The Feasibility of State Government in the Solomon Islands: Its Strengths and Weaknesses

Abstract

The Solomon Islands has had a long and turbulent history of political volatility. This volatility has been due mainly to the many conflicting interests that are further constrained by the fact that the Solomon Islands is made up of many heterogeneous tribal clans or groups, each with their own interests and each trying to maximize utility in terms of their social, political, and economic aspirations. This inherent friction led to the violence and crises experienced in the Solomon Islands during the 2000 Malaitan Eagles takeover of the government and the subsequent retaliation from the Guadalcanal islanders. Multiple theorists and writers including Reilly (2000) and Henderson and Watson (2005) refer to the Solomon Islands as a failed state and that it is part of the arc of instability which generally covers the Melanesian group inclusive of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and Fiji. Whether this holds true or not is open to interpretation, however, the volatility and turbulent political experiences shared amongst these countries points to the special characteristics of their colonial past and further back to pre-modern times in the very formation of their societies and cultures.In response to the political crises in the Solomon Islands, there has been an intervention by the Pacific Islands Forum countries invoking the Biketawa Declaration that resulted in the deployment of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), spearheaded by the Australian Government. This assistance mission is still actively deployed to date and the results of which remain unclear in terms of the political and economic stability that it hopes to provide.Coupled with the response to the Solomon Islands crisis by the RAMSI and targeted aid programs by UNDP, AUSAID and other international aid donors has been the notion that economic development, political reforms and better delivery of public and essential services will aid the return of the Solomon Islands to a viable State. One of the main political reforms is the call for state governments to be implemented in the Solomon Islands as a better system of governance and delivering public goods and targeted development to the people. This paper will focus on the feasibility of having a federal system requiring state government and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of such a federal system of multi-level governance in the context of the Solomon Islands. In order to ease the burden of analysis, the paper will cover the following thematic scope:1. Theoretical aspects of Multi-level governance, federalism and devolution.2. The Feasibility of a federal system of state government in the Solomon Islands.a. Background and History of the Solomon Islandsb. The Political Crises of 2000c. State Government as a response to fragmented interests and multi-centrismd. Strengths and weaknesses of the call for State/Provincial governmentse. Feasibility of State governments3. Conclusion