Browsing by Author "Barcham, Manuhuia"

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    Conflict, violence and development in the Southwest Pacific: Taking the indigenous context seriously.
    (2009-07-17T02:14:45Z) Barcham, Manuhuia
    This article addresses two main issues. The first of these issues is the ongoing conflation of conflict with violence, and the lack of recognition of conflict as a potentially positive force. The second of these issues is the continued push by donors in the region towards the reconstruction of the state in a stronger form, despite recognition that the structures of the state have played a critical role in the emergence of the recent and ongoing violence in the region. In addressing these issues the article first explores the differentiation between the concepts of conflict and violence, before then engaging in a discussion of the ways in which conflict can not only be a positive force but may actually be constitutive of society itself. The article then looks at ways in which the state has acted to both catalyse and intensify destructive forms of conflict. Once these two issues have been addressed the article then moves on to explore the ways in which an awareness of these issues can be harnessed, by both donors and local communities working together in a form of constructive engagement, in the creation of more durable and effective forms of governance in the region.
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    Participation in practice: Participation, consensus and cooperation in the achievement of economic reform in the Cook Islands
    (2009-07-16T22:17:43Z) Barcham, Manuhuia
    Like many other South Pacific countries the Cook Islands underwent a period of enforced restructuring in the mid-1990s. Yet, unlike many other South Pacific countries, the Cook Islands achieved a considerable degree of success. Field research shows that the success of the reform program in the Cook Islands depended not so much on the actual reform program itself as it did on the way in which reform process unfolded. Given the recent movement by the World Bank towards more participatory approaches to country-level development planning and reform, it seems an opportune time to explore how participatory approaches can actually lead to successful reform outcomes at the country-level. The key to the success of the economic reform program in the Cook Islands can be traced back to three inter-related factors: participation, consensus and cooperation. Combined, all three factors help create a virtuous circle which acted to positively reinforce the ongoing planning and implementation of a reform program. The paper ends by arguing that the key to the success of the Cook Islands reform program was its ongoing participatory nature in both the planning and implementation stage. The World Bank and other multi-lateral institutions would do well to take this lesson onboard.
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    Regional governance structures in indigenous Australia: Western Australian examples
    (2009-07-16T21:26:33Z) Barcham, Manuhuia
    The last few years have been witness to a dramatic change in indigenous affairs in Australia. This process has resulted in the disestablishment of ATSIC and a movement towards the promotion of regional governance structures for indigenous Australia. This article investigates three organisations in the Southwest of Western Australia which may form the basis of a regional governance structure. These three cases illuminate a number of generic issues that must be considered if the aim of the current shift in indigenous affairs policy is to lead to robust and successful outcomes for indigenous Australians. Issues of capacity, legitimacy and the ‘fit’ of structures to indigenous populations are of critical import to the success or failure of this process.
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    Rethinking Polynesian mobility: A new Polynesian Triangle?
    (2009-07-16T23:38:08Z) Barcham, Manuhuia; Scheyvens, Regina; Overton, John
    No abstract available