Gordon Peake
Biographic Data
| ID | 222064 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gordon Peake |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gordon |
| FAMILY NAME | Peake |
| SIGNATURE | PEAKE G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7491-779X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
How can individuals determine the success of statecraft
This article examines the micro-level dynamics shaping contemporary statecraft in the Pacific Islands region, demonstrating the importance of individuals to the success of statecraft efforts. Existing analyses of statecraft largely privilege macro-level perspectives that treat states as unitary actors, overlooking the fact that people interact not with abstract policies but with the individuals who enact them. Indeed, relationships, networks, and…
Debate on Conflict, identity, and state formation in East Timor, 2000–2017, by Gerry van Klinken, Hoko Horii, Antero Benedito da Silva, Sara Niner, and Gordon Peake
The Bijdragen occasionally organizes a book debate in which we invite three scholars to review a recently published book, followed by a response from its author.In this issue of the Bijdragen, that convention has, by necessity, been thwarted.Not long after the 2019 publication of his important work, Conflict, identity and state formation in East Timor, 2000-2017, James Scambary passed away suddenly.He was just 59.That it occurred at the height of…
Street‐level bureaucrats in a relational state
We explore how street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) as ‘agents of the state’ operate in circumstances where there is very little state, at least as state form is understood in the context in which street‐level bureaucracy theorising has developed. Using the example of post‐conflict Bougainville, we suggest SLBs actually construct the state through their wide‐flung and deep networks of relationality. We propose that SLBs in the majority world may be he…
Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation
In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own. In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems. Away from the office he travels with former
Australian aid in Papua New Guinea
This article explores the frustrations of men – both ‘local’ and ‘international’ – who work in the development sector in Papua New Guinea. It explores the views of men not because they are the only ones to express such dissatisfaction, but because their perspectives have not been documented, other than in informal conversations as occur over drinks or messaging platforms. These multiple narratives show how a combination of pay variations, differe…
Bougainville’s Autonomy Arrangements
The 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement ended the deadliest conflict in the Pacific since the Second World War. The agreement, between the Government of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville leaders rests on three pillars. These are: the creation of a special, high-level of autonomy, a deferred referendum on Bougainville’s political future and weapons disposal. The autonomy provisions of the Agreement were ambitious. They envisioned a substantial re- o…
If This Is the Way the World Works
Much of what researchers see and encounter in the everyday world of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and international development does not fit readily within the perceived boundaries of academic publis
Experimentation and innovation in police reform
The plural character of policing provision in most countries is now widely acknowledged, though rarely reflected in the practical police reform programming undertaken by donors. While much of the literature on international police assistance focuses on its modest results and innate limitations, less attention has been paid to those still relatively rare programmes that have sought to engage with the local realities of plural policing. This is par…
Managing Insecurity
The New World of UN Peace Operations
The New World of UN Peace Operations The New World of UN Peace Operations: Learning to Build Peace by Thorsten Benner, Stephan Mergenthaler and Philipp Rotmann. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011
More Than Just Policing
This brief summarises the findings of an independent evaluation of the Bougainville Community Policing Project (BCPP), which was conducted in late 2012 on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.1 Broadly speaking, the BCPP has two elements, which provide advisory support to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville's two separate but linked policing organisations: the Bougainville Police Service (BPS) and the Community Auxili…
Partnerships and International Policing
Although the concept of partnership offers little substantively new to the theory and practice of peace operations, it provides a useful political frame to advance reform efforts in UN policing. In the last few years, several improvements have been made in doctrine, training and increasing the pace of deployment. However, the case of Timor-Leste suggests that these efforts have not resulted in obvious improvements in the abilities of the UN Polic…
Addressing symptoms but not causes
Asia's newest nation-Timor-Leste-has an unenviable track record of two Australian-led military stabilisation missions, five United Nations (UN) missions, and a vast humanitarian and international response over the course of the past decade.3 Two distinct approaches to stabilisation can be observed on this small half-island. The first is a 'security-first' approach, where development activities are complementary and serve to support security secto…
Their reports are not read and their recommendations are resisted
The goal of reforming policing systems in transitional, conflict‐torn, and failed states has become a major focus of donor assistance projects, for without effective, efficient, equitable, and accountable policing wider social, economic, and political development is not likely to be sustained. Although a large reform literature, written by members of a global police policy community, has been generated, few long‐range improvements can be pointed …
Police-Building in Weak States
Australia is engaged in a range of police-building exercises with its regional neighbours. The character of this assistance has changed across time and space reflecting, among other things, the development of new approaches to police-building in weak and post-conflict states. This article examines three such approaches adopted in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, respectively. Both countries comprise challenging development contexts marked by…
United Kingdom-led Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone
The UK's work in reforming security institutions in Sierra Leone is widely held as representing an example of successful SSR. Basic capacity and public trust has been restored in politicized and debilitated police and military institutions. It provided much needed confidence to people who no longer had faith in their own security institutions, and it created the stable, secure environment in which SSR could take place. This article offers the per…
Conclusions
Policebuilding
Increasingly, significant numbers of personnel are deployed in field missions either to serve as police officers or to assist in reforming national police capacity. Reforming and building a police system – in this article termed ‘policebuilding’ – is exceedingly difficult, demanding the condensing of diverse training skills in a very short period and fast-forwarding the development of skills that are ideally built up over generations. This articl…
To arrest insecurity
Despite the exponential growth in the attention and resources devoted to security sector reform (SSR), positive tangible outcomes remain hard to find. A ‘conceptual-contextual’ divide exists between SSR's stated goals and its actual implementation, a fissure that suggests the need to re-evaluate its tenets as currently conceived and practiced. This paper contributes to such a reappraisal and argues for a new round of SSR debate and policy formula…
Police-Building in Weak States
Australia is engaged in a range of police-building exercises with its regional neighbours. The character of this assistance has changed across time and space reflecting, among other things, the development of new approaches to police-building in weak and post-conflict states. This article examines three such approaches adopted in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, respectively. Both countries comprise challenging development contexts marked by…
Experimentation and innovation in police reform
The plural character of policing provision in most countries is now widely acknowledged, though rarely reflected in the practical police reform programming undertaken by donors. While much of the literature on international police assistance focuses on its modest results and innate limitations, less attention has been paid to those still relatively rare programmes that have sought to engage with the local realities of plural policing. This is par…
More Than Just Policing
This brief summarises the findings of an independent evaluation of the Bougainville Community Policing Project (BCPP), which was conducted in late 2012 on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.1 Broadly speaking, the BCPP has two elements, which provide advisory support to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville's two separate but linked policing organisations: the Bougainville Police Service (BPS) and the Community Auxili…
Policebuilding
Increasingly, significant numbers of personnel are deployed in field missions either to serve as police officers or to assist in reforming national police capacity. Reforming and building a police system – in this article termed ‘policebuilding’ – is exceedingly difficult, demanding the condensing of diverse training skills in a very short period and fast-forwarding the development of skills that are ideally built up over generations. This articl…
To arrest insecurity
Despite the exponential growth in the attention and resources devoted to security sector reform (SSR), positive tangible outcomes remain hard to find. A ‘conceptual-contextual’ divide exists between SSR's stated goals and its actual implementation, a fissure that suggests the need to re-evaluate its tenets as currently conceived and practiced. This paper contributes to such a reappraisal and argues for a new round of SSR debate and policy formula…
Addressing symptoms but not causes
Asia's newest nation-Timor-Leste-has an unenviable track record of two Australian-led military stabilisation missions, five United Nations (UN) missions, and a vast humanitarian and international response over the course of the past decade.3 Two distinct approaches to stabilisation can be observed on this small half-island. The first is a 'security-first' approach, where development activities are complementary and serve to support security secto…
Bougainville’s Autonomy Arrangements
The 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement ended the deadliest conflict in the Pacific since the Second World War. The agreement, between the Government of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville leaders rests on three pillars. These are: the creation of a special, high-level of autonomy, a deferred referendum on Bougainville’s political future and weapons disposal. The autonomy provisions of the Agreement were ambitious. They envisioned a substantial re- o…
United Kingdom-led Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone
The UK's work in reforming security institutions in Sierra Leone is widely held as representing an example of successful SSR. Basic capacity and public trust has been restored in politicized and debilitated police and military institutions. It provided much needed confidence to people who no longer had faith in their own security institutions, and it created the stable, secure environment in which SSR could take place. This article offers the per…
Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation
In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own. In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems. Away from the office he travels with former
Australian aid in Papua New Guinea
This article explores the frustrations of men – both ‘local’ and ‘international’ – who work in the development sector in Papua New Guinea. It explores the views of men not because they are the only ones to express such dissatisfaction, but because their perspectives have not been documented, other than in informal conversations as occur over drinks or messaging platforms. These multiple narratives show how a combination of pay variations, differe…
If This Is the Way the World Works
Much of what researchers see and encounter in the everyday world of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and international development does not fit readily within the perceived boundaries of academic publis
Conclusions
Policebuilding
Increasingly, significant numbers of personnel are deployed in field missions either to serve as police officers or to assist in reforming national police capacity. Reforming and building a police system – in this article termed ‘policebuilding’ – is exceedingly difficult, demanding the condensing of diverse training skills in a very short period and fast-forwarding the development of skills that are ideally built up over generations. This articl…
To arrest insecurity
Despite the exponential growth in the attention and resources devoted to security sector reform (SSR), positive tangible outcomes remain hard to find. A ‘conceptual-contextual’ divide exists between SSR's stated goals and its actual implementation, a fissure that suggests the need to re-evaluate its tenets as currently conceived and practiced. This paper contributes to such a reappraisal and argues for a new round of SSR debate and policy formula…
Police-Building in Weak States
Australia is engaged in a range of police-building exercises with its regional neighbours. The character of this assistance has changed across time and space reflecting, among other things, the development of new approaches to police-building in weak and post-conflict states. This article examines three such approaches adopted in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, respectively. Both countries comprise challenging development contexts marked by…
United Kingdom-led Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone
The UK's work in reforming security institutions in Sierra Leone is widely held as representing an example of successful SSR. Basic capacity and public trust has been restored in politicized and debilitated police and military institutions. It provided much needed confidence to people who no longer had faith in their own security institutions, and it created the stable, secure environment in which SSR could take place. This article offers the per…
Conclusions
Their reports are not read and their recommendations are resisted
The goal of reforming policing systems in transitional, conflict‐torn, and failed states has become a major focus of donor assistance projects, for without effective, efficient, equitable, and accountable policing wider social, economic, and political development is not likely to be sustained. Although a large reform literature, written by members of a global police policy community, has been generated, few long‐range improvements can be pointed …
Addressing symptoms but not causes
Asia's newest nation-Timor-Leste-has an unenviable track record of two Australian-led military stabilisation missions, five United Nations (UN) missions, and a vast humanitarian and international response over the course of the past decade.3 Two distinct approaches to stabilisation can be observed on this small half-island. The first is a 'security-first' approach, where development activities are complementary and serve to support security secto…
Partnerships and International Policing
Although the concept of partnership offers little substantively new to the theory and practice of peace operations, it provides a useful political frame to advance reform efforts in UN policing. In the last few years, several improvements have been made in doctrine, training and increasing the pace of deployment. However, the case of Timor-Leste suggests that these efforts have not resulted in obvious improvements in the abilities of the UN Polic…
Managing Insecurity
The New World of UN Peace Operations
The New World of UN Peace Operations The New World of UN Peace Operations: Learning to Build Peace by Thorsten Benner, Stephan Mergenthaler and Philipp Rotmann. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011
More Than Just Policing
This brief summarises the findings of an independent evaluation of the Bougainville Community Policing Project (BCPP), which was conducted in late 2012 on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.1 Broadly speaking, the BCPP has two elements, which provide advisory support to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville's two separate but linked policing organisations: the Bougainville Police Service (BPS) and the Community Auxili…
Experimentation and innovation in police reform
The plural character of policing provision in most countries is now widely acknowledged, though rarely reflected in the practical police reform programming undertaken by donors. While much of the literature on international police assistance focuses on its modest results and innate limitations, less attention has been paid to those still relatively rare programmes that have sought to engage with the local realities of plural policing. This is par…
If This Is the Way the World Works
Much of what researchers see and encounter in the everyday world of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and international development does not fit readily within the perceived boundaries of academic publis
Bougainville’s Autonomy Arrangements
The 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement ended the deadliest conflict in the Pacific since the Second World War. The agreement, between the Government of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville leaders rests on three pillars. These are: the creation of a special, high-level of autonomy, a deferred referendum on Bougainville’s political future and weapons disposal. The autonomy provisions of the Agreement were ambitious. They envisioned a substantial re- o…
Australian aid in Papua New Guinea
This article explores the frustrations of men – both ‘local’ and ‘international’ – who work in the development sector in Papua New Guinea. It explores the views of men not because they are the only ones to express such dissatisfaction, but because their perspectives have not been documented, other than in informal conversations as occur over drinks or messaging platforms. These multiple narratives show how a combination of pay variations, differe…
Street‐level bureaucrats in a relational state
We explore how street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) as ‘agents of the state’ operate in circumstances where there is very little state, at least as state form is understood in the context in which street‐level bureaucracy theorising has developed. Using the example of post‐conflict Bougainville, we suggest SLBs actually construct the state through their wide‐flung and deep networks of relationality. We propose that SLBs in the majority world may be he…
Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation
In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own. In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems. Away from the office he travels with former
Debate on Conflict, identity, and state formation in East Timor, 2000–2017, by Gerry van Klinken, Hoko Horii, Antero Benedito da Silva, Sara Niner, and Gordon Peake
The Bijdragen occasionally organizes a book debate in which we invite three scholars to review a recently published book, followed by a response from its author.In this issue of the Bijdragen, that convention has, by necessity, been thwarted.Not long after the 2019 publication of his important work, Conflict, identity and state formation in East Timor, 2000-2017, James Scambary passed away suddenly.He was just 59.That it occurred at the height of…
How can individuals determine the success of statecraft
This article examines the micro-level dynamics shaping contemporary statecraft in the Pacific Islands region, demonstrating the importance of individuals to the success of statecraft efforts. Existing analyses of statecraft largely privilege macro-level perspectives that treat states as unitary actors, overlooking the fact that people interact not with abstract policies but with the individuals who enact them. Indeed, relationships, networks, and…
Political science (17 works) · Law (12 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (12 works) · Politics (10 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Computer Science (5 works)