Party politics in Papua New Guinea: A deviant case?

Pacific Affairs

Volumn 72, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 225-246

  Reilly, Ben ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRATIZATION; PARTY POLITICS; POLITICAL SYSTEM;

PAPUA NEW GUINEA;

EID: 0032735325     PISSN: 0030851X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2672121     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Larry Diamond, Juan Linz and Seymor Martin Lipset, "Introduction: What Makes for Democracy?" in L. Diamond, J. Linz and S. M. Lipset, eds., Politics in Developing Countries: Comparing Experiences with Democracy, 2d ed. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995), p. 34.
2. G. Bingham Powell, Contemporary Democracies: Participation, Stability, and Violence (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), p. 74.
3. Diamond, Linz and Lipset, in their study of democracy in developing countries, define democracy as a system of government that meets three essential conditions: meaningful competition, for political power amongst individuals and organized groups; inclusive participation in the selection of leaders and policies, at least through free and fair elections; and a level of civil and political liberties sufficient to ensure the integrity of political competition and participation (Diamond, Linz and Lipset, "Introduction," pp. 6-7). This is itself a refinement of Dahl's much-cited definition of democracy (which he called "polyarchy") as a process of participation and contestation which approximates rather than fully satisfies democratic ideals, and will be the working definition of democracy used throughout this article.
4. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
5. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
6. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
7. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
8. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
9. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
10. These are: D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds., The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1965); A. L. Epstein, R. S. Parker and M. Reay, eds., The Politics of Dependence Papua New Guinea 1968 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971); D. Stone, ed., Prelude to Self-Government: Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea 1972 (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and Universm of Papua New Guinea, 1976); D. Hegarty, ed., Electoral Politics in Papua New Guinea: Studies in the 1977 National Elections (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1983); P. King, ed., Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 9, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1989); M. Oliver, ed., Eleksin: The 1987 National Election in Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea, 1989); Y. Saffu, ed., The 1992 PNG Election: Change and Continuity in Electoral Politics (Canberra: Political and Social Change Monograph 23, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996).
11. Myron Weiner, "Empirical Democratic Theory," in M. Weiner and E. Ozbudun, eds., Competitive Elections in Developing Countries (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1987), pp. 18-19.
12. Larry Diamond, "Economic Development and Democracy Reconsidered," in G. Marks and L. Diamond, eds., Reexamining Democracy: Essays in Honor of Seymour Martin Lipset (Newbury Park: Sage, 1992), p. 127.
13. Diamond, Linz and Lipset, "Introduction," p. 35.
14. Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in 36 Countries (New Haven: Yale University Press, forthcoming).
15. Timothy J. Power and Mark J. Gasiorowski, "Institutional Design and Democratic Consolidation in the Third World," Comparative Political Studies, vol. 30, no. 2 (1997), pp. 132-33.
16. Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), pp. 266-67.
17. See Yaw Saffu, "Political Chronicle - Papua New Guinea," Australian Joumal of Politics and History, vol. 31, no. 3 (1995), p. 531.
18. "Army Says It Will Now Take a Back Seat," Sydney Morning Herald, March 27, 1997.
19. Powell, Contemporary Democracies, pp. 76-77.
20. See Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), chap. 7.
21. Diamond, Linz and Lipset, "Introduction," p. 35.
22. Ibid.
23. Power and Gasiorowski, "Institutional Design," p. 144. Power and Gasiorowski also identified Israel as being a consolidated Third World multiparty democracy, but most comparative analyses place Israel squarely in the "developed world" locus.
24. Stephen Pokawin, "Manus and Leadership," in King, Pangu Returns, p. 245.
25. Yaw Saffu, "Continuity and Change in PNG Electoral Politics," in Saffu, The 1992 PNG Election, p. 6.
26. Pokawin, "Manus," p. 245.
27. Scan Dorney, Papua New Guinea: People, Politics and History Since 1975 (Sydney: Random House, 1990), p. 73.
28. David Hegarty, "The Political Parties," in A. Amarshi, K. Good and R, Mortimer, eds., Development and Dependency: The Political Economy of Papua New Guinea (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1979), p. 188.
29. See Edward P. Wolfers, "A Short History of Political Party Activity in Papua and New Guinea," in M. Ward, ed., The Politics of Melanesia: Papers Delivered at the Fourth Waigani Seminar (Canberra and Port Moresby: The Australian National University and University of Papua New Guinea, 1970), pp. 446, 475.
30. See, for example, R. J. May, "Class, Ethnicity, Regionalism and Political Parties," in R. J. May, ed., Social Stratification in Papua New Guinea (Canberra and Port Moresby: Working Paper No 5, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1984).
31. Hegarty, "The Political Parties," p. 188.
32. Paul Hasluck, A Time for Building (Clayton: Melbourne University Press, 1976), p. 398.
33. H. K. Colebatch, P. Colebatch, M. Reay and A. J. Strathern, "Free Elections in a Guided Democracy," in Epstein, Parker and Reay, The Politics of Dependence, p. 222.
34. See P. Loveday and E. P. Wolfers, Parties and Parliament in Papua New Guinea 1964-1975 (Boroko: Monograph 4, Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research, 1976).
35. David Hegarty, "The 1977 National Elections in Papua New Guinea: an Overview," in Hegarty, The 1977 National Elections, p. 9.
36. Ibid., p. 12.
37. Ralph Premdas, "Papua New Guinea: The First General Elections After Independence," The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 13, no. 1 (1978), p. 87. In the four urban seats around Port Moresby, the Papuan nationalist party, Papua Besena, won three seats with an average of 41 percent of the vote; the Pangu Pati won one seat with an average of 28 percent; and the United Party won no seats but gained approximately 16 percent of the vote. Pangu won six of seven seats in the East Sepik region with an average vote share of 40 percent; one seat went to the United Party candidate with 31 percent. Pangu also won six of the nine Eastern Highlands seats, at a vote average of around 35 percent. The PPP . gained around 30 percent of the vote in the Southern Highlands and in New Ireland, while the United Party maintained a strong support base in Enga and some other Highlands regions.
38. R. Jackson and D. Hegarty, "From Geography to Ideology? The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea," Australian Geographer, vol. 15, no. 5 (1983), p. 335.
39. Maurice Duverger, "Which is the Best Electoral System?" in A. Lijphart and B. Grofman, eds., Choosing an Electoral System: Issues and Alternatives (New York: Praeger, 1984), p. 35.
40. Rein Taagepera and Mathew S. Shugart, Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 84.
41. As measured by the Laakso-Taagepera index. See M. Laakso and R. Taagepera, "'Effective' Number of Parties: A Measure with Application to West Europe," Comparative Political Studies, vol. 12, no. 1 (1979).
42. Saffu, "Continuity and Change," p. 29.
43. Ibid. p. 31.
44. See G. Loewenberg, ed., Modern Parliaments: Change or Decline? (Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1971).
45. Constitutional Planning Committee, Final Repart (Port Moresby: Government Printer, 1974), p. 7/6.
46. Constitutional Review Commission, Interim Report on Terms of Reference No. 6 (Boroko: Capital Printing, 1996).
47. Bill Standish, "Papua New Guinea in 1992: Challenges for the State," Asian Survey, vol. 33, no. 2 (1993), p. 212.
48. Yash Ghai, "Constitutional Reviews in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands," The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 2, no. 2 (1990), pp. 329-30.
49. Michael Oliver, "Introduction," in Oliver, Eleksin, p. 3.
50. See Vernon Bogdanor, "Conclusion," in V. Bogdanor, ed., Constitutions in Democratic Politics, (Aldershot: Gower, 1988), p. 385.
51. Yaw Saffu, "Survey Evidence on Electoral Behaviour in Papua New Guinea," in Oliver, Eleksin, p. 30.
52. R. J. May, "Election in the East Sepik: Mit na Bun," in Saffu, The 1992 PNG Election, p. 239.
53. James Griffin and Sam Kawona, "The Elections in the North Solomons Province," in Oliver, Eleksin, p. 241.
54. See, for example, A. Clunies Ross, "Who Shall Prepare Himself to the Battle?" in O. Spate et al., The Politics of Melanesia (Canberra and Port Moresby: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University and University of Papua New Guinea, 1970), pp. 517-27.
55. Hegarty, "The Political Parties," p. 188.
56. For a discussion and similar conclusion about the role of parties in PNG, see Constitutional Review Commission, Interim Report, pp. 20-26.
57. A. Rabushka and K. Shepsle, Politics in Plural Societies: A Theory of Democratic Instability (Columbus, OH: Merrill, 1972), p. 178.