252,323 research outputs found
Regional service delivery among Pacific Island countries: an assessment
No full textExperience with pooling service delivery among Pacific Island countries has not met the optimistic expectations of advocates, finds this study.
Abstract
Pacific Island countries face a range of development challenges, including smallness, distance from major markets and capacity constraints. Regional service delivery, or pooling, has been advocated as a means of addressing these challenges. This article presents the findings from the first comprehensive study of pooling initiatives in the Pacific. It draws on a review of the literature pertaining to 20 pooling initiatives identified in the region and on interviews with stakeholders involved in many of those initiatives. The study finds that experience with pooling among Pacific Island countries has not met the optimistic expectations of advocates, including development partners. This is the result of the challenges inherent in voluntary regionalism, which are exacerbated by the diversity of Pacific Island states and political economy constraints. The article concludes that an incremental approach to expansion of regional service provision in the Pacific is both likely and appropriate given these factors
Efficient remittance services for development in the Pacific
No full textCapital inflows to the Pacific islands from aid, foreign investment and remittances are an important source of development finance. Remittances are the fastest growing; they now total US 40 million per year. Hypotheses about the continued reliance on high transaction cost methods are examined and implications for development policy are discussed
Political life writing in the Pacific
No full textThis book aims to reflect on the experiential side of writing political lives in the Pacific region. The collection touches on aspects of the life writing art that are particularly pertinent to political figures: public perception and ideology; identifying important political successes and policy initiatives; grappling with issues like corruption and age-old political science questions about leadership and ‘dirty hands’. These are general themes but they take on a particular significance in the Pacific context and so the contributions explore these themes in relation to patterns of colonisation and the memory of independence; issues elliptically captured by terms like ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’; the nature of ‘self’ presented in Pacific life writing; and the tendency for many of these texts to be written by ‘outsiders’, or at least the increasingly contested nature of what that term means
Health policy in Asia and the Pacific: navigating local needs and global challenges
No full textAbstract: Asia and the Pacific is undergoing a remarkable economic transformation, which is occurring at an exceptional pace. There is clear evidence of an equally rapid epidemiological transition in the region. This article sets out the policy challenges of building healthy societies in the context of rapid economic change. The region’s location at the cross roads of contemporary globalisation, resulting in intensified population mobility, large-scale trade and investment, and pressures to take collective action on shared problems, adds to the complexity of this task. The article argues that health is integral to building stable and sustainable societies, and that there are opportunities to develop more holistic approaches that bring together hitherto separate policy spheres
The Emerging Pacific Island States: The Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Pacific Islands Studies Conference
No full text28 cmIncludes bibliographical referencesPacific Islands Studies Conference (4th : 1979 : University of Hawaii)Editor's Introduction / Jane N. Hurd -- Opening Remarks / Carl J. Daeufer -- Hawaii's Plans for Future Relations with the Other Pacific Islands / Hideto Kono -- Tahiti et Mama France / Ben R. Finney -- From Atoll to Federal Agency: The Politics of Feeding People / Craig J. Severence -- Dependence and Independence: Kapingamarangi Atoll and a Central Bougainville Community Compared / Michael P. Hamnett -- United States Policy in the South Pacific / William Bodde -- American Samoa--Gateway to Opportunity in the South Pacific / Frederick W. Rohlfing -- China as a Pacific Power / Michael R. Godley -- South Pacific Fisheries Politics / George Kent -- Media's Role in Pacific Islands Politics: A Roundtable Discussion / Thomas J. Brislin -- The Pacific and the Law of the Sea / Scott Allen -- Summary Remarks / Donald M. Topping
Understanding Gender Inequality Actions in the Pacific: Ethnographic Case-studies and Policy Options Final report
No full textGender equity is a key plank to European Commission activities and aid-funded initiatives and yet, despite many years of engagement achieving gender equity is many parts of the world remains a huge challenge. The Pacific island states are no exception and indeed here in strongly traditional and patriarchal societies there may be particular obstacles to overcome. Drawing on the empirical research of social anthropologists, policy consultants, a documentary film maker and law researchers this report offers insights into the social environment of gender in order to suggest practical steps that could be supported to advance gender equality in the regio
China as a Pacific Power
No full textConference paper for the 4th Annual Pacific Islands Studies Conference, "The Emerging Pacific Island States," 1979, UH-Mano
Tropical–North Pacific Climate Linkages over the Past Four Centuries
No full textAnalyses of instrumental data demonstrate robust linkages between decadal-scale North Pacific and tropical Indo-Pacific climatic variability. These linkages encompass common regime shifts, including the noteworthy 1976 transition in Pacific climate. However, information on Pacific decadal variability and the tropical high-latitude climate connection is limited prior to the twentieth century. Herein tree-ring analysis is employed to extend the understanding of North Pacific climatic variability and related tropical linkages over the past four centuries. To this end, a tree-ring reconstruction of the December–May North Pacific index (NPI)—an index of the atmospheric circulation related to the Aleutian low pressure cell—is presented (1600–1983). The NPI reconstruction shows evidence for the three regime shifts seen in the instrumental NPI data, and for seven events in prior centuries. It correlates significantly with both instrumental tropical climate indices and a coral-based reconstruction of an optimal tropical Indo-Pacific climate index, supporting evidence for a tropical–North Pacific link extending as far west as the western Indian Ocean. The coral-based reconstruction (1781–1993) shows the twentieth-century regime shifts evident in the instrumental NPI and instrumental tropical Indo-Pacific climate index, and three previous shifts. Changes in the strength of correlation between the reconstructions over time, and the different identified shifts in both series prior to the twentieth century, suggest a varying tropical influence on North Pacific climate, with greater influence in the twentieth century. One likely mechanism is the low-frequency variability of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its varying impact on Indo-Pacific climate
Between World Views: Nascent Pacific Tourism Enterprise in New Zealand
No full textThis thesis considers the dynamics of entrepreneurship at the 'pre-tourism' stage of tourism development. It is written from the point of view of potential tourism hosts, diasporan Pacific peoples resident in New Zealand.
The central question is 'that societal marginality can be a positive position from which to develop tourism enterprise and cultural product'. The author used a collaborative action approach (Lopez Potter, 2001) to respond to a community, rather than an academic agenda. The research question reflects the aspirations of the Waitakere Pacific Board (WPB), an organisation which advocates for and undertakes projects to move towards economic, social and cultural equality with the mainstream western population, on behalf of nine diasporan Pacific communities. It tacitly assumes that the nine 'Pacific' communities share common views and values and are all at a similar stage of integration or hegemony and that the WPB speaks on their behalf. It further assumes that Pacific ethnic communities in Waitakere are in fact marginalised and that they all wish to and are capable of initiating commercial enterprise and tourism product. Also, there is an expectation that non-Pacific peoples consume products and services that are based upon Pacific cultural knowledge and resources. But most importantly, assumes that tourism can be as viable in a diasporan New Zealand non-indigenous context as it is in the Islands today.
The core thesis is underpinned by three other questions. Specifically, what are the diasporan Pacific community's aspirations for tourism and cultural enterprise to support tourism? What factors enable or inhibit interaction at the interface between diasporan Pacific communities and tourism product/cultural enterprise? What happens at the interface between diasporan communities and consumers? Contemporary non-instrument navigation is used as a metaphor for the research voyage, the structure of the thesis, and each community's journey in diasporan social worlds
Talanoa research methodology: a developing position on pacific research.
No full textThis paper contributes to the theorising on Pacific research approaches from a personal and Tongan perspective. At the same time, it suggests that the majority of the thinking and concepts discussed have similarities and common implications for most other Pacific communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In the paper, I discuss the underpinnings of what constitutes ‘normality’ in relation to research approaches. In order to theorise an appropriate approach to researching Pacific educational and social issues in Aotearoa, I discuss the influence Pacific indigenous values have on the way New Zealand Pacific peoples see their worlds
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