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This insightful book shows how the cultural affinity among the island nations of the South Pacific, known as the Pacific Way, has led to unique regional intergovernmental organizations. In particular, Haas points out that the survival and vitality of regional cooperation in the South Pacific is pivoted on this peculiar cultural affinity. He claims that organizations who have not adopted the Pacific Way have collapsed, while those that embrace it survive and will continue to grow. This politically oriented book, which covers Hawaii and the island nations from Pitcairn Islands on the east to Palau and Papua New Guinea on the west, from Micronesia on the north to Australia and New Zealand on the south, offers a perceptive view of this much ignored region of the world.
The Pacific Way examines specific organizations in this political culture, revealing how individual countries have developed common institutional arrangements in accordance with the Pacific Way. Haas starts with the organizing efforts of the colonial powers in the region, and goes on to provide a complete history of intergovernmental organizations. He offers pertinent information of the South Pacific Commission, ANZUS, and the South Pacific Forum. He fully describes the more technical organizations, including the Pacific Forum Line and the University of the South Pacific--providing both historical and contemporaruy perspectives. Finally, in view of the formation of the subregional Melanesian Spearhead Group and discussion on a possible Polynesian Economic and Cultural Community,
The Pacific Way addresses prospects for integration of South Pacific regional organizations into a single coherent structure. It will appeal to students and scholars interested in political anthropology, theories of regional cooperation, and the politics of the region. It will also prove invaluable to business executives and foreign officials who deal with this part of the world.
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MICHAEL HAAS is Professor of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has been studying regional cooperation in the Third World for two decades. He has written several books on political organizations including
International Organization,
International Systems, and
Basic Documents of Asian Regional Organizations.
