Sinceits origins in late eighteenth-century European thought, the idea of placinga regional frame around the Pacific islands has never been just an exercisein geographical mapping. This framing has always been a political exercise.Contending regional projects and visions have been part of a politicalstruggle concerning how Pacific islanders should live their lives. Framing the Islands tells thestory of this political struggle and its impact on the regional governance ofkey issues for the Pacific such as regional development, resource management,security, cultural identity, political agency, climate change and nuclearinvolvement. It tells this story in the context of a changing world ordersince the colonial period and of changing politics within the post-colonialstates of the Pacific. Framing the Islands argues that Pacific regionalism has been politicallysignificant for Pacific island states and societies. It demonstrates thepower associated with the regional arena as a valued site for the negotiationof global ideas and processes around development, security and climatechange. It also demonstrates the political significance associated with therole of Pacific regionalism as a diplomatic bloc in global affairs, and as aproducer of powerful policy norms attached to funded programs. This studyalso challenges the expectation that Pacific regionalism largely serveshegemonic powers and that small islands states have little diplomatic agencyin these contests. Pacific islanders have successfully promoted their ownpowerful normative framings of Oceania in the face of the attempted hegemonicimpositions from outside the region; seen, for example, in the strongcommitment to the 'Blue Pacific continent' framing as a guiding ideology forthe policy work of the Pacific Islands Forum in the face of pressures tobecome part of Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy.
- | Author: Greg Fry
- | Publisher: Anu Press
- | Publication Date: Oct 24, 2019
- | Number of Pages: 418 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 1760463140
- | ISBN-13: 9781760463144
