London and New York: Routledge, 2019. xiv, 289 pp. (Tables, maps, B&W photos.) US$149.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-367-29696-4.
The United States and Japan in the Western Pacific is an edited volume researched in 1977 and 1978. It was first published in 1981 as a Westview Replica Edition. The Westview Replica Editions disseminate research quickly by avoiding the lag time involved in traditional publishing arrangements; as such it was not edited, but rather accepted in “camera-ready form and move[d] immediately into the production process” (np). Given the quality and resolution of maps and images, the dates mentioned in the text, and the lack of any indicator otherwise, the book appears wholly unaltered from 1981 in this publication by Routledge. Certainly, with the passage of time and the privilege of hindsight we can see how some of the predictions and proclamations made in the book never bore fruit in reality; even some of the major players have changed, and with this, shifting boundaries and priorities. The book also lacks a section on methods although field sites are touched upon in the preface and some indication of how the information was gleaned can be found in the endnotes. Despite these shortcomings, the book highlights the historic role of politics and economics in vying for influence and varying degrees of control in the Pacific as well as discussion of the politics of development of Papua New Guinea and Micronesia. The book also provides an overview of the historical relationship between the United States and Japan as well as that of Japan and Micronesia. As such, it could serve as valuable resource and starting point for those researchers willing to delve into it.
The book is the result of thirty months of collaboration between University of Kansas professors from a variety of disciplines: Grant Goodman (History), Felix Moos (Anthropology and East Asian Languages and Cultures), Robert Fluker (Business), Carl Lande (Political Science), Nobleza Asuncion-Lande (Speech Communications), and Chae-jin Lee (Political Science). The work was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and Japan Society of New York (Sumitomo Fund) likely lending the emphasis on the historic and contemporary (1977–1978) relationships between Japan and the US in Micronesia (during Trust Territory times) and Papua New Guinea. Moos served as the director of the project with research and writing of the various chapters being divided amongst the co-authors. The division of labour for the book is as follows: chapter 1, “Introduction,” Fluker, Goodman and Moos; chapter 2, “An Historical Overview: Micronesia and Papua New Guinea,” Moos, Lande, Asuncion-Lande; chapter 3, “Micronesia Under American Rule, 1944–1978: Change and Persistence,” Moos and Goodman; chapter 4, “Papua New Guinea Under Australian Rule and After: The Shock of Independence,” Lande and Asuncion-Lande; chapter 5, “Papua New Guinea: Issues and Politics in Economic Development,” Lande and Asuncion-Lande; chapter 6, “Micronesia: Issues and Politics in Economic Development,” Fluker and Moos; chapter 7, “Japanese Politics and Perspectives in Micronesia and Papua New Guinea,” Lee and Goodman; and a final conclusion (chapter 8) by Goodman and Moos.
Although the title of the book suggests coverage of the role of the United States and Japan in Micronesia, it also discusses the role that other countries have played. For example, it deals extensively with Australia, particularly in Papua New Guinea, which is discussed thoroughly in chapter 4. Notable in this text is the relative absence of China, which is only mentioned in passing. China and the Soviet Union were becoming more active in the Pacific during the time of writing by “testing the water” (9) to “assess possible opportunities for political influence and economic benefits. The Pacific nations, for their part, are hopeful of possible economic advantages and are immediately aware of the political leverage of opening windows on the communist world” (10).
The book also considers development in Micronesia and Papua New Guinea and, “what kind of development is really advisable or viable, or possible for what kind of Pacific locale. Such considerations clearly concern not only the [I]ndigenous populations but the specific former or present colonial mentor of the new state in question” (3). The authors also point out that other countries will be impacted by said development, emphasizing policy analysis of Japan and the US to “determine the extent to which American and Japanese policies are congruent, divergent, or even conflicting” (3). Despite their attention to transnationalism, globalization, international trade, and resource extraction in chapters 2 through 7, the introduction reveals that this is not necessarily in the best interests of the population. The issue of power and cost benefits are considered as the authors note that, “technologically limited assistance needed by Less Developed Countries to sustain and enhance small-scale subsistence agriculture, particularly important in the Pacific [I]slands, is either downgraded or overlooked in favour of showcase projects requiring lavish funding and, in turn, theoretically redounding to the political advantage of the donor state as well as of the recipient local authorities in power” (2). Goodman and Moos point out in the conclusion how these inequities persist through the American-style education system in Micronesia, which focuses on government employment, lack of attention to local agriculture and fisheries, and cultivation of desires and taste for imported goods.
The material is obviously dated, but the critique still reverberates today in many contemporary concerns faced in the Pacific. As such, The United States and Japan in the Western Pacific provides a valuable historic frame of reference for addressing not only issues of development, but also many of the same issues confronted by and in Micronesia and Papua New Guinea today. Topics discussed include: the impacts of nuclear testing in Micronesia, food security issues (including repeated calls in the book for the development of the fisheries industry as well as subsistence agriculture), issues of dependency and development, colonialism, language and education, resource extraction, nationalism, tourism, war, and conflict. These various topics are easily accessible as the index is well put together, allowing for researchers, academics, and policymakers to mine the book for historical information that they may find valuable in conducting their own work.
David Fazzino
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg