Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies: Policy Briefs
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Item Open Access The reason place matters: Climate change and community relocation in Fiji and Papua New Guinea(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Gharbaoui, Dalila; Blocher, Julia;Retreating from coastal areas in response to changing environmental conditions has long been a part of Pacific Island communities’ traditional adaptive strategies, culture and practices. One can point to a number of cases of significant out-migration, as well as environmentally-induced partial and staggered community relocations, which are outside of “normal” migratory patterns. Furthermore, many traditional risk management and response strategies have been lost in the post-colonial era, due in part to today’s pre-eminence of “modern” strategies. This loss also applies to strategies of risk-sharing with traditional trading and kinship partners, who are now found across artificial international borders. It leaves exposed communities and specific vulnerable groups with fewer capacities to respond to extreme weather events and the (gradual but permanent and assured) loss of habitable land (as in the case of low-lying atolls and volcanic eruptions). The result may be the loss of shared social and cultural identities, spaces and meanings; the creation of a bifurcated, altered or hybrid identities. Those who migrate are often in tension with those who return to or remain anchored in the physical source of a shared heritage.Item Open Access Youth participation and security – the case of Fiji(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Vakaoti, PatrickYoung people exist at the heart of security debates. A common position is to view them as anarchists, victims or opportunities. These images are evoked at the global level via events like the Arab spring revolutions of 2011; in the Pacific through discussions about the ‘youth bulge’. In Fiji, following the reduction of the voting age to 18 years, young people were touted as opportunities. In his campaigns Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama appealed to young people that Fiji needed a new brand of politics and new politicians whilst other political parties were visibly receptive to youth involvement. Youth voter outcomes in the elections was difficult to ascertain, however, given the overwhelming support FijiFirst which campaigned mostly on development and ‘bread and butter’ issues it is safe to suggest that the majority of young people voted on the basis of securing their wellbeing.Item Open Access Self-determination and security in the Pacific(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Maclellan, NicIntroduction: Decolonisation was one of the United Nations’ greatest achievements in the 20th Century, but the process of self-determination began late in the islands region and remains incomplete today. The legacies of colonialism still impact on Pacific regionalism. The issue of political independence was a central element in the establishment of the South Pacific Forum in 1971. Decolonisation was central to the Forum’s collective diplomacy throughout the 1980s, but attention to the issue has waned.Item Open Access New Zealand prime ministers and regional diplomacy(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Ross, KenNew Zealand performs best globally as a progressive small state, with a deep internationalism central to our national identity. That is, being a good international citizen. Our prime ministers are the most important players projecting New Zealand globally. Global diplomacy is what prime ministers do to advance their government’s foreign policy.Item Open Access Mining strategy for New Caledonia: Natural resource curse?(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Chauchat, Mathias; Nacci, DominiqueThe mining industry is usually characterized as a curse, also known as the "paradox of plenty". Today, New Caledonia bears the brunt of the falling price of nickel, the end of the construction of two new nickel plants and the economic downturn. However, New Caledonia, which is supposed to have 25% of the world’s deposits of nickel, attempted to overcome this curse. The mining industry was supposed to secure economic self-sufficiency and pay for a viable independence. This is a common belief in nationalism for natural resources. The country and its provinces tried to build a mining strategy based on added value and, for some, government majority equity in local companies.Item Open Access Re-thinking Pacific regional architecture whilst framing regional security(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Tavola, KaliopateThe existing architecture for Pacific Regionalism, established in 1971, is the result of the inter-play of geopolitics and Pacific diplomacy relating to the newly-independent Pacific island countries and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Western Samoa (now Samoa) had led the way to independence in 1962. The Cook Islands was next opting for self-governing status; Nauru and Fiji became independent in 1968 and 1970 respectively. Tonga returned to full independence also in 1970. These five Pacific island countries were responsible for the break away from the SPC council with the aim of forming their own forum.Item Open Access Human & environmental security: what the Pacific can teach NZ & Australia about climate change(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Bryant-Tokalau, JennyThis paper assumes knowledge and general acceptance of how climate change issues are affecting the Pacific region. It is understood that globally there is a need to limit human induced temperature rise and the fact that sea water intrusion, flooding, storms and droughts are already increasing in intensity. The issue of water is a particular concern and as an immediate security threat to the sustainability of Pacific populations may be more urgent than any of the other threats of climate change.Item Open Access Diplomacy and the pursuit of regional security(MACMILLAN BROWN CENTRE FOR PACIFIC STUDIES, 2016) Powles, MichaelMost significant threats to security in the Pacific Islands region today are internal rather than external. One has only to look at the extraordinary situation today in Nauru, the governance issues in Papua New Guinea, the constitutional concerns in Vanuatu, and the dominance of the military in Fiji. And in considering them, we need to remember that the Biketawa Declaration, agreed 16 years ago now, provides a mechanism that can be used to combat threats to security in the region, including internal problems.