DPA Other Publications
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Item Metadata only Election Fraud on a Grand Scale: The Case of the Koroba-Kopiago Open Electorate.(State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Project, Australian National University, 2002) Haley, Nicole; May, R. J.Item Open Access The military in Papua New Guinea: a 'culture of instabilit'y?(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) May, RonaldIn the period from early 2000 to mid 2002, a series of incidents involving the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) has highlighted continuing problems within the Force, and once again raised questions about the possibility of military intervention in politics.Item Open Access Converging on the arc of instability? The fall of Barak Sope and the specture of a coup in Vanuatu(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) Morgan, MichaelThe constitutional crisis which erupted in Vanuatu in May 2001 initially prompted fears that Vanuatu might follow the examples of the Solomon Islands and Fiji and descend into social unrest, and possibly violent conflict. The greater danger was that the ailing administration of Barak Tame Sope Mau'utamate would mobilize the Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF) to consolidate its hold on power.Item Open Access Islands of Neglect(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) Reilly, BenjaminWeak governance, widespread corruption, economic mismanagement, nsmg crime, and violent ethnic conflicts are undermining the stability of the island nations of the South Pacific. As some countries assume the status of Somalialike 'failed states', the formerly benign South Pacific islands represent a growing threat to regional security. This process has been hastened by the lack of attention to the region's problems by traditional powers like the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Now, rising Asian powers like China and Taiwan - which have important diplomatic, economic and strategic interests in the region - are moving to fill the vacuum created by the weakness of the region's states and their debilitating internal conflicts. The facts of these internal conflicts are grim. Over the past year, there has been a coup in Fiji, followed two weeks later by the overthrow, at gunpoint, of the Solomon Islands government and a bloody civil war between rival ethnic militias. There has also been insubordination by the disciplined forces in Vanuatu, the assassination of a cabinet minister in Samoa, and growing criminal influence in 'rnicrostates' like Nauru and Tuvalu. In March 2001 the region's largest country, Papua New Guinea, saw a short-lived uprising by elements of the Defence Force against their own government as part of a pay dispute. The region is also mired in sub-standard economic performance. In fact, the South Pacific is on a par with sub-Saharan Africa in its per capita GDP, literacy and schooling rates, public health statistics and, ominously, in its lack of economic opportunity for young job seekers. What underlying forces are driving this 'Africanization' of the South Pacific region?Item Open Access 'Arc of Instability'? Melanesia in the Early 2000s(Canberra ACT : State, Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) Project, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University., 2003) May, RonaldThis book comprises six informed contemporary narratives and historical commentary by a group of distinguished regional scholars writing in the context of growing concern about an emerging 'arc of instability' in the Southwest Pacific region. This collection of papers derives from a public seminar at the Australian National University in 2001, intended to provide some commentary and discussion on a number of significant events then taJcing place in Melanesia, and in the context of growing concern about an emerging 'arc of instability' to Australia's north. The collection has subsequently been expanded and updated.Item Open Access Guns, money and politics: disorder in the Solomon Islands(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) Dinnen, Sinclair; May, R. J.For many observers, the elections scheduled for late 2001 offered a possible circuit breaker to Solomon Islands' deepening political crisis. Behind the crisis lay four years of ethnic tensions, a de facto coup in June 2000, and a progressive collapse of the economy and, in many places, law and order. The incumbent Sogavare administration had come to power as a result of the coup instigated by an ethnically-based militia group, the Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF), and elements of the paramilitary police field force. As a result, it had little legitimacy in the eyes of many Solomon islanders and, moreover, appeared quite incapable of providing the leadership necessary to restore peace and stability. During its period in office, the economy had gone into free fall, with all major commercial enterprises suspended, and there was growing evidence of systematic conuption and plunder among political leaders, senior officials, and their militant associates. Since the coup, Honiara, the national capital on Guadalcanal, had been under the effective control of bands of anned militants. The police force remained deeply divided and was no longer able or willing to enforce the law. Sadly, the new government formed after the December 2001 elections and led by Sir Allan Kemakeza has not lived up to expectations. It is made up of remnants of the Sogavare administration and includes several high-profile former members of the MEF. While there have been some signs of improvement, including in the critical area of disarmament, the national economy continues to verge on bankruptcy, essential services have ceased in many places, public servants go unpaid, and corruption and lack of security remain serious concerns. The Kernakeza government appears incapable of leading the Solomon Islands out of its current predicament and, in the view of many observers, there is a clear need for far greater engagement by the main regional players, notably Australia and New Zealand.Item Open Access In Spite of Mr Speight? Fijis road to the general elections(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) Lal, BrijGeorge Speight's seizure of the Fiji parliament on 19 May 2000 now seems like a bad, nightmarish dream. Contrary to all provocations and incentives to violence, Fiji managed, but only just, to retrieve itself from the precipice of national disintegration. A year later, Speight was tried for treason, and is currently serving a seven-year sentence, though moves are afoot to have him pardoned. In August 2001 the country went to the polls, returning Laisenia Qarase's newly-formed Soqosoqo Duavata ni Levenivanua to government with thirty-two seats. The Labour Party, his main rival, won twenty-seven. The holding of the election was an important development, but instead of resolving the country's many deep-seated problems it compounded them. Qarase breached the constitution under which he was elected by refusing to have Chaudhry in a multi-party cabinet. The constitution provides that any political party with more than 10 per cent of seats in parliament is constitutionally entitled to be invited into cabinet. Under a formula provided for in the Korolevu Declaration, Qarase would have twelve cabinet positions and Chaudhry eight. Labour challenged the government's decision. The Fiji Court of Appeal ruled in Labour's favour, but the matter will be settled finally by the Supreme Court in early 2003. Meanwhile, Fiji remains marooned in the shallows. Whether the people of Fiji will accept the verdict of the court, whatever it might be, remains to be seen.Item Open Access The Bougainville Peace Agreement, 2001-2002: towards order and stability for Bougainville?(University of Canterbury and ANU, 2003) Regan, Anthonyis paper offers a brief overview of the steps in and the dynamics of the peace process in the eighteen months from January 2001 to July 2002, and an assessment of the prospect that implementation of the Peace Agreement will provide the basis for continuing consolidation of peace in Bougainville and between Bou gain ville and the rest of Papua New Guinea.Item Metadata only The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific(ANU Press, 2004) May, Ron; Selochan, Viberto; May, Ron; Selochan, VibertoItem Metadata only State and Society in Papua New Guinea: The First Twenty-Five Years(ANU Press, 2004-05) May, RonOn the eve of Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975 there were many – both within the country and outside – who predicted political anarchy, with the possibility of an army coup or authoritarian single-party dominance, and economic collapse. Such fears appeared to have been justified when in 1975 both the North Solomons (Bougainville) and Papua unilaterally declared their independence. In fact, however, PNG achieved a smooth transition, and in its first decade as a new state enjoyed a high degree of political and economic progress. It remains one of the few post-colonial states that has maintained an unbroken record of democratic government. Nevertheless, from around the mid-1980s a number of problems have become apparent, including: a decline in government capability; increasing problems of urban and rural lawlessness; poor economic management, with growing evidence of nepotism and corruption; environmental degradation associated with mining and logging, and increasing pressure on land; and, from 1988, a rebellion on Bougainville. This volume brings together a number of papers written by the author between 1971 and 2001 which address issues of political and economic development and social change in Papua New Guinea. Dr R.J. May is a senior fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at The Australian National University. He was formerly a senior economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia and later foundation director of IASER in PNG (now the National Research Institute). In 1976 he was awarded the Independence Medal for his services to banking and research in PNG.Item Metadata only Conflict and Resource Development : In The Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea(ANU Press, 2007) Haley, Nicole; May, Ron; Haley, Nicole; May, RonItem Metadata only From Election to Coup in Fiji : The 2006 campaign and its aftermath(ANU Press, 2007) Fraenkel, Jon; Firth, Stewart; Fraenkel, Jon; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only Globalisation and Governance in the Pacific Islands : State, Society and Governance in Melanesia(ANU Press, 2007) Firth, Stewart; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only Westminster meets Solomons in the Honiara riots(ANU Press, 2008) Kabutaulaka, Tarcisius Tara; Dinnen, Sinclair; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only RAMSI–the way ahead(ANU Press, 2008) O’Callaghan, Mary-Louise; Dinnen, Sinclair; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only No more walkabout long Chinatown: Asian involvement in the economic and political process(ANU Press, 2008) Moore, Clive; Dinnen, Sinclair; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only The Impact of RAMSI on the 2006 Elections(ANU ePress, 2008) Fraenkel, JonItem Metadata only Dilemmas of intervention and the building of state and nation(ANU ePress, 2008) Dinnen, SinclairItem Metadata only Crisis in Solomon Islands: foraging for new directions(ANU Press, 2008) Aqorau, Transform; Dinnen, Sinclair; Firth, StewartItem Metadata only Telling Pacific Lives : Prisms of Process(ANU Press, 2008) Lal, Brij V.; Luker, Vicki; Lal, Brij V.; Luker, Vicki