Suchergebnisse

A brief overview of Australian foreign policy during the above mentioned period with special reference to ANZUS, Japan, the Kampuchean question and the issues of disarmament. Pacific Forum Line (joint shipping venture) - the most contentious issue between South Pacific states and Australia. The Hawke government hardly charted a new course for Australian foreign policy in the period under review. (DÜI-Sen)

Australia's relations with Japan, China, Indonesia, the Philippines among others and Australian standpoints regarding the Kampuchean conflict. Disarmament conference in Geneva etc are briefly discussed and examined. The Hawke government continued to be more active on disarmament and arms control than its predecessors. Australian support for American position in the Indian Ocean region. (DÜI-Sen)

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Acronyms -- Contributors -- 1. Themes -- 2. A Commentary on the 50-Year History of the University of the South Pacific -- 3. The Road from Laucala Bay -- Part 1: Balancing Tradition and Modernity -- 4. Change in Land Use and Villages-Fiji: 1958-1983 -- 5. Matai Titles and Modern Corruption in Samoa: Costs, Expectations and Consequences for Families and Society -- 6. Making Room for Magic in Intellectual Property Policy -- Part 2: Politics and Political Economy -- 7. Postcolonial Political Institutions in the South Pacific Islands: A Survey -- 8. Neo-Liberalism and the Disciplining of Pacific Island States-the Dual Challenges of a Global Economic Creed and a Changed Geopolitical Order -- 9. Defending the Inheritance: The SDL and the 2006 Election -- Part 3: Reimagining -- 10. Re-Presenting Melanesia: Ignoble Savages and Melanesian Alter-Natives -- 11. Man versus Myth: The Life and Times of Ratu Sukuna -- 12. All Saints' Primary, Labasa -- Part 4: Rethinking Development -- 13. Development Assistance Challenges -- 14. Breaking Fiji's Coup Culture through Effective Rural Development -- 15. Urban Land in Solomon Islands: Powers of Exclusion and Counter‑Exclusion -- Part 5: Into the Future -- 16. The Ocean in Us -- 17. The 'New Pacific Diplomacy': An Introduction -- 18. Niu Mana, Sport, Media and the Australian Diaspora -- Afterword.

Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands examines a crisis moment in recent Solomon Islands history. Contributors examine what happened when unrest engulfed the capital of the small Melanesian country in the aftermath of the 2006 national elections, and consider what these events show about the Solomon Islands political system, the influence of Asian interests in business and politics, and why the crisis is best understood in the context of the country's volatile blend of traditional and modern politics. Until the disturbances of April 2006 and subsequent deterioration in bilateral relations between Australia and Solomon Islands under the Sogavare government, experts had hailed the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) as an unqualified success. Some saw it as a model for 'cooperative intervention' in 'failing states' worldwide. Following these developments success seems less certain and aspects of the RAMSI model appear flawed.

Using the case of Solomon Islands, this book raises fundamental questions about the nature of 'cooperative intervention' as a vehicle for state building, asking whether it should be construed as a mainly technical endeavour or whether it is unavoidably a political undertaking with political consequences. Providing a critical but balanced analysis, Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands has important implications for the wider debate about international state-building interventions in 'failed' and 'failing' states.

In May 2006 Fiji held its tenth general election since independence in 1970. In a country with an unenviable history of electoral trauma, the mood was apprehensive if not tense – not least because of controversial public statements against the incumbent Qarase government being made by the commander of Fiji's military forces. Despite a record number of parties and candidates, the winners were the two big parties – the heavily church-backed SDL, the party of choice of the majority of indigenous Fijians; and the Fiji Labour Party, the party preferred by most Indo-Fijians.

Although the result was ethnically polarised, for the first time in Fijian history the successful candidates came together to share power in a constitutionally ordained multiparty cabinet, with Laisenia Qarase retaining the prime ministership. But the fragile collaboration was short-lived. On 5 December 2006, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama ordered a military takeover, declaring himself 'President', ousting the elected government and replacing it with an 'interim' government of his choice, and once again throwing Fiji into political turmoil.

With contributions from ex-Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, ousted Prime Minister Laesenia Qarase, leader of the Fiji Labour Party and now interim Minister for Finance Mahendra Chaudhry, and an impressive array of leading commentators on Fijian affairs, this book provides a comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the lead-up to, the outcome and the aftermath of Fiji's historic 2006 election. Shedding light on the complex weave of traditional chiefly systems, race relations, economics, constitutionality, the military ethos and religion, From Election to Coup in Fiji is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Fiji, the South Pacific and the politics of divided societies.

AbstractMelanesia is becoming a region of many partners, expanding diplomatic options and a new sense of independence. The wider context of the new Melanesian assertiveness is one in which China is a rising power and Indonesia is forging closer links with the western Pacific. The impetus to Fiji's new assertiveness arose from the diplomatic isolation imposed upon it by Australia and New Zealand after the 2006 military coup. Papua New Guinea's new confidence is founded upon its liquefied natural gas boom. Even Solomon Islands is expanding diplomatic connections. Regionally, the change can be seen in the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which now counts Indonesia among its members, and in Fiji's push for its own vision of Pacific regionalism. Australia and New Zealand nevertheless remain the indispensable countries in the region. Australia's commitment to Melanesia remains constant but without the bold initiatives and interventionist enthusiasm of the early RAMSI years.

Chinese development assistance, raw material exploitation, investment and trade increases in their region are causing Pacific Islanders to ask: 'Why are the Chinese interested in Pacific Island states?' and 'Why has there been an upsurge of the Chinese influence in the Pacific?'. This article seeks to add to the debate on that issue by examining the nature and the evolving purpose of Chinese engagement with the small island states of the Pacific. Only a small proportion of China's outbound investment goes to the Pacific Islands, but it has a considerable effect on the region's economically dependent states. Pacific Island nations have a pressing need for overseas investment and are highly dependent on development assistance. They are, therefore, particularly vulnerable to external players. (J Contemp China/GIGA)