Public Enterprise Reform in Fiji Islands

Reforming the public sector has been on the agenda of nations throughout the world since the late 1970s. Fiji is no exception. It has embarked on reforming its commercial and industrial enterprises since the late 1980s. The government of Fiji has reformed most of its enterprises with an avowed objective of enhancing profitability, productivity, efficiency and accountability. This paper makes an attempt to share some of the experiences of public enterprise reform process in Fiji. It aims to analyze the background, process, contents and impact of the reform and examine the factors impeding the reform program. It highlights that (a) both internal and external factors were responsible for introducing reforms; (b) the reform efforts have not been able to produce desired results; (c) the structural inadequacies in institutions and organizations have created bottlenecks in the reform process; and (d) uncertainty in the political sphere has contributed further to policy shifts.     

The economic impact of prolonged political instability: a case study of Fiji

It has been long believed that prolonged political instability harms economic growth and development. This paper contributes to this growing empirical literature by studying the case in Fiji, which has faced a long period of political instability caused by a series of coups, military administrations and frequent changes in government since 1987. The impact of political instability on growth is hard to identify empirically because the counterfactual is unobserved and it is difficult to find valid comparisons. To solve this problem, we use the recently developed Synthetic Control Method to construct a counterfactual (or synthetic Fiji) that predicts the growth of a politically stable Fiji. The difference in per capita growth trajectories of the synthetic and the actual Fiji can thus be attributed as the impacts of political instability. Our findings show that the political instability caused by a series of coups since 1987 has indeed led Fiji onto a lower growth path, and that the accumulated effect is getting larger.     

Young people’s participation in Fiji: understanding conceptualizations and experiences

Young people’s participation has become a cliché in western democracies. In the case of Fiji, it is a novel concept, not because young people have not participated before but because they are exposed to new and different ways of involvement. This paper is one of the earliest attempts to explore young people’s understanding and experiences of participation in Fiji. It is based on data drawn from an exploratory study conducted with a select group of young people in Suva, Fiji. Forms of young people’s engagement although diverse are dominated by the traditional discourse of participation represented in ‘performance and responsibility’ and tend to be represented in the media and policy circles. This paper shows that young people are not bound by these conceptions but talk of participation as experienced in the hybridized settings of their everyday reality. The study offers a window into understanding young people’s participation in Fiji and suggests that a deeper appreciation of this facet of their lives can be achieved with an emphasis on participatory talk with and an exploration of spaces where young people are constantly negotiating the traditional expectations of being young, being dutiful citizens and self-directed individuals.     

A national pride or a colonial construct? Touristic representation and the politics of Fijian identity construction

Identity research in the Pacific region has been dominated in the past by discussions of reconstruction and mobilisation of symbols of cultural tradition as a medium of anti-colonial resistance and nationalism. The present article proposes to widen the scope of this literature by exploring mass tourism as a contested field of collective identification. It outlines the historical making of the colonial and post-colonial imagery of indigenous Fijians and its subsequent reification and essentialisation in the context of twentieth-century mass tourism. It further highlights the implication of this process in colonial, anti-colonial and post-independence national politics, in which indigenous Fijians have been variously located: the imagery has been claimed by Western colonialism, transnational corporate capitalism, ethno-nationalism, and counter-hegemony. The article illustrates that collective identity construction is not political in a uni-dimensional manner but constitutes a dynamic arena of ongoing ‘cultural battle’ where multiple power relations unfold simultaneously.     

中国开展南太平洋岛国公共外交的动因及现状评析

公共外交是全球化时代塑造国家形象、增强国家软实力的重要途径。基于中国建设海洋强国战略的实施、经济可持续发展以及与台湾当局"外交"博弈的需要,中国亟须获得南太平洋岛国民众对中国的理解、信任和支持,增强中国在南太平洋地区的影响力。近年来,中国通过文化外交、华侨华人外交、援助外交等公共外交项目的开展,在南太平洋岛国的影响力有所增强。本文认为,由于大国竞争性公共外交的影响,中国在南太平洋岛国的影响力和感召力仍显不足,应秉承"和平、合作、和谐"的外交理念,继续拓展外交空间。     

The façade of consultancy in the Fiji public service

In any common definition consultancy entails the provision of advice to improve the status quo. This paper examines the notion of consultancy in the Fiji public service and highlights the consultancy qualities and their contextual application in Fiji's case. The examination of the role of internal consultancy necessitates a discussion of the general framework of Fiji's political system, in particular the decision-making process, and the cultural values and practices dominant in the public service. The contemporary notion of political neutrality of the public service requires that civil servants are endowed with the qualities of ‘disinterestedness’. The character of the public service is, therefore, emphasised as ‘precise, soulless and machine-like’. This, however, is difficult to achieve in a society divided in two along ethnic lines. The paper argues that while civil servants carry out consultancy functions they are not recognised as such and the boundary between consultancy and project management is blurred by the job and work environment in the public service.     

种族问题与斐济政治现代化

种族问题并非导致斐济政治现代化困境的根本原因。斐济东部酋长制为联盟党的寡头政治提供了牢固的政治合法性,成为阻碍斐济政治现代化的绊脚石。只有民主政治能取得稳固的合法性根基,斐济政治现代化才能最终实现。     

斐济的民族主义与种族冲突——1987年斐济军事政变的起因分析

由于历史原因和英国殖民统治时期的"分而治之"政策,斐济国内两大种族之间的矛盾和冲突十分尖锐,最终导致了1987年的两次军事政变。个中缘由众多,但在笔者看来,"二战"后民族主义的勃兴以及两大种族之间长期以来的矛盾与冲突,是造成该国政治冲突的根本原因。斐济应摒弃对土著斐济人优越地位的维护,放弃简单的二分法,加快民主进程,重新定义"斐济人"的概念,以缓解政治冲突。