Custom, governance and Westminster in Solomon Islands : charting a course out of the political quagmire : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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Date
2016
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Massey University
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Abstract
This thesis investigates whether the people of Solomon Islands would be better
served by a form of governance that is politically hybrid than through the current
Westminster unitary-state model.
In remote provinces such as Choiseul, the reach of the state is limited. Here,
notions of citizenship and national identity have gained little traction because kin
group relations underpin society and form the basis for peoples’ identity. In such
societies customary institutions, in the form of chiefs, and the church provide order.
In these self-governing rural communities governance is distinctly parochial in its
application and often hybrid in form.
This study examines whether the hybrid polities of such communities have an
application within the proposed Federal Constitution of Solomon Islands. The
thesis, first, examines the international concepts of governance that have shaped
and provided a framework within which the state of Solomon Islands, and its
systems of governance, have evolved. State governance today, is very much a
product of historical antecedents. However, an analysis of these antecedents
demonstrates that Solomon Islanders have been particularly adept at appropriating
introduced systems for their own purposes, and matters of governance are no
exception.
Using semi-structured interviews, the fieldwork component of this thesis examines
the hybrid form of governance that exists in a Choiseulese village to determine
whether such models have an application within the proposed Federal Constitution,
thus providing a greater degree of political legitimacy than exists under the current
Westminster system. Three tiers of government are proposed in the Federal
Constitution – Federal, State and Community Governments. Of these, Community
Governments provide a particularly suitable political arena where hybridised forms
of village governance, which locally have a considerable degree of political
legitimacy, can be combined with such functions of state as are necessary to
achieve good governance. This, it is argued, will allow the development of forms of
governance that are much more suited to local conditions than is possible under the
current constitution.
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Local government, Tribal government, Federal government, Politics and government, Solomon Islands, Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Political science