Abstract
New Guinea is the world’s second biggest non-continental island; only Greenland is larger. Politically, the island is divided in two. The western half, generally referred to outside Indonesia as ‘West Papua’, comprises the two Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua; the eastern half is the independent country of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This chapter provides an overview of the island’s history, contrasts the independent state of PNG with the ‘internal colony’ of Indonesia’s West Papua, and looks at the impact of transnational political economy on the relationship between the two parts of the island and Indonesia by focusing on border trade activities and human displacement, influenced by geopolitics and globalisation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Political Economy of Divided Islands: Unified Geographies, Multiple Polities |
| Editors | Godfrey Baldacchino |
| Place of Publication | Basingstoke |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan Ltd |
| Pages | 34-57pp. |
| Volume | 1 |
| Edition | 1st |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781137023124 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |