Pacific Island Parliaments: Developmental Aspirations and Political Realities
Australasian Parliamentary Review, Volume 27, No. 1, 2012
14 Pages Posted: 22 Jan 2016
Date Written: January 22, 2012
Abstract
A concept paper on 'legislatures and good governance' prepared for UNDP by Johnson and Nakamura articulated four fundamental goals of legislative development (build internal support for legislative strengthening, strengthen representation, strengthen law-making, and strengthen legislative organization and facilities), and distinguished between the roles of two types of external agencies (funding, and legislative/parliamentary associations). A subsequent practice note by UNDP on Parliamentary Development set out that organization 's concept of 'what parliamentary institutions do' and identified eight 'principal entry points' for its 'role and niche' in parliamentary development (United Nations Development Programme 2003). This article draws such development agency literature to identify the current issues facing Pacific Island parliaments and the efforts underway (or not) to address them. It includes a review the Pacific Islands context, consideration of recent parliamentary dynamics, and a review of parliamentary development activities.
Keywords: parliament; Pacific Island studies
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