Democracy in the Pacific Islands

Comparable Practices, Contested Meanings

Bibliographic Data

ID5802178
AuthorsJack Corbett (0000-0003-2005-7162, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume2
Issue2
Pages22-40
Publication date2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratic Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2332-8894 • E-ISSN: 2332-8908
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/dt.2015.020203
OpenAlexW2321184796
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited35

Ian Shapiro identifies three traditions of democratic thought: aggregative, deliberative, and minimalist. All three are apparent in the Pacific Islands despite most commentators and donors assuming that the meaning of democracy is fixed. The focus in development studies on institutions and their capacity to deliver pro-poor growth has generated a fourth tradition that revolves around the now pervasive governance concept. Rather than focusing on the general will of a sovereign people, this perspective is predominately concerned with the legitimate use of violence as a precursor to any development-orientated democratic state. Having reviewed the literature on democracy in the Pacific to parse out these four meanings, this article concludes that paying greater attention to this ideational equivocality would extend discussions about the suitability and transferability of this type of regime

Democratic governance · Transferability · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access