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Kin and Gifts: Understanding the Kin-Based Politics of Solomon Islands — the Case of East Areare

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Kin and Gifts: Understanding the Kin-Based Politics of Solomon Islands — the Case of East Areare Kin and Gifts: Understanding the Kin-based Politics of Solomon Islands — The Case of East AreAre TONY HIRIASIA SSGM DISCUSSION PAPER 2016/4 Despite the claim that money and especially Rural core or base support of any candidate would be his/ Constituency Development Fund (RCDF) dis- her kin group and such support could be main- bursement have played a major role in influencing tained over successive elections, even without big political choices in the Solomon Islands national campaign budgets. parliamentary elections (Commonwealth Secre- The first part of the paper deals with models tariat 2014:3, 5; Cox 2015; Hague 2012; Haley and that have been used by scholars and researchers to Zubrinich 2015; Morgan 2005:4; Wood 2014a), discuss political behaviour in Solomon Islands and empirical evidence and election data suggest that the shortfalls associated with using these models to political alliances in some rural constituencies are describe the politics of the constituency. I also dis- based more on kin relationship rather than gift cuss the kin-based model and its appropriateness exchanges and RCDF disbursements. Although for understanding constituency politics in this sec- gifting has attracted a lot of attention in the discus- tion. The second part of the paper discusses social sions about politics and elections in the Solomon organisation and traditional gifting in East AreAre. Islands, it is kin relationship (more than anything The last part deals with the implications of kin- else) that forms the basis for political alliances in based social organisation for constituency politics the constituency politics. In the rural areas where in East AreAre and Solomon Islands more generally. social organisation is kin-based and institutions Theorising Solomon Islands Constituency Politics like the extended family or clan still play an impor- tant role in the lives of individuals, it is the social In discussing voting behaviour in Solomon Islands and biological bond between members and their constituency politics, scholars have used cultural, loyalty to these institutions that set the foundation rational or clientilist arguments to explain gifting for collective political action and allegiance. and political affiliation during elections. Although This paper is based on the work I did for my these approaches have some distinctive features, MA thesis and has used (beside election results) they also offer intertwining explanations and gener- data from the fieldwork I carried out in East ally agree on a correlation between benefits/incen- AreAre, Malaita Province, in 2013. I have also tives and voting behaviour. These models agree that relied on my knowledge of the region, its people voters are likely to support candidates who offer and culture to discuss social organisation and its benefits and incentives. influence on political affiliation and allegiance in Drawn from the field of economics, the ‘ration- the politics of the rural constituency. More gener- al choice theory’ views the exchange between can- ally, I have reinterpreted the correlation between didates and voters as equivalent to an economic gifting and voting behaviour using a kin-based activity, where voter decisions are benefit or gain- model. This model advances two arguments that oriented. Political actors are therefore seen as form the core of the paper. First, kin relationship choosing political relationships (making choices forms the basis for collective political actions and between candidates) that will ben- allegiance in rural constituency politics. Secondly, efit them the most. As Downs gifting when isolated from kin relationship does (1957:137) argues: ‘Every agent … not have the significant impact it is often accorded. undertakes only those actions for The kin-based model therefore contends that the which marginal return exceeds mar- State, Society & Governance in Melanesia ssgm.bellschool.anu.edu.au Tony Hiriasia ginal cost’. clientilism in electoral politics argues that: ‘patrons In using the rational choice argument to explain … stand for election and their clients vote for them gifting and voting behaviour in Solomon Islands, sometimes out of a sense of obligation and attach- proponents of ‘rational choice’ draw attention to the ment’ (2006:3). Voters therefore support individual economic hardships faced by voters (rather than candidates rather than political parties and, in irrational allegiance and mere adherence to cultural return, candidates furnish voters with private goods norms) as a major factor shaping voter choices rather than public ones. and alliances. For instance, Tobias Haque argues Finally, some scholars attribute aspects of the that voter behaviour (in Solomon Islands) ‘reflects gifting practice and voter behaviour in modern pol- the broader economic context’ where there is little itics to cultural practices assumed to be characteris- opportunity to earn money (2012:3). He maintains tic of traditional Melanesian leadership and culture that voters’ focus on short-term benefits cannot be (Morgan 2005:5; Wood 13/8/2012). This approach justified using a cultural explanation or attributing is common where scholars believe that aspects it to irrational loyalty. of the learnt culture of a society permeate mod- Likewise, some scholars have used a clientil- ern politics and governance structures. De Sousa ist framework to describe the voter tendency to (2008:7), for instance, argues that: ‘Cultural atti- support candidates who provide personal benefits tudes shape the normative environment in which or localised public goods. The clientilist theory clientilist practices take place’. derives from a medieval European phenomenon Supporters of the cultural thesis say that people that describes the relationship between landlords enter politics not as blank slates but are conditioned and tenants. The theory of clientilism has gained by the culture and society in which they grow up. popularity following a renewed interest in clientil- For the supporters of the cultural thesis, the learnt ist relationships and their impact on western-style attitudes and values will always transpose to other public institutions and processes in new democra- arenas of life and, in this case, to that of modern cies (Brinkerhoff and Goldsmith 2002:1; De Sousa politics (Anderson and Tverdova 2003:93; Kweit 2008:3). Similar clientilist relationships can also and Kweit 1981:61). be found in contemporary Latin American and The core argument of the cultural approach Asian countries. In Melanesia, the concept has been is tied to the traditional Melanesian Bigman phe- widely used to describe voter loyalty supposedly nomenon and its associated reciprocal culture. The influenced by the ability of candidates to offer per- model, made popular by Marshal Sahlins (1963), sonal benefits (and sometimes community goods) asserts that Melanesian traditional leaders attain to voters. In writing about Solomon Islands poli- authority by distributing wealth to followers, thus tics and elections, Wood (2015:3) says that: ‘voter earning their loyalty. Likewise, candidates and behaviour in Solomon Islands is strongly clientilist members of parliament (MPs) are seen as modern … in that voter behaviour is based around contin- Bigmen who maintain followers by giving them gent exchange’. He further argues that it is typical of gifts and incentives, and in return voters pledge Solomon Islands voters to support candidates they their support. In supporting the cultural argu- think will provide personal assistance and local ment, Michael Morgan (2005:4) writes that: ‘Most community support during their term in parlia- analyses of the state in Melanesia suggest that pre- ment (Wood 2014c). While the clientilist frame- existing social forms pervade the state at almost work also sees voter decisions as rational, this does every level’. Sinclair Dinnen (2008:57) also says not necessarily mean that voters make decisions that, in the case of Solomon Islands: ‘Skilful distri- based on maximum offers. bution of resources and manipulation of relation- In Melanesia, clientilism is also said to be ship by modern politicians are reminiscent of older intertwined with personal relationships/networks Melanesian leadership strategies’. Therefore, for the thus adding an individualised aspect to voting and supporters of the cultural thesis, culture will always political support. Jonathan Hopkin in discussing influence the way politics is done and the kind of SSGM2 Discussion Paper 2012/1 State, Society http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ssgm & Governance in Melanesia SSGM Discussion Paper 2016/4 democracy a country has (Lane and Errson 2005). the East AreAre constituency election petition case (Ha’apio v Hanaria [2011] SBHC 117; HCSI-CC 343 Undoing the theories of 2010 — 7 December 2011), witnesses confirmed Although the rational choice argument explains that gifts were retrieved from recipients when it some political relationships in Solomon Islands was established that they did not vote for the giver constituency politics, the theory cannot adequately (Andrew Hanaria Keniasina). Such incidents chal- describe the general behaviour of the voting popu- lenge the argument that gifts necessarily bring lation of a constituency. A rational approach seems about political loyalty and allegiance, as supported fine when applied to the relationship and exchanges by rational and clientilist approaches. between incumbent MPs or rich candidates and Of course this is not to suggest that all voters supporters. The rational argument falls short, how-
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