Suchergebnisse

As a unique group of people, Rotumans make up less than two percent of Fiji's population, and as a minority Indigenous ethnic group in Fiji, they have remained relatively hidden and silent in political affairs. Outmigration from the island has led to more than 80 percent of Rotumans residing outside of Rotuma. In recent times, the Rotuman diaspora has heavily relied on the use of ICTs and new media technologies as crucial tools for the reinvigoration of Rotuma's culture. This in itself poses an intriguing paradox as internet connectivity on Rotuma is quite limited. However, social media platforms have been increasingly used by Rotumans outside of Rotuma, and have enabled increased connectivity and greater dissemination of information among the Rotuman diaspora. Recently, the primary purpose of such social media groups has evolved from merely being a tool for rekindling familial ties, to being a platform for political discourse on Rotuman issues. In essence, despite the scattered nature of the Rotuman population, digital technologies are offering Rotumans the affordance of being able to inform and educate themselves and their networks on political issues of Rotuman interest. By employing ethnography and netnography principles and through in-person and online engagement with Rotumans within and outside of Rotuma, this article examines the affordances that digital technologies offer Rotumans concerning national political discourse. This is carried out with a specific focus on the 2018 general elections in Fiji.

This book is part of ADB's Pacific studies series and reviews the performance of Fiji's agriculture sector over the past decade. It suggests a new strategy for growth and diversification in light of recent trade developments, giving the private sector a bigger role.

This book is part of ADB's Pacific studies series and reviews the performance of Fiji's agriculture sector over the past decade. It suggests a new strategy for growth and diversification in light of recent trade developments, giving the private sector a bigger role.

Adoption of new public sector management (NPM) is commonplace in both developed and emerging economies. One premise of NPM is that an effective accountability mechanism is in place. It is argued here that where bad management and corruption are present, this fundamental accountability mechanism may fail for two reasons. These are considered further through the situation existing in Fiji in relation to problems experienced at the National Bank of Fiji (NBF). The demise of the NBF provides an example of a country where NPM has been introduced, where poor management and corruption are entrenched and where accountability has not worked because parties do not provide a proper account of their actions. This scandal illustrates the need for proponents of NPM to consider the context into which the system is being fitted, such as poor management, the extent of corruption and presence of political favours, when considering the net benefits likely to arise from its introduction.

This article explores discourses and debates on secularism, religion, and politics in
social media in connection with the 2018 Fiji general election campaign, and in
interviews with leading figures in churches and religious organisations. It discusses
how people responded to these issues. It shows that there is still a pervasive lack of
clarity in the Fijian population as to what the terms Christian state, secular state,
secularism, and secularisation mean, how people understand, discuss, and debate
them, and how this lack of clarity was used politically during the campaign.

The shared aspiration and pursuit of stable and sustained economic growth through private enterprises in the Pacific Island Countries face unique challenges. Besides the inherent characteristics of size, remoteness and vulnerability traditionally associated with small island states, the challenges include political instability, the absence of enforceable land-based property rights, weak public infrastructure, uncertain contractual enforcement and archaic and unstable regulatory frameworks. The varied combinations of these challenges have constrained the growth of private enterprises. This thesis focuses on a challenge that has not captured the attention of scholars, that is, the quality of the region's business regulatory environment. The Doing Business analyses by the World Bank have consistently ranked Fiji outside the top 100 with respect to the ease of starting a business. Furthermore, the country's global ranking in this area continues to deteriorate. Following an exploratory-descriptive research approach using Doing Business data, the study findings show that Fiji has one of the region's weakest regulatory frameworks, especially for facilitating the survival of an enterprise. The business licensing renewal process with local governments contributes to unwarranted levels of red tape. Analysis of survey data collected specifically for this thesis reveals the negative influence of red tape, arising out of licensing renewals, on firm performance in the garment industry. Finally, a phenomenological analysis of industry experiences with licensing compliance at the local level reveals the problems faced by most in the industry. Contributions from this research to the literature include the novel use of local government-related licensing data for studying the regulatory-enterprise relationship; establishing the prevalence of all four types of red tape from Bozeman's theory—that is ordinary, intraorganisational, external control and pass through—in local governments; and the new empirical findings based on ...