Tradition, politics, and change in contemporary Fiji and Tonga

Abstract

The subject of 'the politics of tradition' has attracted increasing attention in Pacific islands studies over recent years, particularly from historians and anthropologists. The contemporary politics of Fiji and Tonga are considered to be particularly significant in this regard: Fiji has experienced the reinforcement of chiefly politics since its 1987 coup; and in Tonga, calls for democracy have presented a challenge to traditional authority for over a decade. This study draws on interviews conducted in 1993 with sixty people involved in government and politics in Fiji and Tonga (among them Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Bishop Patelesio Finau, and 'Akilisi Pohiva) to compare the issues tradition raises for politics in both countries, and thereby to demonstrate the importance of considering matters of tradition within political science. The study examines the concept of tradition, its interaction with the contemporary politics of Fijians and Tongans, and the forces for change affecting tradition and politics. It is argued that debates about 'the invention of tradition' and questions of authenticity in tradition, while useful, have diverted attention from the need for theories about how tradition works. The theories of the mind of neurobiologist Gerald Edelman are then used to advance one such theory: that tradition should be seen as a system of group knowledge subject to evolutionary change - change driven by a selectionary process involving individuals' thought-processes. Further discussion explains how this process gives rise to political conflict and hence is of importance to political science. The role of tradition in contemporary government and other political processes in Fiji and Tonga is then examined. Two major social forces, it is argued, are currently influencing and changing Fijians' and Tongans' traditions and politics: education and money. A third force, the media, is becoming increasingly influential. These forces and others are examined, along with the sites for change in which they are at work. Land, indigenous rights, language, ceremony, provincialism, urban/rural divisions, race relations, religion and the family are all discussed within this framework. Finally, the study notes the useful parallels of this discussion of tradition and politics with discussions of postmodernism, particularly those of Walter Truett Anderson and pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty, and how some Fijians and Tongans could be said to have embraced a postmodern worldview. It outlines other matters of interest to political scientists which might be better understood in the context of tradition, and notes how Edmund Burke viewed the politics of his day in this light two centuries ago. Show more