The Failure of Democratic Politics in Fiji

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.