Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, 1998. The aims of this book, a revised doctoral thesis by an Australian National University-trained political scientist, are perhaps not wholly achieved. Nevertheless, the study should be of great interest to scholars of the Pacific. Much of the material was derived from a series of interviews the author held with politically active people in Fiji and Tonga in the early to mid-1990s. The presentation of primary sources through long quotes from the interviews is refreshing.
Valuable insights arise also from the comparison of the two neighboring countries.
Both these aspects of the author's approach are not always found in contemporary studies. The technique results in statements that reflect flux, and change, although the idea that the apprehension of change might not always be reflected in the political behavior of the very people who made the statements appears not to have been considered. The author has a light, engaging style that makes the book easily accessible to a wide audience. The innovative nature of his enterprise, however, gives rise to difficulties in the achievement of his stated aims. The focus is broad, the primary data limited, and the wider social and political context largely overlooked in the interpretation of the interview materials presented.