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The article provides an overview of the political, economic, and social conditions in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2017. Topics covered include peacekeeping efforts to end the conflict that begin in the 1980s over the Panguna gold and copper mine, independence referendums, and the activism of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG).

Sorcery in Buka, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, is understood as reprehensible in most present contexts, but it is also believed to have once played a constructive role in maintaining social order. This mytheme is important both to the analysis of how traditional systems of sorcery come to be rearticulated in postcolonial contexts, and as a means of understanding how villagers conceptualise social order itself. Here, an analysis of the selective means by which vernacular forms of sorcery are assimilated to the Tok Pisin term poisen is presented together with an examination of the history of institutions of social control in which sorcery is remembered - and forgotten - to have played key roles. In the past, sorcery would have been gavman blong peles, a 'village government', a power over and from people, accumulated by the hierarchical integration of lineages within houses known as tsuhana. Sorcery has been privatized and commodified, slipping out of control of traditional authorities, who now pursue a strategy of achieving power over land. Power from people entails, in the Buka context, sorcery or other forms of internalised violence; power over land entails the assertion exclusivist genealogical claims. The pursuit of such claims is mediated by courts, and frequently creates rifts in communities. Sorcery, once freed from its role as government, returns to haunt traditional authorities as the spectre of their former power, and as the spectre of resistance to their current power: to the extent that they emphasize the historical role of poisen, the more they are suspected of it; imagined as the anarchy of jealousies, poisen multiplies in proportion to their success in parlaying forms of traditional authority into economic and political advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the study and practice of political reconciliation has experienced a turn to hybridity. This turn has been defined by the increased rate at which liberal international and local peacebuilding practices, and their underlying ideas, have become merged, integrated or co-located in time and space. While hybrid approaches to reconciliation have been praised as an effective means of engaging local populations in peacebuilding operations, little attention has been paid to examining whether or not they also bring unintended negative consequences. Drawing on the cases of Timor Leste, Solomon Islands and Bougainville, this article examines the potentially dark side of hybridity. It demonstrates that, in each of these cases, hybrid approaches to political reconciliation have brought both positive and negative consequences. On the positive side of the equation, hybridity has seen imported international approaches to reconciliation adapted to meet local demands and ensure resonance with local populations. On the negative side, however, the misappropriation and instrumentalisation of local practices within hybrid approaches has served to damage their legitimacy and to jeopardise their contributions to reconciliation. The article thus concludes that the existence and extent of this dark side necessitates a re-evaluation of how hybrid approaches to political reconciliation are planned and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Melanesian communities face difficulties both because of the withdrawal of government services and the continued influence of clientelism within the politics of the distributive state. A notable reaction to both these problems is the organisation of a broad class of groups that may be termed 'parastatal': informal organisations, often evanescent, which form around the state and its absence. These may often appear as 'mimetic' of recognisable state forms. Characteristically, the analysis of such 'mimesis' in Melanesia is framed by doubt that the emulation of state forms extends to the alleged rationality or 'interiority' of the state. Here, a case in which villagers in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville undertook to prosecute themselves for non-payment of school fees is discussed in order to expose the substantial difficulties with understanding parastatal organisation in terms of 'copying'. The case suggests integration of the villagers into the actually existing state system is much deeper than is often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property insecurity of non-elites can be compatible with or even enhance economic growth, but it also encourages conflict—which can undermine long-term growth and economic development. Using a new set of indicators which measure the property insecurity of marginalized ethno-cultural minority groups, this article demonstrates that the severity of property insecurity for the worst-off group in a country is strongly associated with the onset of armed conflict, and—once civil war is controlled for—property insecurity for marginalized minorities corresponds with higher growth rates. Economic growth can occur when the property rights of elites are secure but marginalized minorities face a high risk of expropriation, as land may be reallocated into the hands of investors with skills and access to capital. However, the potentially growth-enhancing effect of forced displacement and resettlement is reduced, because the property insecurity of minorities also increases the likelihood of armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The island states of the Pacific region are at the bottom of the international league table for the representation of women in parliament. Despite considerable efforts by international agencies and donor governments and by women of the region, progress on increasing representation is extraordinarily slow. Three major explanations for these low levels of representation can be identified. The most common explanation relates to cultural beliefs, while a second account locates the problem in women's socio-economic status. The third explanation argues that there are obstacles for women in the electoral and parliamentary institutions that warrant the introduction of legislated minimum representation of women. Each of these explanations contributes value to our understanding but each also has significant deficiencies, which are identified in the article. 就议会的妇女代表性而论，太平洋地区的岛屿国家可谓国际圆桌会议的垫底。尽管有国际机构和捐助国以及该地区女性的坚持不懈，提高妇女代表性的进展格外缓慢。对于这种低水平的代表性可以有三种解释。最常见的解释与文化观念有关，第二种强调妇女的社会经济地位。第三种解释认为，选举以及议会体制中存在一些障碍，使得妇女的代表性在立法上被最小化。三种解释都有助于我们对问题的理解，但它们又都存在着本文所指出的重要缺陷。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralisation may play a role in building new and post-conflict states; where liberal state institutions are often built before a transition from local to state-level modes of political organisation has occurred. Decentralisation can provide space to recognise local sociopolitical institutions via a ‘liberal–local hybrid’, which may assist state-building. This article draws on case studies of Timor-Leste and Bougainville to argue that decentralisation to liberal–local hybrid institutions can play a positive role in state-building by enhancing the effectiveness and legitimacy of the state. This article concludes by identifying generalisable insights concerning how decentralisation to liberal–local hybrid institutions should be implemented during state-building. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been an increasing attempt to theorise the emergence of a liberal-local hybrid approach to state-building, which recognises the coexistence and interaction of liberal and local socio-political institutions. There has not yet been a sustained attempt to understand what occurs when a liberal-local approach is adopted from the outset of a state-building operation. This article seeks to fill this gap by applying the literature to the state-building process in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although there are appeals for more analysis of peacekeeping activity they may be missing a fundamental point. Each peacekeeping operation may be so distinct as to lead to a conclusion that the focus of any analysis should be on the environment in which the operation takes place, rather than on peacekeeping as such. The continuing operation in Bougainvilie. Papua New Guinea, has been successful to a significant degree precisely because the protagonists and planners considered the `Pacific Way' to be the most important variable, rather than any particular `peacekeeping'-related need. It may not be possible to generalize the processes used in Bougainvilie in relation to other peacekeeping operations but they do suggest that thorough analysis and careful, coordinated implementation pay high dividends. To this extent, the lessons of the `Pacific Way' in peacekeeping may be relevant to other operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summarizes the issues and events in Papua New Guinea in the year 2000. Efforts in rebuilding economic integrity; Search for political stability; Negotiation regarding the political status of Bougainville.

Examines the complexities of the Bougainville/Papua New Guinea succession case. Competing sets of claims by Bougainville's secessionist leaders and successive Papua New Guinean governments; Five common bases on which political separation is respectively advocated and repudiated; Ways in which the injustices underlying Bougainvillean successionist claims may be addressed.

Discusses the commercial interests in the Bougainville strait between Papua New Guinea and the Western Solomon Islands during the mid-19th century. Importance of the strait as a major labor reserve for plantations; Colonial rivalry between Germany and Britain; Collaboration between European traders and local chiefs to exploit political connections.

Discusses Papua New Guinea's Bougainville insurrection as an example of the lack of experience and vulnerability of a contemporary small state. Frustrations surfacing as occasional unrest; Economic problems; International intervention; Issues underlying lasting settlement.

Presents an abstract of the report titled `Report of the Papua New Guinea Government on the Staging of the Bougainville Peace Conference and the Introduction of the South Pacific Regional Peacekeeping Force,' by the Planning Cell of the Task Force on Pasifik Pis. Causes of the crisis; Creation of the peacekeeping force to provide security during the negotiations.