Using the techniques of the historian, the anthropologist, and the political theorist, Lawson discusses the contemporary political situation in Fiji from both a historical and theoretical viewpoint. Drawing on archival material and fieldwork, she traces the sources of the current divisions in Fiji to the well-intentioned, but ultimately misguided, ambitions of colonial administrators to protect the way of life of indigenous Fijians. The author comes to the provocative conclusion that Fiji has never really been a democracy in the Western sense of the word.

This wide-ranging, historically informed study examines the career of the culture concept and related notions of context in comparative and international politics, tracing connections through the disciplines of anthropology and history as well as through issues in nationalism and democracy. Particular attention is paid to the way in which culture as context is implicated in some of the most problematic dichotomies in world politics, as well as to how culture may be re-conceptualized in a theory of cosmopolitan pluralism.

The many points of contact and conflict about culture and identity that exist between Europe and the Asia-Pacific are highlighted in this volume. In terms of democracy, human rights and the state of the economy, Asian culture and values have been a major factor in representing the region and its identity. Definitions of region here have generally taken the West as the major point of contrast, and the edifice against which culture, identity and representations of region have been constructed in the Asia-Pacific. Similarly, the idea of Europe and the construction of European identity have...

There have been significant political eras which have shaped not only the structure of world politics but the way in which it has been studied. The geopolitical and ideological contours of the Cold War period, for example, had an impact on almost every aspect of world politics and the study of international relations for around 45 years.


This book argues that, just as the collapse of the Soviet Union in the period following the fall of the Berlin Wall signalled the end of strategic polarization, it also marked the apparent end of a particular form of polarized debate...

There have been significant political eras which have shaped not only the structure of world politics but the way in which it has been studied. The geopolitical and ideological contours of the Cold War period, for example, had an impact on almost every aspect of world politics and the study of international relations for around 45 years.


This book argues that, just as the collapse of the Soviet Union in the period following the fall of the Berlin Wall signalled the end of strategic polarization, it also marked the apparent end of a particular form of polarized debate...

This study analyzes the ways in which political elites use the idea of "tradition" to legitimize certain practices and institutions. Within this framework, case studies focus on constitutional development and the chiefly power in Fiji, the monarchy and the Pro-Democracy Movement in Tonga, and the political issues surrounding the move to universal suffrage in Western Samoa. The book provides a critical approach to the political implications of romanticizing non-Western cultural traditions, especially in terms of democratic development.

Since the field of International Relations was established almost a century ago, many different theoretical approaches have been developed, each offering distinctive accounts of the world, why it has come to be the way it is, and how it might be made a better place.

In this illuminating textbook, leading IR scholar, Stephanie Lawson, examines each of these theories in turn, from political realism in its various forms to liberalism, Marxism, critical theory and more recent contributions from social theory, feminism, postcolonialism and green theory. Taking as her focus the major...

Since the field of International Relations was established almost a century ago, many different theoretical approaches have been developed, each offering distinctive accounts of the world, why it has come to be the way it is, and how it might be made a better place.

In this illuminating textbook, leading IR scholar, Stephanie Lawson, examines each of these theories in turn, from political realism in its various forms to liberalism, Marxism, critical theory and more recent contributions from social theory, feminism, postcolonialism and green theory. Taking as her focus the major...