AN ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LITERATURE CONCERNING
Miranda
Forsyth
Anita
Jowitt
(2006)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
Historical
Overview
Contemporary
Overview Formal
Institutions
Informal
Institutions
Economics
Social
Issues
External
Relations
General
Pacific Literature of Particular Interest |
3 4 6 6 14 18 22 32 34 |
1. Preliminary Comments
This annotated bibliography is primarily based on
published literature concerning
The University of the South Pacific library in Port
Vila also maintains a useful website of Vanuatu information and literature. The
URL is: http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library2/Vanuatu/homepage.htm
It is also important to note that this is a selective
bibliography which includes only the most recent and relevant literature
available in order to produce a picture of
2. Historical Overview
Early Anthropology
Miranda Forsyth, “Leadership Structures and Dispute
Management Systems in
This is the most accessible summary of all the early
anthropology of
The Condominium
Brian Bresnihan and Keith Woodward, (eds) Tufala
Gavman: Reminisces from the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides(
2002)
This book contains chapters
by many people involved in the administration of the Condominium. It gives a good flavour of the period,
including the rivalry between the French and the British, and describes some of
the functions of the officials during that period, but does not go into any detailed
analysis of the Condominium.
Chris Plant
(ed) New Hebrides: The Road to Independence,
(1977)
In chapter 1 the current President, Kalkot Matas
Kele-Kele discusses the emergence of political parties in
William Miles,
Bridging Mental Boundaries: Identity and Development in
This is a useful book which
is worth getting a copy of. In the first
chapter it sets out some of the important events around
Walter Lini, Beyond Pandemonium: From the
This book is in part an autobiography of the “father”
of
Jeremy
MacClancy, To kill a Bird with Two Stones: a Short History of Vanuatu, (1980)
This book is a short and
non-academic history of
Howard Van Trease (ed), Melanesian Politics: Stael blong
The first chapter of this book
is probably the most useful as it discusses the colonial origins of
Robert Tonkinson, “National identity and the Problem
of Kastom in
This article discusses the way in which the concept
of kastom was used by the various
political parties at the time of
3. Contemporary Overview
This is a brief but comprehensive introduction to
culture in
Ala & Arubilake (2000) “The Domestic Economy” in
Athy & van de Walle 20 Years of
Central Banking in
This chapter provides a concise overview of issues
facing the
4. Formal Institutions
The national government
National
government and national politics is a cross-cutting theme. In this section
pieces which focus solely on national politics and governance have been listed.
See also entries dealing with particular aspects of national politics in
the following sections: contemporary overview, the Malvatumauri,
chiefs/kastom, economics, women, land, and external relations.
Anita Jowitt, “
This is the most recent in the series of excellent
yearly reviews by Anita Jowitt. These reviews appear annually in the second
volume of The Contemporary Pacific.
Whilst they do not provide very much analysis they do provide a description of
the major political events that occurred in the previous year.
Michael Morgan, “Political Fragmentation and the
Policy Environment in
This article charts the broad shifts in
Michael Morgan, “Cultures of Dominance: Institutional
and Cultural Influences on Parliamentary Politics in
This article is about
David Ambrose, “
This article discusses the “tragic-comedy” of
political behaviour in 1995-97. Although
dated, it does illustrate the way in which politics works in
Howard Van
Trease (ed), Melanesian Politics: Stael blong
This book is a collection of short chapters written
by political leaders in
Eric Wittersheim, “Melanesian Elites and Modern Politics
in
This is rather a rambling article which discusses the
nature of leaders and elites in
Jeff Archer, “Politics in the Pacific: the cases of
This paper is useful because it allows for a
comparison of the concept of governance between
Elise Huffer and Grace Molisa, “Governance in
This paper takes a critical, if not sceptical, view
of the term governance. Having analysed the term, and the agendas behind it, it
then turns to examine the apparent failure of the governance agenda in the
Pacific, and
The Electoral Process
David Henry and Earl Simpson, Report of the Commonwealth Election Assessment Team (2003)
This is the report of a team who were tasked with
developing a plan for future Commonwealth technical assistance to strengthen
the electoral process in
Shirley Randell (ed) Report of the Elections Observer Group: a Joint Electoral
Commission/Transparency International Vanuatu Project (2002)
This report, which comments on the 2002 national
elections, was one of the first election observer group reports issued. The
observers and report writers were a team of locally based individuals. The
report was the first to highlight gaps in the electoral process, including
problems related to an inaccurate electoral roll and weaknesses in relation to
the prosecution of electoral offences. As the majority of these problems still
need to be addressed this report remains relevant.
Provincial government
Yash Ghai, 'Vanuatu' in P
Larmour and R Qalo (eds), Decentralisation
in the South Pacific (1985)
Ghai provides a historical account of the move
towards regionalism in
Report of the
Decentralisation Review Committee (2003)* http://www.sria.com.vu/docs/drcvolume2.pdf
*
This long report is the key document relating to
recent discussions on decentralisation in
The legal system:
structure, courts, prisons, police
Jennifer Corrin Care, Tess
This textbook is the standard introductory text on
South Pacific legal systems, including that of
Jennifer Corrin Care, “Sources of Law Under the
Constitution of
This article sets out the legal structure for the
Condominium and the pre-independent sources of law. It then discusses in a general way the
various sources of law in Independent Vanuatu, including the important transitional
provisions necessary to “fill in” before
Miranda Forsyth, “The State System and its Relationship
with the Kastom System” (draft PhD chapter)
This chapter examines the
current relationship between the state legal system and the kastom system, by considering the
relationship each of the institutions which comprise the state criminal justice
system have with the kastom system,
together with the views of the stakeholders about that relationship. The institutions that are covered in this
section are the courts, the
police, the prisons, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Office of the
Public Solicitor and the Malvatumauri. In addition, the
chapter also consider the current challenges facing each institution and the views of stakeholders
concerning the institution as it currently stands.
Although this chapter has its focus on the relationship with the kastom system, it is the most recent and
extensive overall review of the state legal system and has references to most
of the other literature that has been written about it.
Miranda Forsyth, “Beyond
Case Law: Kastom and Courts in
This article discusses the official relationship, as
proscribed in legislation, between the official legal system and customary
law. It also analyses six reasons that
have been propounded for the failure of the official system to integrate
customary law and processes, thus summarising the existing literature on this
issue. It argues that although these
reasons prima facie seem to suggest that an integration of the two systems is
not possible, in fact these reasons are limited in a number of important
respects. It proposes that the question
of integration should be viewed as being a two-way, rather than a one-way
process, investigating how the official system is influencing the kastom
system, as well as the other way around.
Anita Jowitt, “
This paper is the only published article which
discusses the Island Courts in
Guy Powles and Mere Pulea (eds) Pacific Courts and Legal Systems (1988)
This book is relatively old and some of what it says
has now become outdated. The first
chapter provides an overview of the legal structure of pacific countries. This is a straightforward description which
remains largely correct. In addition
there are some chapters which deal specifically with
Amnesty International,
This is a damming report into the state of
Reid Mortensen, “Comity and Jurisdictional Restraint
in
This article discusses the principles used by
The Ombudsman
See also the section on
corruption below.
The leading authority on the Ombudsman’s Office in
Edward R. Hill, “The
This
chapter provides an overview of both the 1995 and 1998 Ombudsman Acts of
Vanuatu. It also discusses some of the reasons why the law was changed. Another
useful feature of the chapter is that it discusses the main ‘types’ of
wrongdoing or misconduct uncovered through the Office of the Ombudsman.
Edward R. Hill, Ombudsman of
This
Digest has only been published on line. It is descriptive rather than analytic
but provides useful summaries of all of the reports made by the Ombudsman
between 1996 – 2000. The Digest also provides an overview of all of the laws
related to the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman and the powers of
that office.
KJ Crossland: The Ombusman Role: Vanuatu’s
Experiment, Discussion Paper 00/5, State
Society and Governance in Melanesia, ANU http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/melanesia/discussion_papers/crossland.pd
This article
discusses the first Ombudsman in
release
of the report into gross political misuse of
The Malvatumauri
Lissant Bolton, 'Chief Willie Bongmatur Maldo and the
role of Chiefs in Vanuatu' (1998) (September) Journal of Pacific History
This paper is an important interview with the first
President of the National Council of Chiefs.
It sets out the history of the Council, explaining that the first time
that chiefs were formalised as a group was in 1974 when the decision was made
to include four chiefs to be elected to the Representative Assembly to
‘represent custom’. Bolton notes that
this illustrates a change of role for the chiefs from representing their
community in non-traditional contexts, as they did during the Condominium, to
representing the community’s traditional face to outsiders, and suggests that
this “significantly, and subtly, underlines the identification of chiefs as
traditional leaders”. This initial step,
however, turned out to prove intensely controversial and the problem of
electing these four chiefs became such a major issue that it prevented the
Assembly from meeting at all. One of the
significant difficulties in the election process was the determination of to
what extent a chief should embody traditional modes of authority and how
traditional modes of authority should be applied in making that decision. A solution to the impasse was finally
negotiated in the form of the creation of a Council of Chiefs to advise the
Representative Assembly on all matters concerning kastom.
Lamont
Lindstrom, 'Chiefs in
Postcolonial State (1997) 211
Lindstrom explains that since its creation the
Malvatumauri has “engaged in a strategic process of elaborating and defining
chiefly identity and prerogatives”. One
of the ways it has done this is by codifying kastom law, producing in 1983 a book of kastom polisi dealing with village level disputes, and designed
“particularly to keep women and youth under closer control and to make chiefly
supervision of village activities more muscular”. Another way is to have created an official
chiefly hierarchy that extends down to six regional councils, into various area
councils and terminates in many village councils of chiefs. He also notes that there has been continuous
tension between chiefs and State. He
points out that although in some respect chiefs and state share interests in
shoring up chiefly political power, chiefs also present potential dangers to
the State. Consequently state
politicians have been nervous about how much power and independence to give to
chiefs.
5. Informal Institutions
Chiefs/Kastom[aj4]
Miranda Forsyth, “Mat, Kava, Faol, Pig, Buluk, Woman:
The Operation of the Kastom System in
This chapter explores the current operation of the kastom system in Vanuatu, which exists
almost entirely outside the state system, in that it is not recognised by the
state system or given any powers by the state.
The chapter focuses on the most salient aspects of the kastom system, especially those which
affect its relationship with the state system.
Selwyn Garu
and Jack Yaken, Ministry of Internal
Affairs Chiefs' Legislation Project Report (2001) (available by request to Minister of Internal Affairs)
This report examines the roles of chiefs in
Don Paterson, Customary Chiefs in
This paper first discusses who customary chiefs are
in
Paul Vuhu, “The Lakalakabulu Area Council of Chiefs
in
Vuhu discusses the operation of the Lakalakabulu Area
Council of Chiefs, including its aims, its constitution, its dispute settlement
processes and its history. This is one
of the few places that the operations of these councils are discussed in
writing. This is a key example of how customary structures are beginning to become
more predominant in community governance.
Geoffrey White, Indigenous Governance in Melanesia, (2006)
Research Paper, State Society and
Governance in Melanesia, ANU http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/melanesia/research/SSGM_IndigenousCustomaryGovernance_ResearchPaper_06.pdf
This paper discusses some of the customary modes of
governance in
Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific,
Assessing Community Perspectives on Governance in
This report (which was co-written by Charles Vatu)
describes the traditional and current governance structures and practices of
local communities, their relationships with the wider society and the impacts
and consequences of these relationships.
It identifies areas of complementarities and potential conflict between
traditional and modern governance concepts and practices. It notes villager’s perspectives on
opportunities that may help to reconcile the differences and reinforce the
positive elements of community governance, in order to improve the relevance of
national and traditional governance institutions and processes to grassroots
communities. The report was produced on
the basis of a literature review (including grey literature) and also
fieldwork.
Lissant Bolton, Radio and the
Redefinition of Kastom in
“This
paper traces the development of radio broadcasting in
Anita Jowitt “Reconstructing Custom: The politics of homophobia in
This short article uses the issue of acceptance of gay
people to examine the relationships between custom, Christianity and
“modernity”. It begins with a brief overview of
Churches/ Religion
Douglas,
Bronwen “Christian Custom and the Church as Structure in 'Weak States' in
This paper investigates certain characteristic associations in the governance
of three of the four independent states of
Michael Allen '
This piece only discusses non-introduced
NGOs
Amelia Faasau, “Report on laws affecting civil
society in Vanuatu 2004* http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/sol%5Fadobe%5Fdocuments/world/icnl/faasau.htm
This report surveys the different types of
NGOs that can exist in
http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/sol%5Fadobe%5Fdocuments/world/icnl/klingelhofer2.htm
This report sets out the benefits of a vigorous not
for profit sector and outlines generally some of the requirements for a
functioning legal framework for civil society organisations. It contains summaries of the reports of the
legislative framework for various countries in the South Pacific, including
6. Economics
General literature
Timo Henckle, “
This is a survey of
Peter Bazeley, “Binding and
Not-So-Binding Constraints to Economic Growth From
This article examines the constraints on economic
growth in
Asian Development Bank
(1997)
Whilst this book is now a bit out of date, it does
provide useful detail about a range of issues, including financial sector
development, private sector development, public sector management and reform,
agriculture, the environment and other natural resources, and human resource
development. Since 1997, policies related to economic development have largely
been driven by the Asian Development Bank sponsored Comprehensive Reform
Programme (CRP) and so its analysis of
Satish Chand, “
This economic survey covers the main macroeconomic
indicators from 1990 – 2000. It also provides a sectoral outlook in key
sectors, including tourism and agriculture and an overview of population
statistics. Changes that had been implemented under the Comprehensive Reform
Programme are also discussed. Sections on constraints to growth and policy
lessons remain relevant today
Daniel Gay, “The Emperor’s tailor: an assessment of
This article discusses the impact of the
Comprehensive Reform Programme (CRP) in more detail. It is somewhat critical of
the CRP, in part because of the sense that many reforms were imposed from
outside rather than being homegrown, and as a result they may not have fitted
the needs of the
Craig Sugden and Odo Tevi, “
This very useful paper provides a recent survey of
The formal and informal
economy and the spread of cash economy into village society
Paul MacGuire, “Microfinance in
Finance for small and micro enterprises is one of the
major issues related to the development of informal or small scale economic
activity. This article provides insight into some of the issues faced by small
enterprises in relation to accessing finance, and some of the mechanisms for
accessing finance that are available in
Albert Manaroto, Jerry Niatu and Shadrack Welegtabit,
“From Barter Trade to Cash Money Trade” in
Athy & van de Walle 20 Years of
Central Banking in
This chapter discusses economic systems from pre
colonialism through to
Tim Foy, “Food security in a South Pacific context:
the case of rice in
Whilst this article does not discuss the incursion of
rice into rural areas in great detail, it is one of the few published pieces
which notes the impact that imported food is having on traditional lifestyles.
Whilst the article does not pursue the argument that villages are shifting from
planting traditional food to planting cash crops in order to get the money to
buy imported food, this issue is alluded to.
Malvatumauri, “
As there is very little written in this area “grey
literature” such as this strategy are useful for highlighting the tensions
which traditional leaders see to be existing. Whilst the set of recommendations
in this strategy do not only relate to the economy, a number of recommendations
are specifically economic. The strategy also reveals tensions arising due to wanting
the introduced cash economy and yet wanting to retain traditions and customary
authority.
Kirk Huffman, “Traditional Money banks in
This report details research into contemporary use of
traditional money, including pigs, shell money, beads and mats. A clear point
of the report is the argument that there is a need to explore ways to integrate
custom money and the cash economy. Strategies for doing this, including
allowing payment for government services to be done in custom money and the
development of mechanisms to allow custom money to be converted into cash are
noted.
Margaret Rodman Deep
water: development and change in Pacific village fisheries (1989)
This book examines changes in fisheries practices on
Ambae. Whilst it is now somewhat dated
in that one of the projects it discusses (the Village Fisheries Development
Program) is now defunct, it is one of the most detailed studies of the
incursion of the cash economy into village life. It begins by considering the
traditional context of fishing for food, before moving to examine the changes
through the colonial period. In the post
The financial services
sector
See also geopolitics section
below.
Terry Dwyer, “ ‘Harmful’ tax competition and the
future of offshore financial centres, such as
This paper was written at a time when a number of
countries were putting pressure on
Commonwealth Secretariat,
“Developmental implications of anti-money laundering and taxation regulations” Paper from the Commonwealth Finance
Ministers
This paper discusses the impact of tighter banking
laws using case studies from
Sunita Bois Singh, “Costs
and benefits of adopting and implementing new international standards for the
operation and regulation of the international financial services sector in
This is the research paper which underlies the case
study detailed in the paper listed above. It provides useful detail on the history of
the financial services sector and the legal and institutional framework
surrounding it. Less compelling are some of the research findings about the
contribution that the financial services sector has on
Patrick de Fontenay, “The
financial sector in
Given the number of changes in
7. Social Issues
Women
Sue Farran, “Research
Report: The role of women’s rights groups in legal reform” (2002)
A problem in women’s rights movements in many
countries internationally is the lack of coordination amongst various groups
that are involved in the promotion of women’s rights. This report surveys the
main NGOs, CBOs and government departments that are involved in this area. The
main strength of the report is that it provides useful descriptive information
of the “key players”. The summary also identifies a number of cross cutting
issues that many organisations surveyed face.
Sue Farran, “Pigs, mats and
feathers: customary marriage in
This paper reports on research into the different
forms of custom marriage in
Jane Strachan, “Gender and
the formal education sector in
This paper usefully summarises the findings of a
report undertaken as part of the wider Comprehensive Reform Programme. As well
as providing statistics on women’s participation and performance in schools and
work the paper makes a number of policy recommendations. These recommendations
are somewhat general, but the paper is useful because it raises a number of
areas in which further research and activities can usefully be undertaken.
Heather Wallace, “Gender and
the reform process in
This paper discusses a number of reforms that had
taken place in accordance with the Comprehensive Reform Programme. It also
discusses the role of NGOs, and in particular the Vanuatu National Council of
Women, in relation to the reform process. The paper was written at a time when
it was too early to analyse the impact of the reforms, but it does provide
useful descriptive information on some of the reforms that took place.
Margaret Jolly, Women of Place: Kastom, colonialism and
gender in
This book, written by an anthropologist, traces ways
in which gender roles were impacted on during colonialism and the negotiation
of meanings of kastom that took place
in this period. The book contains lots of anthological detail about men, and
therefore women, in South Pentecost in the mid to late colonial era, but does
not provide much detail about the lives of women in the contemporary era. The
epilogue comments most on the contemporary era and argues that as kastom has come to be revaluated and
redefined to suit particular political purposes, one result has been that there
has been an “intensification of male control” and a subsequent devaluing of
women.
Rosalind Tor and Anthea Toka
Gender, kastom and domestic violence : a
research on the historical trend, extent and impact of domestic violence in
This Department of Women’s Affairs report is based on
a combination of a questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews carried out
across all provinces in
Enikelen Netine, “A literacy
Program for Women in
This paper reports on a World Vision literacy
program. It is not an academic paper and so lacks the depth of some academic
work, but its particular value is that it provides case studies on how
increasing literacy has changed individual women’s lives. It is also has an
interesting, but brief, section on the changes that the author has noticed in
relation to community life and the role of women within this.
Rita Naviti, “Restorative
justice and women in
Naviti’s chapter does not
have a particularly clear focus. It does, however, make the important point
that it is difficult to achieve justice in a restorative setting for women due
to existing power imbalances. Because of this there is a need to be cautious
about how concepts of restorative justice are introduced.
Bronwen Douglas, “Christian
Citizens: Women and Negotiations of Modernity in
This article is written in a very academic manner by
a respected anthropologist and is therefore quite heavy-going. Her major argument is that women do not
generally participate a great deal in the national arenas in
Isabelle Donald, Jane
Strachan and Hilda Taleo “Slo slo: increasing women’s representation in
parliament in
Whilst this article does provide some historical and
social context relating to the low levels of women members or Parliament in
Urbanisation
Donovan Storey, “Managing
Urban Decline? Urban Governance in the Context of Port
This article considers issues of urbanisation in Port
Vila from the perspective of how decisions are taken to allocate resources for
the provision of services. At the time the article was written it was noted
that urban governance was a fairly new focus, and that this may account for the
extent of mismanagement in Port Vila. However, the underlying issues that lead
to mismanagement highlighted in this article remain relevant today.
Chung and Hill, “Urban Informal
Settlements in
This report examines “squatter settlements” in Port
Vila and Luganville. It is primarily based upon existing statistical data and
further quantitative data gathered from 7 informal settlements in Port Vila and
5 informal settlements in Luganville during the research. The report does not
provide rich anthropological detail, but does provide very useful descriptive
data on the extent of informal settlements and the characteristics of
households in these settlements. The section on urban planning issues
highlights a number of key institutional and policy issues that need to be
addressed.
Gregory E. Rawlings,
“Foundations of Urbanisation:
This is an anthropological exploration of the
dynamics of urbanisation. It particularly explores the experience of the
peri-urban
Anita Jowitt, “Economic growth, urban crime and unemployment in
developing economies: A case study from
This chapter gathers
statistics on population growth and urban migration and wage labour in Port
Vila. It also gathers statistics on crime. There are some policy
recommendations contained in the comments on the data, but the main strength of
this piece is that it gathers together data sources which are otherwise
difficult to find.
Youth
Jean Mitchell, Young People Speak…A report
on the Vanuatu Young People’s Project, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, April 1997-June
1998 (1998) (available from the
Cultural Centre)*
This report details research carried out in 1997 on
1053 people aged between 13 and 25. The findings provide detailed patterns of
the lives of these people. It also details their hopes and aspirations, which
in turn gives an insight into the policy gaps which are hindering
Jean Mitchell, “‘Killing
time’” in a postcolonial town: young people and settlements in Port
This chapter discusses, from a more academic
perspective, some of the findings detailed in the report above. It particularly
focuses on the dislocation of the generation of youth who are the first to be
growing up in post colonial Port Vila. The article also discusses the
phenomenon of urbanisation and provides a good list of references to other
sources which discuss youth and urbanisation.
Morgan ‘Distentangling
juvenile justice and kastom law in
In March 2001, following reports by the Juvenile
Justice Project and the Vanuatu Young Peoples Project, a national summit on
juvenile justice was held. In April 2001 the governing the future workshop was
held in Port Vila. Twenty young people participated, and the main topic that
was discussed was juvenile justice. This paper is a useful corollary to reports
arising from the national summit, as that summit was dominated by chiefs and
the commentary in this article records young peoples’ reactions to the national
summit.
Rousseau (ed) The Report of the Juvenile Justice Project :
A Resource on Juvenile Justice and Kastom law in
This report discusses the findings of the JJP which took
place in 2000-2001. The JJP itself
suffered from many flaws, and to some extent these are reflected in the report
(see correspondence at the back of the report and pages 9 - 11). The main findings which came from the
National Summit on Juvenile Justice that was held in 2001 and was the final
part of the JJP was that young people generally preferred to be dealt with by
customary processes rather than by the state for justice issues. The Report also discusses the current status
of juvenile justice in
Gail Super (Unicef), A Needs Assessment of Juvenile Justice
Issues in
This is a fairly damming report into the state of
juvenile justice in
Corruption
Tess Newton and Anita
Jowitt, National Integrity Systems Transparency International Country study
Report
This study follows the comprehensive Transparency
International developed national integrity system framework. It examines over
15 key institutions within the national integrity system, including parliament,
political parties, the ombudsman, the auditor general, civil society, the
private sector, local government and aid donors. The main content of the report
discusses peoples perceptions of how these institutions are operating. The
questionnaire details both the laws that govern each institution and the extent
to which these laws are follows in practice.
Anita Jowitt ‘
These reports give descriptive information on some of
the major corruption related scandals to have affectedaffected
Land
Sue Farran, “Land Leases: Research: Misterial Leases in
This paper
discusses the granting of ministerial leases over land in
P
Larmour (ed) Land Tenure in Vanuatu
(1984)
This book discusses the legal framework
for land in
Howard
Van Trease, The Politics of Land in
This book is a historical survey of the
influence of land issues in the lead up to, and advent of,
Jean-Marc
Pierre, “
This article is concerned with how
government control of investment can be achieved and the factors that encourage
private investment. It also assesses how
far the government has gone in achieving land development. This paper is also quite dated now, but makes
some important and still relevant points about the legal framework for land and
the issues that are involved in its development.
Margaret
Rodman, “Breathing Spaces: Customary Land Tenure in
This article is written by an
anthropologist who has worked for many years in Ambae. She discusses the way in which ideas of
kastom can be transformed and manipulated by individuals – that kastom does not
necessarily mean old and vice-versa. She
also examines customary principles of land tenure from an anthropological
perspective, and provides a case study of how land disputes are resolved at a
local level without the interference of any state machinery.
Sue
Farran, “Land in
This article explores some of the
difficulties involved in the management of land in
Joel
Simo, Report of the National Review of
the Customary Land Tribunal Program in Vanuatu (2006) (available from the
Cultural Centre)
This report is based on a study made into
the operation of the Customary land Tribunals which were introduced in
At
present, land tribunals have been little used to determine disputes about
ownership of customary land – probably less than 1% of villages have dealt with
land disputes in this way since the Act came into force in December 2001, the
remainder preferring to resolve the disputes under the customary justice
system, or just allow the disputes to continue unresolved. To a large extent
this is due to a lack of understanding and training as to how land tribunals
are to operate, and to a fear that their decisions may result in the loss of
land, and, in some areas, uncertainty as to who are chiefs.
Russell
Nari, “Land Tenure and Resource Management: A Major Challenge in
This paper highlights three issues that
have contributed to resource management conflicts in
Anita Jowitt, 'Indigenous Land Grievances,
Customary Land Disputes and Restorative Justice' (2004) 8(2) Journal of South Pacific Law* http://paclii.org.vu/journals/fJSPL/vol08no2/8.shtml
In this paper Jowitt discusses the
relationship between indigenous land grievances and customary land disputes, and
then investigates the dynamics of customary land disputes in
Chief
Noel Mariasua, “A Traditional landowner’s View From
This short article written by a former
President of the NCC discusses some of the tensions surrounding customary land
and development. He concludes “I find it
difficult . . . to state affirmatively that customary land ownership and
sustainable development are complementary.
Although sustainable development may provide villagers with income, it
can only complement customary land ownership if it takes all the cultural
aspects attached to customary land into consideration, because customary land
tenure is not similar to leasehold with its clearly specified land uses. Under custom, land belongs to the individual,
but can sometimes be used by the whole village.”
Poverty
Maev O'Collins, “Isolation,
Vulnerability, And Governance: Reflections on Poverty Assessments in
This paper considers some of the issues involved in
poverty assessment in
Asian
Development Bank, Discussion Paper: Assessment of Poverty and
Hardship and Strategies for Equitable Growth
and Hardship Alleviation (2002)* http://www.spc.int/Poverty%20Programme/Vanuatu%20poverty%20assessment.pdf
8. External Relations
Development aid
Jim Fingleton, “Policy-Making
and Legislating for Reform in
This paper discusses the fact that reforms have
proven difficult to implement in most Melanesian countries and discusses some
reasons why reform is so elusive. He
identifies the following impediments to the progress of reforms:
o absence of a political
mandate for change and reform
o political and bureaucratic
inertia, obstruction and “interference”
o lack of coordination and
continuity in bureaucratic processes
o disconnections between the
public and private sectors
o stakeholder dissonance
o unrealistic expectations of
consultants and donor interventions, and
o inappropriate donor programs
and timeframes.
He also gives some pointed lessons for domestic reformers,
donors and consultants alike. One such lesson, he argues, is that aid projects and
consultants cannot be used as a substitute for government policymaking - if
reforms are to endure and responsible government is to have any meaning. A
second is that, in the absence of functioning political parties and other
mechanisms linking the populace to policy, the legitimacy of reform policy can
be enhanced best by a wide consultative process. But even that is no guarantee
of successful policy implementation: powerful vested interests may still
override popularly-endorsed programs.
Hank Nelson, “Governments,
States and Labels,” Discussion Paper 2006/1 State,
Society & Governance in
This is an interesting paper which argues that
instead of using labels such as “weak” and “failed” to describe states in
He concludes by making a number of very useful
comments about the sorts of interventions that are likely to and likely not to
work in
[G7] Regionalism and geopolitics
Michiko Hayashi, “Arrested
Development :
This paper examines a number of reasons why
T. K. Jayaraman, “Regional
integration in the Pacific” USPEC Working
Paper 16 of 2005
This paper is not
Colin S. Mellor, “Small Pacific Island States: Development of International
Trade” (1997) 12(1) Pacific Economic
Bulletin 70
This paper begins by
providing a brief but useful overview of the differences in economies of
different
9. General
Pacific literature of particular interest
Anita Jowitt and Tess Newton
Cain (eds) Passage of Change: Law,
Society and Governance in the Pacific (2003)
This is an accessible student-oriented book which
deals with some of the major issues facing the region today: corruption,
customary law, human resources and natural resources.
Elise
Huffer, “Governance, Corruption and Ethics in the Pacific” (2005) 17 (1) The Contemporary Pacific 118
This article criticises the “governance agenda” in
the Pacific. It argues that a better way
to proceed would be for donors themselves to be more transparent about their
own interests in the Pacific island region.
In addition, donors should listen to the views of Pacific Islanders and
become serious about dealing with the social consequences of economic and
financial change. This paper discusses
previous literature on corruption and argues that it has rarely drawn on
in-country research conducted with local communities, and also that “the
economistic view of corruption and governance does not sufficiently acknowledge
the danger that privatisation and deregulation may increase corruption rather than decrease it.” It argues that in order to transform ethical
political culture it is necessary first to have a better understanding of
Pacific political thought and culture.
It also contains useful lists of further reading.
Whitlam Khalegedi
Togamae, ‘Legality
of the OECD & FATF demands in the Pacific Island States’ (2006) LLM thesis
paper http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/sol%5Fadobe%5Fdocuments/usp%20only/pacific%20law/togamae.htm
This paper discusses issues related to restricting
tax havens across the Pacific as a whole, so does not only focus on
Asian Development Bank, Information and Communication Technology for
Development in the Pacific Donovan Storey, “Urban Governance in
This important and interesting paper discusses the
challenges arising from the increasing urbanisation of
Sue Farran, “Young People in
Conflict with the Law in the South Pacific Region” (October, 2001) Development Bulletin 25
Farran discusses the problems with the treatment of
juvenile offenders by the state legal systems in the South Pacific taking
Penelope Schoeffel, “Myths Of Community Management:
Sustainability, The State And Rural Development In
This paper argues that the most sustainable means for
development in rural
Donovan Storey, “Urbanisation in the Pacific” (2006) State Society and Governance in
This paper discusses issues arising from urbanisation
in a number of
“Priorities for sustainable
development in the South Pacific” (2003) Paper
prepared for the civil society forum and the 5th Global Environment
Ministers
This paper covers a number of issues related to sustainable development.
It does not only focus on the natural
environment, but also considers the political, economic and social environment.
National, regional and international obligations are discussed and a number of
recommendations for improving sustainable development are drawn. The paper does
not focus on Vanuatu in particular and is not very detailed in its analysis but
it does cover a number of key developmental issues, and so provides a good
initial reading for people whoa re not familiar with Vanuatu but want to
quickly grasp some of the wider issues relating to development.
[aj1]Move to general Pacific literature
[aj2]Moved to the 'Chiefs/Kastom’ section.
[aj3]Ref?
[aj4]I would put traditional governance as a section within governance
[aj5]I added this in because if it changes from a chiefs and traditional
governance section to a chiefs and custom section then a bit more about custom
is needed. This is all because of that
[G6]Complete reference
[G7]I think this heading can be deleted - as it is already stated above