Concerns for the neighbours (and some others): international involvement in the conflicts in the Southern Philippines and West Papua

Abstract

ABSTRACT Focusing on the conflicts in the Southern Philippines and West Papua, this article uses a framework developed from the literature on the internationalisation of ethnic conflict to suggest insights into international involvement in both conflicts. In both cases there are succinct overviews of the relevant general background to the conflict, and international involvement in particular, followed by a characterisation in terms of typological features that covers motives for involvement, objectives, means of involvement, and impact. Insights into international involvement in the two conflicts can suggest ways in which aspects of the general literature might be developed further, but two cases are insufficient to develop more broad ranging generalisations. A key insight is the way in which specifically political factors can affect the way in which motives for involvement manifest themselves, the significance of Sabah politics in relation to Malaysian involvement in the Southern Philippines, and West Papuan lobbying in the Melanesian countries being cases in point.