Explaining institutional failure in Melanesia

Abstract

In this paper I want to talk generally about issues of performance and failure, and how they might apply in Melanesia. I will do do by asking a series of questions: why do we require 'performance'; how we might assess it; and how we might explain good, and bad, institutional performance. Then I want to look at the argument, frequently heard in Melanesia, that poor performance is a result of inconsistency between introduced and indigenous institutions. The main aim of this paper is conceptual rather than empirical - it is part of a longer study of institutional transfer. I want to raise and clarify the issues, rather than settle them.