. ""

BOOK REVIEWS

Regrettably, only one chapter is The Political Economy ofSmall Tropi­ devoted to Western Samoa, the oldest cal Islands: The Importance ofBeing democracy in the island Pacific. Aiono Small, edited by Helen M. Hintjens Dr Fanaafi Le Tagaloa's essay focuses and Malyn D. D. Newitt. Exeter: Uni­ on matai chiefly authority. Because versity ofExeter Press, 1992. ISBN family decisions are made by consensus 0-85989-372-3, xxii + 247 pp, maps, and the matai is the family's chosen tables, figures, notes, bibliography, representative, Aiono views the index. UK£29.50. Samoan system as "a truly democratic system ofgovernment" (131). At the This book roams across the world of end ofthe chapter Aiono presents a small tropical islands, encompassing a fascinating insider's account ofSamoa's chapter on interisland shipping in Fiji switch to universal suffrage in 1990. and the Cook islands, a chapter on the Although positive about democracy as present and prospective economic situ­ a political model, she sees the change ation ofthe Federated States ofMicro­ as an unconstitutional ploy by the nesia, other chapters concerned with party in power to strengthen its posi­ various aspects of several island groups tion. in the Indian Ocean, two chapters that Another authoritative insider's view deal with Sao Tome and Principe in the ofdemocratization is provided by Gulf of Guinea, and still other chapters 'I. Futa Helu, who lucidly explains the on islands in the Caribbean. Given this prodemocracy movement in Tonga. variety, it seemed at first glance a good "Fourth World" Pacific peoples-the idea that all nine ofthe book's maps Maori and the Hawaiians-are also are grouped at the beginning for easy represented in the collection. John reference; however, the egregious Henderson evaluates the underrepre­ errors on some ofthe maps get the sentation ofPacific Islanders in the book off to a bad start. To mention New Zealand electoral system, and only some: Palau (Belau) is shown as William Tagupa analyzes Hawai'i's one ofthe Federated States ofMicrone­ political economy. Tagupa's candid sia; Bougainville is included in Solo­ critique ofHawai'i's incestuous politi­ mon Islands; the boundary between cal culture will ring true to local resi­ Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya is dents. As a final point, the book is omitted; the map coordinates shown badly in need ofcareful proofreading on the map of Micronesia are so and copyediting-a flaw that, in this grossly wrong that, for instance, rather reviewer's experience, is unfortunately than being in the southern hemisphere, common in uSP books. Nauru is shown to be located at 5 lOCELYN LINNEKIN degrees north and too far west by 25 University ofHawai'i at Manoa degrees of longitude. On the map of the Caribbean, the cartographer fol­ *** lowed the tradition ofmost tourist maps in omitting the name ofthe largely beachless island ofDominica, though it is mentioned several times in MWM1Ui\Wit'@M&MHfJ"'MiMiEtiiWiiieW' *paP'AFhSA =

THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1994

the text. The names of Trinidad and Connell and Robert AldIich of the bits Tobago also got left off, but there is a and pieces of territory that remain cryptic "Cayman" stuck in about the legally tied to European countries. In right place. Most geographically gro­ his erudite and entertaining contribu­ tesque, even if politically symbolic, is tion, Lowenthal romps through the the placement ofthe equator between geographic and conceptual world of Florida and Cuba. islandness, arguing that islands are Once past the botched cartography, special and different, apt to suffer from the standard improves (although sev­ outsiders' stereotypes and externally eral misspellings could be noted). Most generated ventures. The survival of of the book's thirteen chapters were island societies, he concludes, depends first presented as papers at a confer­ on "islanders' active involvement in ence on the Political Economy of Small their own affairs, and the recognition Tropical Islands held at Exeter Univer­ oftheir special character and needs by sity in 1989. Malyn Newitt's introduc­ mainland powers" (28-29). Connell's tion states the book's objectives and and Aldrich's deftly comprehensive seeks to establish unifying themes. One listing and examination ofpresently objective is to construct a wide com­ extant overseas territories serves the parative dimension for small-island book well, providing details about the studies, including a deliberate focus on exact status of"the confetti ofempire," lesser-known former or present French a clarification I turned to many times and Portuguese island groups rather while reading other chapters. In their than on the better known British ones. chapter, which is a truncated summary Certainly the comparisons are interest­ oftheir forthcoming book The Last ing, and readers who know the Pacific Colonies (Cambridge University Islands will find constant echoes of Press), Connell and Aldrich also raise familiar tensions and issues in the several general questions about the book's coverage of small islands else­ continued existence ofthese posses­ where. Themes that occur frequently sions, concluding that "their diversity include the difference between France's precludes definitive statements that reluctance to separate from its overseas link their political past, present, and islands and Britain's hurry to do so future" (39). during the past decades ofdecoloniza­ Two chapters-Marlow's "Consti­ tion, the vulnerability of small islands tutional Change, External Assistance if they do not have a metropolitan and Economic Development in Small patron in international affairs, and the Islands: The Case of Montserrat," and credibility ofthe case for full indepen­ Constant's more sociologically theoret­ dence for all remaining island colonies ical "Alternative Forms ofDecoloniza­ or dominions. tion in the East Caribbean: The Com­ Following the introduction, all the parative Politics of the Non-sovereign chapters are case studies ofparticular Islands"-suggest that for remaining island groups, except for David Caribbean colonies "decolonization Lowenthal's general overview ofsmall isn't what it used to be" (61). That is, tropical islands and a survey by John the mode ofdecolonization is changing BOOK REVIEWS

and, though formal independence may economic insecurity and compelled seem the "natural" path for remnants them to face the future without any of ofempire, it can no longer be assumed the technical expertise necessary to that such a course will increase or operate a modern state" (82). Newitt widen development options. As alter­ traces the disordered postindependence natives, both authors argue for the political history of the Comoros and possibility of some sort ofcontinued the somewhat greater stability of Sao allegiance to the former colonial pow­ Tome and Principe, noting that "going ers in combination with further ven­ it alone" is a hazardous policy for such tures into regional cooperation among frail and poorly equipped states (90). Caribbean islands. Pinto da Costa's chapter provides fur­ In her chapter "France's Love Chil­ ther details on the colonial economic dren? The French Overseas Depart­ history ofSao Tome and Principe and ments," Hintjens employs the meta­ on the islands' plantation economy phors of family life to explicate the today. His analysis of an alternative contradictory relations ofMartinique development policy concludes that and Guadeloupe with France. This "external support is the essential ingre­ tactic, which would apply as usefully dient in the economic survival ofSao to the French Pacific as it does to the Tome and Principe" (I22). Caribbean, succeeds in illuminating the Houbert further contrasts French complex and paradoxical swirl ofpride and British approaches to colonization in "Frenchness," alienation, centrism, and decolonization in the light ofgeo­ pro-autonomism, generous paternal­ strategic considerations (including ism, equality, cultural approbation, those ofthe United States) in the Indian and contemptuous neglect that Ocean. Somewhat opaque, the chapter bemuses anglophone observers of nonetheless usefully clarifies the com­ French overseas territories or depart­ plex histories ofthe Seychelles, the ments. Chagos Archipelago, and the Masca­ In "The Perils of Being a Micro­ reignes (Mauritius, Reunion, and state," Newitt examines the experi­ Rodrigues-with the label Masca­ ences oftwo island microstates that reignes (or Mascarenes) left off the became independent in I975: the Com­ map. Houbert sees all these island oros Islands in the Mozambique Chan­ groups as part of a "New World" in nel and Sao Tome and Principe in the that they were uninhabited prior to Gulf ofGuinea. With a plantation past European colonization. His particular based on introduced labor from main­ focus is on France's effort to become a land Africa, both now rely heavily on nation-state in the Indian Ocean by food imports. They also endure diffi­ transforming Reunion into an integral culties related to land, population part of the French national self, a growth, emigration, economies of "decolonization through Departmen­ scale, and transport. Their indepen­ talisation" (I03). dence in I975 (Comoros from France, Faber turns to contemporary eco­ Sao Tome and Principe from Portugal) nomics in an Indian Ocean state in plunged both countries "into desperate "Micro-states, Increasing Integration we rrmmmrrvwn·""c...... '....··m=

49° THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. FALL 1994 and Awkward Imperatives ofAdjust­ convincingly that islands are different ment: The Case ofthe Republic ofthe from remote continental settlements. Maldives." His discussion eerily rever­ For one thing, it is more difficult "to berates with similarities to the Pacific, close down an island if it is uneco­ as he describes a small open economy nomic" (201). He makes worthwhile dependent on tuna fishing, tourism, points about the political and social and international shipping; a country imperatives that override economic whose increasing population is rationality when it comes to providing fragmented over many islands; a popu­ transport in island nations, though his lation overconcentrated in the capital discussion ofFiji would have gained causing, along with other problems, from including reference to the "pam­ pollution ofthe freshwater lens; men peredperiphery," as discussed in leaving their home islands to work on T. Bayliss-Smith and others' Islands, merchant ships; government attempts Islanders and the World (1988, Cam­ to spread the benefits ofgrowth to bridge University Press). His chapter peripheral areas; a low multiplier effect would also have benefited from careful from tourism; imports exceeding editing of both text and maps (Puka­ exports; garment manufacture based in puka iri the northern Cook Islands has part on a quota for woolen goods into gone unlabeled, like Dominica and the US and Canadian markets; and so other missing Caribbean islands). forth. Faber's story has a happy end­ The only other chapter directly ing, at least for orthodox economists, focused on the Pacific is John in that past failures ofeconomic plan­ Cameron's "The Federated States of ning and financial control in the Micronesia: Is There a Pacific Way to Maldives have recently been corrected Avoid a Mirab Society?" Cameron by a series of stern measures. provides a useful depiction ofthe char­ Turning to transport, Titchener's acteristics ofthe Federated States of chapter, "The Role of Transportation Micronesia, followed by a somewhat in the Trade Patterns ofthe Lesser doctrinaire analysis ofthe opposition Antilles," discusses the ever-present between "the Pacific Way" and a MlRAB island issue ofmaintaining adequate, future. His idiosyncratic definitions affordable transportation. Recognizing point to "the Pacific Way" as a dated the chicken-and-egg predicament of form oflocal, self-reliant, small-scale, small islands lacking sufficient trade appropriate development, and to volume to justify regular services, he MlRAB as implying large-scale export hypothesizes that regular direct cargo production as well as the migration, liner services will stimulate trade (182). remittances, aid, and bureaucracy that The other chapter directly concerned form the acronym. The conclusion to with transport is "Problems of Inter­ his chapter does succinctly sum up the island Shipping in Archipelagic Small perplexing set offactors that will influ­ Island Countries: Fiji and the Cook ence the future ofthe country's politi­ Islands," by David Hamilton-Jones, cal economy. who places his analysis in a core­ Whether or not the sum ofthe periphery framework while arguing book's chapters "amounts to something BOOK REVIEWS 49 1 rather more than just a collection of There were 132 participants, and 49 of micro-monographs about micro­ the papers are reproduced here, with a societies" (1) will depend on how much further 2 listed by title or abstract only, thought each reader puts into an inte­ and "available from the author." The grating process. The two chapters on volume was sent to press barely three the Pacific deal with significant topics, months after the conference, with only and students of the Pacific could bene­ perfunctory editing, and with the edi­ fit by learning more about what has tor's hopes that "the content ofthe been and is happening in other small­ papers will more than compensate for island regions of the world. Beyond editorial blues and imperfections in that, the full significance ofthe union presentation." of"islandness" and "smallness" Well, maybe. It depends on what remains elusive. The whole book sup­ you are looking for. This is not a ports the view suggested by Connell tightly constructed academic volume, and Aldrich that despite the many and makes little pretense of being one. striking similarities among small It is the record of a university happen­ islands and island groups all around ing, one that was, moreover, shot the globe, the destiny ofeach much through with the contemporary politics depends on its own, always unique, oftertiary education in New Zealand, geography, history, and society. where declining government funds and

WILLIAM C. CLARKE an emphasis on "relevance" and quanti­ Macmillan Brown Centre for fiable "outcomes" have led to new Pacific Studies kinds ofcompetition. The papers vary greatly in length, quality, and subject ** matter, and by no means all ofthem deal with "development that works." Development that Works! Lessons The title, it turns out, simply reflects from Asia-Pacific, edited by A. Crosbie the decision of a conference planning Walsh. Development Studies Mono­ committee to emphasize the successes graph 3. Palmerston North: Massey ofdevelopment initiatives; those University, 1993. ISBN 0114-8834, xii papers that describe abject failures + 258 pp, maps, figures, tables, notes, have been embraced willy-nilly for appendixes, bibliography. Paper, their "constructive spirit" and good NZ$29.50; US$4o.00 (both prices intentions. include postage). Twenty-two of the papers are by academics, most of them from Massey This exceedingly busy and curiously University. Six were written by gradu­ titled volume is based on the papers ate students, and a further three by given at a three-day conference held at consultants, with the remainder com­ Massey University, Palmerston North, ing from nongovernment organizations New Zealand, in August 1992. As the and government departments. running footers on every page pro­ Although somewhat less than half are claim, this was "New Zealand's first substantially concerned with the Development Studies Conference." Pacific rather than with Asia, I shall