Ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: On many measures of ethno‐linguistic diversity, Papua New Guinea is the most fragmented society in the world. I argue that the macro‐level political effect of this diversity has been to reduce, rather than increase, the impact of ethnic conflict on the state. Outside the Bougainville conflict, and (to a lesser extent) the recent upsurge of violence in the Southern Highlands, ethnic conflicts in Papua New Guinea have not presented a threat to national government. In contrast to most other ethnically diverse societies, the most consequential impacts of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea are at the local level. This paper therefore examines the disparate impacts of local‐ and national‐level forms of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea.     

Poor rural places in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: In the late 1960s, Harold Brookfield and Doreen Hart were ‘startled’ by the order of magnitude differences in incomes from village cash cropping in different parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This paper traces these differences, back into a pre‐colonial past and forward to the present and concludes, as Brookfield did in the 1960s, that severe environmental constraints, rather than market forces, are the primary cause of the pattern of spatial inequalities observable in PNG. Brookfield noted the existence of an ‘acute dilemma’ in 1960s development funding: should funds be invested where the returns will be highest, or where the need is greatest. This dilemma is as acute today as it was then. However, in the meantime, people from poor places are moving to better‐off places, seeking access to markets for their produce and health and education services for their families.     

Marginality and environment in Papua New Guinea: the Strickland River area

Mining in Papua New Guinea has caused considerable controversy, largely due to its environmental impact. This paper examines the debate around the downstream environmental impact of the Porgera gold mine, located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. It is demonstrated that the greatest international concern and environmental protest is focused on an area that has, by the scientific accounts, the lowest environmental risk. In seeking explanations for this, attention is drawn to the marginality (in absolute and relative terms) of the affected communities, the intermingling of pre and post‐colonial discourses of environment and development, and the role of both international mining companies and environmental non‐governmental organisations in ‘re‐colonising’ rural Papua New Guinea. The communities are seeking to reduce their marginality by actively reworking the material and imagined landscapes (social, environmental, political and economic) they inhabit, drawing on a range of resources, both old and new.     

An argument for reframing debates about corruption: Insights from Papua New Guinea

There have been few attempts to identify the way different perspectives of corruption are employed in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The paucity of such analysis makes it difficult to identify the way scholars and policy‐makers understand corruption in the country, in turn leading to potentially poor targeting of anti‐corruption programmes. This article categorises perspectives of corruption that are found in academic and policy accounts of PNG. It finds that this literature is marked by an over‐reliance on ‘mainstream’ Western interpretations of the definition, causes and solutions to corruption. In turn, it is argued that there is an important role that ‘critical’ and culturally aware academics can play in reframing debates about corruption in PNG and the Pacific.     

Understanding ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Papua New Guinea, with its heavy dependence on natural resources, limited economic development in the past two decades, poor record of governance and high‐profile separatist conflicts such as the Bougainville civil war, appears to be an exemplar of the ‘Resource Curse’ theory – the notion that natural resources actively undermine economic development. Using a number of examples from a range of scales, this paper argues that what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea are actually better conceived as conflicts around identity and social relationships. The very different conceptualisation of natural resources in most Melanesian societies – as elements of the social world as much as any external environmental sphere – means that resources become a conduit for local social and political agendas and tensions to be expressed. The nature of traditional conflict in Melanesian societies is discussed as a guide to the better management and resolution of what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea.     

Small arms,violence and gender in Papua New Guinea: Towards a research agenda

Among Pacific states, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has attracted the most attention from researchers looking at problems caused by small arms and light weapons. There is now a substantive body of work cataloguing different aspects of the country's problems with firearms and gun violence. This research sits alongside a large scholarly literature on violence in PNG and the connection between violence, gender and masculine identities. There has, however, been strikingly little research bringing these literatures together and looking directly at the gendered dimensions of PNG's gun violence. This paper explores some connections between small arms, violence and gender in PNG. After providing a general overview of small arms issues in PNG, it examines the misuse of firearms in urban crime and inter‐communal fighting in the Highlands, specifically noting the limited evidence that is available about the differently gendered consequences of gun violence. It identifies three potential areas for further research: exploring the relationship between changing notions of masculinity and demand for firearms; gender and PNG's growing private security industry; and fragile signs of change in the role of women in the PNG Defence Force.     

Struggling or in transition: Small household growers and the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea

The challenge of ensuring economic opportunities are made available to a country's population is a key function of any government. It is particularly acute in many developing countries where the subsistence economy is dominant and where limited formal employment opportunities exist. For such countries, reliance on cash cropping provides a central plank in earning foreign exchange. More importantly, it provides an important source of cash incomes for the largely subsistence‐based population. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one such example with a significant rural population dependent on cash crops for their economic livelihood. This paper discusses the country's coffee industry in the context of its producers, most importantly the contribution made by small household growers, and the issues and challenges they face. The paper traces the emergence of coffee as a cash crop in the PNG highlands and discusses, among other things, recent developments in extension and points out possibilities for government intervention to ensure the continued viability of the highlands coffee industry. Conceptually, the discussion acknowledges the significance of relational economics and its underpinnings, particularly reflections of duality of labour, perceptions of coffee as cash crop and markets in the context of Indigenous growers.     

Papua New Guinea: A centre of genetic diversity in winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonologus (L.) Dc.)

Summary The results of an exploration and collection work on Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) Dc. are presented. A wealth of genetic diversity in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea was uncovered, and experimental work resulted in isolation of 121 pure lines as the first germplasm collection. It is believed that it may not be indigenous to Papua New Guinea but that it has been introduced to this Island long before the first European contact. The implications of the finding for the development of this species in present and in future it discussed.     

Property rights for social inclusion: Migrant strategies for securing land and livelihoods in Papua New Guinea

This paper examines the broad range of informal land transactions and arrangements migrants are entering into with customary landowners to gain access to customary land for export cash cropping in the oil palm belt of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Whilst these arrangements can provide migrants with relatively secure access to land, there are instances of migrants losing their land rights. Typically, the land tenure arrangements of migrants with more secure access to land are within a framework of property rights for social inclusion whereby customary landowners’ inalienable rights to land are preserved and the ‘outsider’ becomes an ‘insider’ with ongoing use rights to the land. Through socially embedding land transactions in place‐based practices of non‐market exchange, identities of difference are eroded as migrants assume identities as part of their host groups. This adaptability of customary land tenure and its capacity to accommodate large migration in‐flows and expanding commodity production undermines the argument common amongst proponents of land reform that customary tenure is static and inflexible. Before such claims are heeded, there must be more detailed empirical investigations of the diverse range of land tenure regimes operating in areas of the country experiencing high rates of immigration.