Dr Stewart Firth

I have been interested in the Pacific Islands since teaching at the University of Papua New Guinea in its early years. I also taught at the University of Hawaii, and from 1998 to 2004 I was Professor of Politics at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. In between came a couple of decades teaching politics and international relations at Macquarie University.  I co-edited The 2006 Military Takeover in Fiji: a coup to end all coups?, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2009, and wrote Australia in International Politics: an introduction to Australian foreign policy, 3^rd edn, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2011. Together with Vijay Naidu, I co-edited Understanding Oceania: Celebrating the University of the South Pacific and its Collaboration with the Australian National University, ANU Press, 2019.

My recent research has focused on the small states and territories of the Pacific Islands. I am at present investigating the historical legacy of the colonial period in the Pacific Islands, especially the legacy of the state itself.