New Book on the Solomon Islands Conflict 1998-2003
"The Manipulation of Custom: From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands" is the first full and comprehensive
account of the crisis that has gripped the Solomon Islands since 1998. The story begins with the 1998 Isatabu uprising
on Guadalcanal and the eviction of thousands of Malaitan settlers from their homesteads on that island, continues by
analysing the coup of June 2000 and the failure of the Townsville Peace Agreement of October 2000, and concludes with an
investigation and assessment of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
Jon Fraenkel addresses several critical questions about the crisis - how and why it started, why it escalated so rapidly
and continued for several years, and why successive governments were unable to disarm the militias and end the violence.
The central theme of the book is a critical investigation of the usage of appeals to Melanesian kastom and
'compensation' demands throughout the crisis, and the way in which these were exploited by governments, failed
politicians and militia leaders to bankrupt the Solomon Islands state.
The author, Dr Jon Fraenkel, is a Senior Research Fellow in Governance at the Pacific Institute of Governance & Development at the University of the South Pacific. His research and publications focus on the economic history of
Oceania and contemporary Pacific politics, and he regularly covers Pacific issues for international press and radio
outlets.
"The Manipulation of Custom" is published with financial assistance from the Pacific Cooperation Foundation ( http://www.pcf.org.nz), and co-published with Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
The Manipulation of Custom: From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands Jon Fraenkel isbn 0 86473 487 5 200 mm
x 142 mm 256 pp, with maps NZ$34.95
For more information or to order copies please contact Victoria University Press email: victoria-press@vuw.ac.nz Postage
(per copy outside NZ) is NZ$15.00
Fergus Barrowman - Publisher Sue Brown - Editor Heather McKenzie - Publicity Director Craig Gamble - Publishing
Assistant
Victoria University Press http://www.vuw.ac.nz/vup