Solomon Islands: From uprising to intervention

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    There is nothing new about organized political violence in Solomon Islands, an independent archipelagic nation of around half a million people in the South West Pacific. There, and elsewhere in the geographical and cultural area known as Island Melanesia, violent conflict formed an intrinsic part of the pre-colonial social and spiritual milieu, and the boundaries between ‘war’ and ‘peace’ have continued to be blurry. In a story replicated across the region, endemic patterns of traditional warfare faded in the face of colonial pacification, which was itself a frequently violent encounter. The hegemony of the British was resisted to varying extents in different parts of the islands, most famously on the densely populated island of Malaita, where the post-World War II Maasina Rule Movement united the island’s hitherto fragmented population under the banner of anti-colonialism. The post-colonial period has also seen periods of collective violence, most notably in the episodes of rioting, looting and ‘ethnic tensions’ that took place in the nation’s capital, Honiara, in 1989 and again in 1996.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDiminishing Conflicts in Asia and the Pacific: Why some subside and others don't
    Editors Edward Aspinall, Robin Jeffrey and Anthony J Regan
    Place of PublicationAbingdon and New York
    PublisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group
    Pages69-84
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9780415670319
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

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