Antipodean Statebuilding: The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands and Australian Intervention in the South Pacific

State Building or Crisis Management? A critical analysis of the social and political implications of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands

“…RAMSI's multilevel existence, simultaneously inside and outside the target state, is a fundamental feature of contemporary statebuilding interventions. 36 There seems to be a disjuncture between RAMSI's diplomatic and bureaucratic levels of engagement. While the high-level political relationship had at times been very strained, working relations between RAMSI advisors and their Solomon Islander counterparts have on the whole been quite genial.…”

Continuing drivers of violence in Honiara: making friends and influencing people

“…Finally, young men are also utilised by the elite in Honiara as cheap 'foot soldiers'-sometimes being paid with alcohol (Kwaso or 'home brew')-who can be swiftly engaged to carry out violent actions, as well as to encourage riots and demonstrations on behalf of politicians, putting pressure on processes of political community-building (Barbara 2008;Moore 2008b). In such cases, the young men may be assumed to be fighting for 'ethnic' reasons, but beneath these are greater concerns around achieving manhood, resources and status (Chevalier 2000).…”

NATO and Prevention of State Failure: An Idea Whose Time Will Come?

“…90 There are other obvious cases where state failure was avoided through outside intervention, as in Ivory Coast in 2002 through French intervention, or in the Solomon Islands through the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission. 91 The latter represents an ambitious and successful response to state failure and the Australian response has been characterized by an intensive state capacity-building program, particularly in the areas of key public services such as the treasury, finance, law and justice, and economic governance. But the more interesting cases remain those that have moved away from imminent state failure without outside intervention.…”