Australia's Arc of Instability: The Political and Cultural Dynamics of Regional Security

333 Pages·2006·2.06 MB·English

by  Dennis Rumley

Australia’s Arc of Instability
The GeoJournal Library
Volume 82
Managing Editor: Max Barlow, Concordia University,
Montreal, Canada
Founding Series Editor:
Wolf Tietze, Helmstedt, Germany
Editorial Board: Paul Claval, France
Yehuda Gradus, Israel
Sam Ock Park, South Korea
Herman van der Wusten, The Netherlands
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
Australia’s Arc of Instability
The Political and Cultural Dynamics
of Regional Security
Edited by
DENNIS RUMLEY
University of Western Australia,
Perth, Australia
VIVIAN LOUIS FORBES
University of Western Australia and
Curtin University of Technology,
Perth, Australia
and
CHRISTOPHER GRIFFIN
Edith Cowan University,
Perth, Australia
A C.I.P.Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN-10 1-4020-3825-9 (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3825-9 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-3826-7 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3826-6 (e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O.Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
©2006 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
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use by the purchaser of the work.
Printed in the Netherlands.
For our families
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Figures ix
Tables xi
Contributors xiii
Preface xix
Introduction: Australia and the Arc of Instability 1
Editors
1. The Emergence of Australia’s Arc of Instability 11
Dennis Rumley
2. Australia’s Maritime Space: Conflict and Cooperation 23
Vivian Louis Forbes
3. Australia’s Unauthorized Arrivals: Security Threat or Moral
Responsibility? 49
Trudy Hoad
4. Christmas Island: Remote No More 69
Ee Tiang Heng and Vivian Louis Forbes
5. Indonesia and the Arc of Instability 83
Bilveer Singh
6. East Timor in the Arc of Instability 101
James Dunn
7. West Papua: Indonesia’s 26th Province or Australia’s New Neighbor? 111
Keith Suter
8. Discontents of Daily Life in the South Pacific 129
William C. Clarke
9. Papua New Guinea: Disorderly Democracy or Dysfunctional State? 151
Ron May
10. Solomon Islands: Unity in Diversity – the End of a Dream? 171
Trevor H. B. Sofield
11. Nauru in the Arc of Instability: Too Many Degrees of Freedom? 199
Richard Herr and Donald Potter
12. Vanuatu 2001–2004: Political Will and the Containment of Unrest 215
Michael Morgan
13. The French Geopolitical Project in New Caledonia 229
Dennis Rumley
14. Unity, Identity, Nation Building: Challenges to Fijian Leadership 247
Christopher Griffin
vii
viii TABLEOFCONTENTS
15. Rock of Ages: Tension Underlying Stability in Tonga 271
I. C. Campbell
16. Samoa: Australia’s Pacific Success Story? 287
Penelope Schoeffel and Malama Meleisea
Conclusion: Future Prospects and Possibilities 303
Editors
Index 319
FIGURES
1 Australia and its region 2
2.1 Australia’s maritime jurisdiction 24
3.1 Illegal entry into Australia by boat: 1995 to July 2003 51
4.1 Christmas Island 71
5.1 Provinces of Indonesia 86
6.1 Timor island 102
7.1 West Papua 112
8.1 Australia’s Neighbours 130
9.1 Provinces of Papua New Guinea 153
10.1 Solomon Islands 172
11.1 Nauru 200
12.1 Vanuatu 216
13.1 New Caledonia 231
13.2 The demographic structure of New Caledonia, 1891–1996 236
14.1 Fiji 250
15.1 Tonga 273
16.1 Samoa 288
17.1 Delimited Maritime Boundaries 313
ix
TABLES
1 Arc of instability case studies 3
3.1 Summary of unauthorized boat arrivals 1989–2003 52
3.2 Per capita intake of asylum seekers in selected western 53
countries 1998–1999
3.3 Recognition rates of asylum seekers 1991–1999 53
5.1 Typology of conflicts in Indonesia 87
8.1 Melanesian population change 134
8.2 Melanesian urbanization 135
13.1 Provincial socio-economic indicators 1996 238
xi