There is clear support for democracy in the Pacific Islands region, but also reasons to be concerned about its contemporary practice. The complexity of Pacific democracy is rarely captured in global datasets. This has significant consequences for the understanding of democratic practice in the Pacific and the completeness of the global understanding of democracy.

This report combines International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy indices and data with contextual research and knowledge of the Pacific region to better understand the meaning and practice of democracy in Pacific Island
countries of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu over the past five years. A Pacific lens on democracy reveals complex dynamics arising from local and Indigenous representation and leadership, and its relationship with formal institutions of government, as well as the exigencies of smallness, the political marginalization of some societal and democratic experimentation and innovation.

The report concludes by identifying three strategies to enrich global conceptions of democracy with lessons from the Pacific.

Details

Publication date
05 June 2025
Language(s)
English
Author(s)
Kerryn Baker, George Carter, Anna Dziedzic, David Oakeshott, Thiago Oppermann, Sonia Palmieri, Anouk Ride, Colin Wiltshire
Number of pages
64
ISBN
978-91-7671-940-4 (PDF)

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

Executive summary

Introduction

1. Exploring the data

2. Conceptualizing Pacific democracy

References

About the authors

About the Department of Pacific Affairs

 

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Assessing the State of Democracy in the Pacific

Exploring the Meaning and Practice of Democracy in the Pacific Island Countries
people from Solomon Islands queue outside a polling station on elections day
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