| Description |
x, 228 pages : maps ; 24 cm |
| Series |
Cambridge Asia-Pacific studies |
|
Cambridge Asia-Pacific studies.
|
| Contents |
Tradition and democracy -- Constitutional development, chiefly power, and the politics of tradition in Fiji -- The monarchy versus democracy in the kingdom of Tonga -- Preserving tradition through democratisation: the introduction of universal suffrage in Western Samoa |
| 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 |
|
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 |
| Analysis |
Fiji |
|
Politics |
|
Samoa |
|
Tonga |
|
Case studies |
|
Democracy |
|
Fiji |
|
Overseas item |
|
Political change |
|
Politics |
|
Samoa |
|
Tonga |
|
Western Samoa |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-221) and index |
| Notes |
English |
| Subject |
Democracy -- Fiji.
|
|
Democracy -- Oceania -- Case studies.
|
|
Democracy -- Samoa.
|
|
Democracy -- Tonga.
|
| SUBJECT |
Fiji -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008115021
|
|
Samoa http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n97089384 -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002011436
|
|
Tonga http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80106710 -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002011436
|
| Genre/Form |
Case studies.
|
| LC no. |
95032415 |
| ISBN |
0521496381 (hardback : alk. paper) |
|
9780521496384 |
|
