Local Government and Politics

Abstract

This chapter explores the perspective that the process of ‘downward institutionalisation’, which brings state systems into rural areas, and incorporates the local into larger national political frames of reference, is entangled with a reciprocal process of ‘upward colonisation’ of state systems by local political practices, expectations and meanings. It provides a glimpse of the diversity with which local politics and government is interpreted and practised in Melanesia. Government in Melanesia has become locally adopted and institutionalised in multiple and sometimes contrasting ways that speak to both the varied colonial history and the cultural diversity of the region. Government as a domain has typically been regarded as male, and women and their organisations are often excluded from overt political power. In Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, members of parliament have access to discretionary development funds, which frequently are spent on their own alliances and exchange partners.