Policing melanesia - international expectations and local realities

Substantial Australian assistance has been directed at strengthening state policing structures in the Melanesian countries of the Southwest Pacific, namely Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The scale and intensity of this assistance have increased in the post-9/11, 2001 period, as exemplified by the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands and the Enhanced Cooperation Program in PNG, both of which contain significant state policing components. However, the priority placed by international donors on reforming state police has not been matched by local demands for such reform. A key reason for this lies in the plurality of providers of policing and other justice services that exists in Melanesia. We argue that the Weberian ideal of the state monopolising security was never a smart idea in the Melanesian context and that police reform needs to engage creatively with the larger spectrum of policing and justice providers if it is to achieve real and lasting improvements to security.