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Australia and the Management of Risk in the South Pacific

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Risk and Hierarchy in International Society

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in International Relations Series ((PSIR))

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Abstract

Since attaining independence, most Pacific island states have relied on Australia as a major source of foreign aid and development assistance. Pacific island nations such as Papua New Guinea (PNG), a former trust territory of Australia until 1975 and, more recently, East Timor and Solomon Islands have relied heavily upon Australia for aid funding and support. In turn, Australia has focused heavily on liberal notions of good governance as the pre-requisite for economic development and social and political stability in the Pacific island states.1 Despite this, until recently Australia’s policy position on development aid was largely centred on a ‘hands-off’ approach — provide aid funding to Pacific island states and allow their respective governments to formulate and adopt their own development agendas.2 The point was to avoid any suggestion that Australia was interfering in the internal affairs of these states or was seeking to establish itself as a neo-imperialist regional power.3

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Notes

  1. This emphasis on liberal good governance was apparent in the regional development policies of the former Keating government in the mid-1990s and continues to this day. See Greg Fry and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka (2008), ‘Political Legitimacy and State-Building Intervention in the Pacific’, in Greg Fry and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka (eds), Intervention and State-building in the Pacific: The Legitimacy of Co-operative Intervention (Manchester: Manchester University Press): p. 14

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New South Wales, Australia

    William Clapton (Lecturer in International Relations)

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© 2014 William Clapton

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Clapton, W. (2014). Australia and the Management of Risk in the South Pacific. In: Risk and Hierarchy in International Society. Palgrave Studies in International Relations Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137396372_6

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