Regional Politics in Oceania: From Colonialism and Cold War to the Pacific Century

Stephanie Lawson

Feb 2024 · Cambridge University Press

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Stephanie Lawson's book is by far the most comprehensive study of regional politics in Oceania produced to date. Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary sources, she provides a systematic account of major issues facing the region and presents conceptual and theoretical issues in a sophisticated but accessible manner. She traces the trajectories of regional politics from the earliest human settlements to European exploration and colonization, the period of formal regionalization in the post-war period, decolonization, the Cold War, and key geopolitical developments in the post-Cold War period. She also focuses on identity politics, manifest at various levels from the local through to the national, subregional and regional, as well as broader configurations around the West/non-West divide. This book will be of interest to anyone engaged with the history and politics of Oceania or comparative regional studies, especially given the relevance of themes to Asian, African and Latin American contexts.

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Stephanie Lawson is Honorary Professor of Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University, Honorary Professor in the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University, and Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg. She is a past president of the Australian Political Studies Association, a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and the current president of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association. Her first book, The Failure of Democratic Politics in Fiji (1991) won the Australian Political Studies Association's Crisp Medal.