The Asopa Controversy
A Pivot of Australian Policy for Papua and New Guinea, 1945-49
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9074608 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian C Campbell (0000-0001-9306-3884, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 83-99 |
| Publication date | 2000-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Pacific History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3344 • E-ISSN: 1469-9605 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/713682830 |
| OpenAlex | W1987138402 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
World War II offered an occasion that stalled and was almost lost in the late 1940s for a re-orientation of Australian policies in Papua and New Guinea. In the absence of a long-range planning unit for the territory, the debate over how patrol officers should be trained became a metonymical contest for control over policy development generally. Proposals to transform the Army School of Civil Affairs into a multi-purpose research and educational institution on a university model contained an ideological element but also impelled a contest of vested interests trying to grasp control of future policy. The ASOPA controversy thus became the central debate in the reformulation of policy for Papua and New Guinea in the 1940s. Despite influential support from J.K. Murray, J.R. Kerr and A.A. Conlon, the Australian government retreated from the ambitious proposal and established the Australian School of Pacific Administration as an intra-departmental training school with restricted objectives. This outcome was a victory for caution and parsimony over extravagant audacity, for J.R. Halligan's practicality over academic idealism in policy formation and above all for the assertion of Public Service supremacy in policy formation
CONTEST · Element (criminal law) · Ethnology · Foreign policy · Government (linguistics) · Ideology · Institution · New guinea · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Victory · World War II · Australian History and Society · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law · Public Administration
| Highly cited | No |
|---|