Enhancing Security in the Pacific Through Regionalism

Abstract

The Auckland Declaration of the Pacific Islands Forum adopted the following as part of its overarching vision which brought about the Pacific Plan: Leaders believe the Pacific region can, should and will be a region of peace, harmony, security and economic prosperity, so that all of its people can lead free and worthwhile lives. It is interesting to note that at the outset of the formulation of the Pacific Plan, the vision upon which it was drafted encapsulated the Forum Island Countries (FIC) desire for the Pacific to be a region of peace, harmony and security which will lead to economic prosperity and ensure the freedom of all our people. However, far from what the name of the region implies, the Pacific has not been a pacific (meaning peaceful) region and has had a share of its conflicts, constitutional crises, political violence that has even led to some academics such as Reilly to suggest that the Pacific is becoming Africanized particularly due to the conflict and crises experienced in the Melanesian countries of the FIC leading to its labeling as the “Arc of Instability”. Notwithstanding, other academics such as Firth contend that Oceania is not Africa and has its unique challenges, constraints regarding security but there has been general consensus that the security situation in a number of FIC has deteriorated having a negative impact on the general outlook for the region. This paper aims at discussing whether security for the pacific can be enhanced through regionalism. In order to analyze this I will discuss the security issues that has affected the region focusing in particular on the period after 2001; what are some of the regional measures and the regional mechanisms that have been used by the Pacific Island Forum as a response to these security issues; the role of Australia and New Zealand in the implementation of the regional responses; and to determine the effectiveness of these regional responses through analyzing their application in the Solomon Islands crisis and in Fiji post 2006.