. Forces of change swept across both the North American continent and what the geographer Halford J. Mackinder called "the heartland of the Eurasian continent" in eastern Europe and European Russia. Today, historic movements of economic, political, and technological forces are converging on the Pacific. A more pluralistic world is rapidly emerging in which the Pacific Basin nations and economic forces will play an increasingly important role.

A position paper on the impact of international and local politics to community participation in developmental programmes. ; Sustainable development, according through to the World Bank and other donor agencies, is only possible if the communities are involved, ie through popular participation. A similar theme emerges from the British ODA - aid is prioritised where good governance, sustainable development and protection of the environment are evident in country programmes. 'Good governance' is, in their terms, multiparty, parliamentary, democracy with universal franchise, which emphasises the ability of the individual to participate fully in the democratic processes. Participation, therefore, is a general theme threaded through bilateral and multilateral aid programmes. ; Overseas Development Administration, British Development Division, (Central Africa)