Pacific Series. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2022. xv, 262 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$60.00, paper; free ebook. ISBN 9781760465025.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a relative giant among the 15 Pacific Island states. It is by far the most populous, with an estimated eight to nine million people and the highest proportion of rural dwellers. It is the most richly endowed in resources, and yet has the lowest ranking for human development: 156th of 191 countries worldwide (available at hdr.undp.org). This book, a collection of articles, provides a detailed situation analysis explaining why PNG is so rich and yet so poor. It comprises an excellent summary overview in the introduction, followed by seven chapters in three parts. The first part, “Politics and Governance,” consists of a chapter on elections and politics, a chapter on the politics of decentralization, and a chapter on crime and corruption. The second part, “Economy,” has a chapter providing an analysis of PNG’s recent historical economic trajectory, and a chapter on measurement of living standards. The third part, “Society,” has a chapter explaining its uneven rural and urban development, and a chapter on communications, information, and the media. Of the 19 contributors, mainly specialists from the Australian National University, eight are indigenous PNG scholars.
The country comprises 20 provinces, plus the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and the National Capital District of Port Moresby. There is great economic and social disparity among them, making generalizations difficult. Because the country is perhaps the most linguistically diverse on earth, national identity is weak but district and provincial identities have often taken root and separatist sentiments are strong in many provinces, particularly in those best endowed with resources. The adapted Westminster political system of PNG is famously unstable, with a frequently changing cast of parliamentarians from multiple parties competing for control of government. Electors drive their aspiring politicians on, in highly participatory but often-violent elections, seeing parliament as the source of money, power, and patronage. The sad results of weak governance, ethnic diversity, and deep economic inequalities are tribal fighting, corruption, crime, and endemic violence against women and girls. In keeping with Pacific Island regional trends, where women have the lowest rate of political representation in the world, despite efforts for special measures, there are no women in PNG’s parliament in 2021 (as is the case in Tonga, Vanuatu, and Micronesia).
The economy of PNG has been through four periods: one of slow but stable growth in 1989–2003, of instability in 2004–2013, of a resource boom in 2004–2013, and a post-boom bust in 2014–2019. It is based on resource extraction including gold, nickel, timber, fish, and petroleum, with investment by a diverse set of international corporations. It has a prosperous banking sector and, like most Pacific Island states, extremely high import dependence. Although the country has many enclaves of comparative prosperity, populations who are poor and who enjoy few basic services surround them. Even those with jobs face hardship, as minimum wages have fallen since independence. The country is therefore characterized by highly uneven development both between and within provinces and towns. Poverty is as much urban as it is rural, due to the large informal settlements in PNG’s towns. Lack of data makes it difficult to document poverty in PNG but the chapter by Manoj K. Pandey and Stephen Howes asks whether living standards have improved over the past two decades. Drawing on demographic and health surveys, they conclude that although there are some positive trends, as of 2021, progress was not very promising.
Despite this rather grim picture, there are many bright spots. Papua New Guineans are resourceful, creative, and entrepreneurial and, encompassed as they are by many modernities, they do not live under unchanging traditions by means of subsistence production, as some have mistakenly assumed. Even people in remote areas have access to smart phones and other sources of information, although urban people have much better access. As Amanda Watson notes in the concluding chapter on communication, information, and the media, freedom of information is increasingly fragile and lacking in substance. This is particularly disturbing because for political, economic, and social progress to be made, people need to be well informed and able to understand and debate government policies.
The collection offers no overall policy recommendations because of the diversity of issues covered but the remedial actions needed are implicit in the analyses. This reviewer concluded from the evidence presented that under the present circumstances there are no political or economic incentives for PNG leaders to apply policies designed to solve the problems described, despite the shelves of high-sounding development strategies and policies of both the PNG government and its aid donors. Australia, with its geographical proximity and its historical connections, has been evidently ineffectual in helping PNG make real progress on human development despite the millions of dollars it pours in annually. However, donor “bargaining power” has been weakened by the geopolitical reality that China and many corporate entities eagerly invest in PNG without conditions or commitment to ethical outcomes, leaving well-meaning bilateral and multi-lateral donors and their consultants to muddle along with the latest fashions on how to improve health and education.
The book is well written, informative, and up to date; as Stephen Howes and Lekshmi Pillai point out in the conclusion to their introductory chapter: “[…] there are often complaints that PNG lacks adequate data, but what this book suggests is that, in fact, if you go out and look for it, you can find plenty of data, and more broadly research into PNG. What has been missing in recent years—or really over the last decade—is much of an attempt to summarise and synthesize existing data and research. It is that gap which this book aims to fill” (13).
It does fill that gap and should be required reading for aid donors, development studies, and Pacific Islands studies, and indeed for anyone engaging with PNG in any capacity who wants a solid briefing on its situation.
Penelope Schoeffel
National University of Samoa, Apia