Good governance, administrative reform and socioeconomic realities: A South Pacific perspective

Abstract

This paper examines good governance and administrative reform issues in 12 South Pacific Island countries. The paper concludes that to be effective, reform measures must specifically relate to the country’s geography, history, society and economy, and should not blindly follow other countries. Pacific Island countries vary is size: the smallest, Nauru, and the largest, Papua New Guinea, have total land areas of 21 and 453,000 square kilometres respectively. Pacific Islands are different from the other major island groups: the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. Caribbean Islands are clustered together, and close to the United States market, Indian Ocean Islands are fast developing into the gateway to Africa for business in the East and South Asia. Pacific Islands do not have such advantages. They are scattered over a wider area, away from major markets and the size of their internal markets is small. The development of a new form of transport (containerisation) and advances in air transport technology have made the situation worse as the small volume of goods loaded and unloaded, and the small number of passengers did not justify the investment and reorganisation required to participate in these new forms of transport. Pacific Islands face severed destructive cyclones almost every year costing them a fortune in financial and resource terms. The ‘green-house’ effect is also threatening the physical existence of number of Pacific Island.