A STUDY OF POLITICAL PROCESSES IN A SMALL TOWN.

This article analyzes the political activity that takes place in Labasa, a town located on the North coast of Vanua Levu which is the second biggest island in the Fiji group, as of 1968. The composition of Labasa's population is multiracial. Of the town's 3400 people, roughly 68% are Indians, 15% are Fijians, 9% are part-Europeans, 5% are Europeans and 3% are Chinese. In a wider context, being part of the nation, Labasa contributes its own share in making and maintaining the law of the country. The activities of formal legislative bodies and the associated leadership and parties are one set of foci through which the political processes can be understood. However, within the microcosm of the settlement, leadership, factions, and cliques associated with voluntary clubs and socio-religious organizations, provide miniature fields for a similar kind of political activity. Labasa is not a separate political entity in itself. It is related to the regional and Fiji-wide political system. However, there are four different contexts of political activities, and their degree of self-sufficiency as well as their dependence on the larger network of the political system as a whole varies in each case.