Politics in the Fiji Islands is characterised by competitive processes that draw on and reshape ethnic cleavages. Indigenous Fijians and Indian indentured labourers were incorporated separately into the colonial state and political economy under British rule. Institutionalised ethnic divisions were not significantly restructured during Fiji's negotiated independence in 1970. In the process of building a national polity, these institutions embody a tension, being both a means to integrate ethnic groups into the state and a means to perpetuate ethnic cleavages. Throughout the Twentieth Century, ideologies of Indigenous paramountcy and individual equality have competed in Fiji's political dialogue. They represent different conceptions of political rights for ethnic groups and individuals; differences not yet resolved into a conception of common national citizenship with wide acceptance. The ideology of paramountcy and its ostensible incompatibility with equality has structured the rhetorical shape of military and civilian coups overthrowing democracy in 1987 and 2000. This political instability has severely impeded Fiji's social, political and economic development. This thesis focuses on contests between ideologies of Indigenous paramountcy and individual equality in political dialogue in Fiji. It asks whether the concepts are necessarily incompatible. In showing that they are not, it seeks mutual ground on which to base a conception of shared citizenship of an inclusive national polity. This search invokes the idea that the centrality of paramountcy and equality to existing political identities means political inclusiveness may be better achieved by building on these concepts, rather than dismissing either. The thesis argues that notions of paramountcy and equality contain the potential for an inclusive national polity that respects all its citizens and is attuned to the importance of protecting Indigenous culture and socio-economic wellbeing. Although many political actors in Fiji share this vision, ethnic polarisation in the wake of the 2000 coup enabled extremism to triumph in the 2001 national elections. The thesis draws its analysis from this election campaign, as an intensified debate on paramountcy and equality. It emphasises the inter-connections between political dialogue and historical, cultural and socio-economic contexts. In particular, the state threatens to impede social forces towards political inclusiveness. Its increasing role in advancing individual economic and political opportunities according to ethnic membership is fostering an Indigenous middle and elite class reliant on and promoting values of Indigenous privilege and political exclusion.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford in its series QEH Working Papers with number
qehwps90.
Length: Date of creation: Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:qeh:qehwps:qehwps90
Contact details of provider: Postal: Queen Elizabeth House 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB United Kingdom Phone: +44 (1865) 281800 Fax: +44 (1865) 281801 Email: Web page: http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Rachel Crawford).
Related research
Keywords:
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: