scholarly journals The Significance of the South Pacific for Comparative Studies in Labour Law

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
B T Brooks

In this article, Professor Brooks traces the introduction of labour law into the South Pacific island states and its development there. He considers the richness of the subject for interdisciplinary and comparative study, and indicates labour law as fertile ground for an investigation into the tensions in the Pacific states between tradition and modernisation.

Author(s):  
Artyom A. Garin ◽  

Due to China's increasing involvement in South Pacific, there is a growing interest on the part of the middle and great powers in providing the Pacific island States with an increasing amount of material assistance. With its unique geographical location, as well as numerous initiatives in the humanitarian, trade, economic and defence areas, Australia's influence is reinforced by its status as the major ODA source in Oceania. At the same time, despite Australia's clear advantage in providing ODA to South Pacific states, the region is attracting an increasing number of countries aimed at providing ODA to South Pacific countries, especially China.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Corrin

This chapter explores international law in the South Pacific Island states of Oceania. While there are some commonalities, the area is one of immense cultural and biological diversity. South Pacific Island states are beset by plural legal systems, where state laws coexist with non-state laws, at times operating side by side and at others overlapping or even intermingling. These competing domestic laws are not the only sources of law to contend with; international law plays an increasingly large role in these countries. While international law is traditionally regarded as the law governing the relationship between states, ‘modern’ international law includes rules relating to individuals and non-state bodies. This additional layer of law increases the complexities of the relationship between formal and customary laws. The chapter then focuses on international law in common law island states in the Pacific, specifically looking at the South Pacific Island states which have ratified the Pacific Island States Trade Agreement.


1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-158
Author(s):  
Alan Robson

Review of: Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, by David Robie. London, Zed Books, 1989; Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990; Manila: Malaya Books, 1991. Events in recent years in the South Pacific have dispelled hitherto widely held perceptions of the region as a peacefully modernising backwater of traditional societies. In particular, the 1987 coups in Fiji galvanised the attention of politicians and academics. But in truth, this was just one of a series of crises besetting South Pacific island states. David Robie's Blood on their Banner goes beyond the many accounts focusing on the Fiji coups to link together a range of events under the rubric of responses to colonialism and the emergence of Pacific nationalism. His credentials for doing this are excellent.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sōsefo Fietangata Havea

<p>On April 2, 1987, the Treaty on Fisheries Between Governments of Certain Pacific Island States and the Government of the United States of America was signed. The signatories to the Fisheries were the 16 members of the South Pacific Forum and the United States of America. After six difficult years of negotiations, the Treaty permitted American fishing vessels to fish in Pacific Islands’ waters in exchange for a substantial access fee. This thesis identifies key aspects of that treaty and examines what it meant from both a theoretical and practical standpoint. How did a collection of small, comparatively weak Pacific states strike a satisfactory deal with the most powerful state on the planet? What did the agreement mean in terms of its political, legal and environmental consequences? As well as looking at the events and negotiations that led to the treaty, this thesis also attempts to discern the key political lessons that flow from this case that might be relevant for the future development of the Pacific island States in the key area of fisheries regulation. The thesis argues that disputes between Pacific nations and the United States over tuna resources and the presence of the Soviet Union in the Pacific region were the two critical factors that led to the adoption of the Treaty. From the United States’ perspective, the Treaty was seen (at the time) as the only viable option if it were to reconsolidate its long and prosperous position in the Pacific region. The US did not want the Soviet Union to capitalize on American fishing disputes with the Pacific islands, and it could not afford for the Soviet Union to establish a strong association with the Pacific islands. The Treaty therefore served three purposes for Washington: (i) it maintained its long friendship with the Pacific islands, (ii) it maintained its fisheries interests in the region, (iii) and it kept the Pacific communist-free. This fusion of US economic and strategic interests gave Pacific Island States a stronger hand in the negotiations than their size and power would have otherwise offered.</p>


Author(s):  
Peter Dauvergne

Chapters 2–6 survey the political and socioeconomic forces underlying the global sustainability crisis. Understanding the scale and depth of contemporary forces of capitalism and consumerism requires a close look at the consequences of imperialism and colonialism on patterns of violence and exploitation. This chapter begins this process of understanding by sketching the history of ecological imperialism after 1600, seeing this as a reasonable starting date for the beginning of what many scholars are now calling the Anthropocene Epoch (or the age of humans, replacing the geologic epoch of the Holocene beginning 12,000 years ago). It opens with Captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós’s voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 1605–06 to “discover” modern-day Vanuatu, before turning to look more globally at the devastation of imperialism – and later colonialism – for the South Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Over this time conquerors enslaved and murdered large numbers of indigenous people; cataclysmic change came as well, however, from the introduction of European diseases, plants, and animals. This chapter’s survey of imperialism, colonialism, and globalization sets the stage for Chapter 3, which explores the devastating history of the South Pacific island of Nauru after 1798.


Author(s):  
Graham Hassall ◽  
Feue Tipu

In this paper we seek to answer some basic questions about the condition of local government in the Pacific. Firstly, we examine what is meant by ‘local government’ in the various islands and for that matter how Pacific Island states have perceived and accepted local government institutions in practice; second, we ask basic questions about existing legal and constitutional recognition and powers; and third, we provide initial findings on current per capita expenditure and local government financial viability in a number of Pacific cities and towns. We also make some observations on current moves towards local government reform.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document