Samoan Villages and the MIRAB Model: Four case studies

Abstract

In 1965-67 Brian Lockwood documented the socioeconomic circumstances of four Samoan villages (Poutasi, Uafato, Utuali’i and Taga), In this paper I present the results of studies of those four villages in 2018-2019 that show the trajectory of mainly subsistence to mainly commercial agriculture expected by Lockwood and others in the period following Samoa’s Independence in 1962 has not occurred, and suggest that the processes of change and the similarities between the case study villages may be explained with reference to the MIRAB model first articulated in 1984 by Bertram and Watters. The MIRAB model of development proposes that, the interacting characteristics of small Pacific Islands of migration (MI), remittances (R), aid (A) and state generated employment (bureaucracies ‘B’) created a “perfectly sustainable strategy” for most Pacific island countries. My research findings suggest MIRAB model can be applied to an understanding of the trajectory of village development in Samoa since the 1960s. The economies of the four villages studied rely heavily on remittances (R) from their relatives overseas (MI) and the new component of aid (A) in the form of village projects funded directly by donors for development purposes in a particular village in the form of village projects. The village councils, women’s committees, or youth groups usually implement these projects. The bureaucracy (B) component of the MIRAB (which in the literature refers to government employment) can also be understood as the provision of services to villages and rural districts by government agencies (B), such as health and educational facilities, police outposts, access roads, water and electricity supply and other infrastructure.