Bougainville 1988-98: five searches for security in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This monograph examines the crisis in the North Solomons province of Papua New Guinea, more widely known as Bougainville, in the decade between 1988 and 1998. Unlike most recent commentaries about the war, its focus is mainly theoretical. The chief question asked is the general one of what political choices and underlying structural pressures have principally shaped the outbreak, subsequent intensification, and later de-escalation, of violent political conflict there. The topic is approached through the analytical lens offered by security theory. More specifically, it is explored using a security stakeholders framework, which distinguishes five distinct and consistent searches for security by generalisable categories of relevant actors. It is argued that these five searches have been central in shaping the course of the conflict. It is hoped that this analysis might be useful in helping show what irreducible imperatives must be accommodated if recent progress on the cessation of hostilities, driven mainly by war weariness, is to be converted into long-term peace. The monograph is also intended to help inform understandings of other cases of violent political conflict in Melanesia