Conference presentation - Changing Patterns of Security Governance - 13-15 Sept 2016

Regional security has always meant different things to different people. Recent damaging cyclones in Vanuatu and in Fiji have underlined the vulnerability—and yet also the resilience—of small Pacific island countries; much of the region’s rhetoric on climate change also asserts the region’s vulnerability as a primary consideration. Recent focus on the growth of the private security sector in the Pacific has underlined gaps in national and regional governance frameworks. Australia’s latest Defence White Paper, released in March 2016, has re-asserted Australia’s claim to be the region’s principal security partner; Australia’s new Pacific Maritime Security Initiative is a major new commitment. Even so, ‘nontraditional’ players remain active—and perhaps increasingly so—in the region. How effectively are governments in the region responding to new and emerging security challenges and do existing regional processes, such as the Biketawa Declaration and the Forum Regional Security Committee, remain fit-for-purpose?