Independence, dependence and fragmentation in the South Pacific

Abstract

Since the 1960s most island groups of the South Pacific have achieved independence and many new nations have been established; only the very smallest islands remain colonies. Most of the small nations are extremely small yet secession movements in many areas have resulted in fragmentation producing the break-up of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and the disintegration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This has emphasized the distinctive characteristics of the Pacific nations: their small size (in population and in area) and limited natural resources, their isolation from each other and from markets and fragmentation within multiple island countries. The extension of outside interests into the Pacific has brought rapid economic changes, the emergence of cash cropping and the decline of subsistence agriculture, increased dependence on imports (especially food, resulting in some nutritional problems) and rapid urbanization, producing growing dependence and inequality which regional ties between the Pacific nations have not been able to overcome. Outmigration from the smallest nations to USA and New Zealand is likely to be maintained and the unusual characteristics of these small island nations suggest that strategies of development that appear viable elsewhere have little chance of success in the Pacific.