'Univesiti Fakafonua 'a Tonga -
Tonga National University
Ko e Mo’oni, Ko e Totonu mo e Tau’ataina - Truth, Justice, Freedom


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Tradition versus democracy in the South Pacific : Fiji, Tonga, and Western Samoa / Stephanie Lawson.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Cambridge Asia-Pacific studiesPublication details: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.Description: x, 228 pages : maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0521496381
  • 9780521496384
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 320.995 20
NLM classification:
  • SH328
Online resources:
Contents:
1. Tradition and Democracy. The Idea of Tradition. Tradition and Modernity. Tradition as Ideology. The Problem of Authenticity. Democracy -- 2. Constitutional Development, Chiefly Power and the Politics of Tradition in Fiji. The Plural Society. Colonization and Indirect Rule. The Politics of Land and Indigenous Paramountcy. Fijian Sociopolitical Structures. The Background to the 1970 Constitution. The Rise and Fall of Labour. The 1990 Constitution. Party Politics and Elections in the Republic -- 3. The Monarchy Versus Democracy in the Kingdom of Tonga. The Origins of the Political System. The Sociopolitical System. European Contact and Christian Conversion. Constitutional Development. The Reign of Queen Salote Tupou III. Transformations Under Tupou IV. The Pro-Democracy Movement. The Conservative Reaction -- 4. Preserving Tradition Through Democratization: The Introduction of Universal Suffrage in Western Samoa. The Samoan Polity. Samoa Before the Coming of Europeans. From Contact to Colonial Rule. Politics and Law after Independence: The First Twenty Years. The Rise of Political Parties and Party Politics. The Introduction of Universal Suffrage. Fa'aSamoa and Fa'amatai. The Village Fono Act of 1990 -- 5. Conclusion: Tradition Versus the West.
Summary: Much recent literature on non-Western countries celebrates the renaissance of indigenous culture, Tradition Versus Democracy in the South Pacific, however, looks more critically at Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa, showing how current movements to reclaim and celebrate 'tradition' may protect the power and privileges of indigenous elites and promote political conservatism. Stephanie Lawson argues that opposition to 'Western' democracy in the name of 'tradition' is not necessarily representative of indigenous people at the grassroots level, and is often carefully manipulated to benefit an elite.Summary: Lawson is critical of cultural relativism, a concept which, she suggests, limits the discussion of democracy in non-Western countries and leads to deterministic stereotypes. Relativism can also reinscribe an essentialist framework, creating an ethical void in which little of critical value can be said. She is equally skeptical, however, of universalist positions which seek to promote a single, fixed conception of democratic politics and which can be as dogmatic in assumption as relativist modes of theorizing.
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-221) and index.

1. Tradition and Democracy. The Idea of Tradition. Tradition and Modernity. Tradition as Ideology. The Problem of Authenticity. Democracy -- 2. Constitutional Development, Chiefly Power and the Politics of Tradition in Fiji. The Plural Society. Colonization and Indirect Rule. The Politics of Land and Indigenous Paramountcy. Fijian Sociopolitical Structures. The Background to the 1970 Constitution. The Rise and Fall of Labour. The 1990 Constitution. Party Politics and Elections in the Republic -- 3. The Monarchy Versus Democracy in the Kingdom of Tonga. The Origins of the Political System. The Sociopolitical System. European Contact and Christian Conversion. Constitutional Development. The Reign of Queen Salote Tupou III. Transformations Under Tupou IV. The Pro-Democracy Movement. The Conservative Reaction -- 4. Preserving Tradition Through Democratization: The Introduction of Universal Suffrage in Western Samoa. The Samoan Polity. Samoa Before the Coming of Europeans. From Contact to Colonial Rule. Politics and Law after Independence: The First Twenty Years. The Rise of Political Parties and Party Politics. The Introduction of Universal Suffrage. Fa'aSamoa and Fa'amatai. The Village Fono Act of 1990 -- 5. Conclusion: Tradition Versus the West.

Much recent literature on non-Western countries celebrates the renaissance of indigenous culture, Tradition Versus Democracy in the South Pacific, however, looks more critically at Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa, showing how current movements to reclaim and celebrate 'tradition' may protect the power and privileges of indigenous elites and promote political conservatism. Stephanie Lawson argues that opposition to 'Western' democracy in the name of 'tradition' is not necessarily representative of indigenous people at the grassroots level, and is often carefully manipulated to benefit an elite.

Lawson is critical of cultural relativism, a concept which, she suggests, limits the discussion of democracy in non-Western countries and leads to deterministic stereotypes. Relativism can also reinscribe an essentialist framework, creating an ethical void in which little of critical value can be said. She is equally skeptical, however, of universalist positions which seek to promote a single, fixed conception of democratic politics and which can be as dogmatic in assumption as relativist modes of theorizing.

English.

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