Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Papua New Guinea – Economic policy'

Since 2001 the Muslim population of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has increased by over 500 percent as a result of religious conversions by indigenous Papua New Guineans. The spike in Islamic conversions in this largely Christian nation has coincided with a period of increased Islamic missionary activity, and a rise in media coverage on Muslims following the attacks by Islamic extremists on September 11, 2001. This thesis analyses the growth of Islam in PNG and seeks to determine whether the growing Muslim population is likely to have an impact on the security environment. This research also contributes to a very small body of literature which seeks to understand potential security risks posed by Muslim converts (as opposed to born Muslims). Since 1950 Islamic minorities have been engaged in more internal conflicts than any other type of religious or non-religious minority. The conversion of non-Muslims to Islam is a key strategy employed by Islamic extremists to recruit new members who can be engaged in radicalism across the globe. In the last decade the number of converts involved with radical and militant Islamic networks has noticeably increased. In addition, PNG borders Indonesia, a country that houses the world's largest population of Muslims and is home to a number of activist, radical and extremist Islamic groups. Based on five months of fieldwork during which I lived among Muslim communities in urban and rural regions of PNG, I examined the empirical foundations of Islam's growth to write what is the first comprehensive history of the establishment and institutionalisation of Islam in PNG. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and using interview data and fieldwork observations, I applied knowledge from the religious conversion and security studies literatures to analyse the causes and processes of Islamic conversion in PNG. This approach enabled new insights into which factors of conversion may subsequently influence the radicalisation of converts and affect security in PNG the Pacific region, and globally.

The effects of colonial imperialism are still evident in many aspects of Papua New Guinea's development; broadcasting developments being no exception. PNG has yet to develop its own official broadcasting and communication policy. The situation since Independence seventeen years ago has not changed very much. The government has been unable to initiate broadcasting policies or a general policy on communication. The general lack of policy guideline in PNG has resulted in unauthorised entreprenural broadcasting activities. Radio and television, together with other major broadcasting issues form the basis or arguments in the study. The socio-cultural, economic and political impacts of broadcasting are also examined in a uniquely heterogeneous society. The relevance of various contemporary theories of Third World media are discussed, in particular, 'control' and the notion of 'public interest' are the two key functions which the study attempts to address in its search for a broadcasting or a communication policy for PNG.

This thesis looks at how Papua New Guinea‟s two most prominent legal orders; customary law and state law sanction wrongs. The mode of analysis is primarily economic while also acknowledging the reality of deep legal pluralism. In a society subject to a legal transplant such as Papua New Guinea there will be wrongs under customary law and wrongs under state law. Some of these wrongs will be common to both legal orders, common wrongs, and some will be unique to each legal order, idiosyncratic wrongs. Sanctions used to correct these wrongs will either be wrongs under the other legal order or not. The thesis analyses the interactions of the two legal orders using this typology. The empirical element provides an overview of the level of wrongdoing in the New Guinea Islands; how the two legal orders sanction wrongs; differing conceptions of wrongs; the degree that the legal orders are seen as substitutes; the degree to which the legal orders support or undermine each other; and the effect their interaction may have on the deterrence against wrongs. It is argued that in relation to grave common wrongs the sanctions of the two legal orders are broadly substitutable. However, the state does not generally see them as so and in recent times the courts have shown an increasingly intolerant stance toward customary law sanctions. It is argued that the state‟s effort to use the criminal law as a tool for social change has failed and has contributed to a lack of personal security in many parts of Papua New Guinea. In light of previously failed reforms, and based on the empirical research, it is argued that greater recognition of customary law through the prosecution process should ameliorate many of the most problematic interactions between the legal orders in the control of wrongs.

Historically, the development philosophy for the two Territories of Papua and New Guinea (known as TPNG, formerly two territories, Papua and New Guinea) was equated with economic development, with a focus on agricultural development. To achieve the modification or complete change in indigenous farming systems the Australian Government’s Department of External Territories adopted and utilised a programme based on agricultural extension. Prior to World War II, under Australian administration, the economic development of these two territories, as in many colonies of the time, was based on the institution of the plantation. Little was initiated in agriculture development for indigenous people. This changed after World War II to a rationale based on the promotion and advancement of primary industry, but also came to include indigenous farmers. To develop agriculture within a colony it was thought that a modification to, or in some cases the complete transformation of, existing farming systems was necessary to improve the material welfare of the population. It was also seen to be a guarantee for the future national interest of the sovereign state after independence was granted. The Didiman and Didimisis became the frontline, field operatives of this theoretical model of development. This thesis examines the Didiman’s field operations, the structural organisation of agricultural administration and the application of policy in the two territories.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-95).
Since AIDS was first discovered, mathematical models of the transmission dynamics of HIV have been developed to determine the drivers of the epidemic. It has become apparent that the most profound factor in the proliferation of this disease is the aggregate effects of individual behavior and perception of risk. Agent-based models (ABM) allow one to simulate the social and sexual interactions which may describe the societal context in which HIV may spread. Using this framework, I construct a simplified social and sexual network that represents Papua New Guinea. This country is used as a case study because it illustrates extremes in network topology. Papua New Guinea is characterized by geographic isolation of ethnic groups, such that ideas of behavior change, stigma reduction, and safe sex practices may spread very slowly. Furthermore, sexual networks in Papua New Guinea are complex and sexual violence and cultural practices may amplify the rate at which HIV is spread. Ultimately, the purpose of HIV transmission models is to hypothesize about drivers of the epidemic which will then shed light on appropriate interventions and prevention measures. ABMs facilitate the development of network-based public health interventions. Such interventions, like home-based care programs, may have great promise in Papua New Guinea.
by Alisa Joy Rhee.
S.M.

International perspectives of women’s health have drawn on biomedical solutions and pathology-based aspects, and one of the main components of a changing and evolving definition of women’s health is to provide an alternative to these perspectives that are grounded in the western framework. There has been a tendency by researchers and health professionals to utilise approaches that prioritize only one dimension of woman’s lives such as their biological, reproductive or maternal roles to the detriment of understanding the complexity of women’s histories, cultural contexts and lived experiences. The overall goal of this study was to investigate women’s health within the socio-historical context of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to firstly, understand the self-identified heath concerns of women, secondly to examine the critical points in the lifespan for effecting positive change in the health status of women and finally, to ascertain if the divergence between the perceptions of service providers and the real needs of women can be reduced.The study was set in Patigo (Wosera sub-district), in the East Sepik Province, a rural area and one of the least developed areas of Papua New Guinea. There is a heavy reliance on subsistence production for household consumption, high infant and maternal mortality and morbidity rates, limited cash earning opportunities and low per capita incomes in the district. Women conduct most of the daily subsistence and domestic duties. Women’s health and social development statistics are poor in the Wosera and it is easy to see solutions as either medical or matters of health education. However the health status of women reflects the complex and changing social and structural conditions of women’s lives and in particular, the gender-based inequalities that women face are fundamental variables affecting health.This study was conceptualised using an interpretive qualitative methodology within an ethnographic and rights-based framework, based on the real experiences of women’s daily lives. The study was conducted during a four month study period from July to October 2005 and in February 2006. The investigation strategy utilised a within-method triangulation approach, using a combination of qualitative and participatory methods. To enable an understanding of the diverse health needs of women and the key determinants of health across the lifespan, the socio-cultural and gender perspectives of young, adult, older women were examined. Discussions were also held with young and adult men and key community members considered to have specific knowledge of women’s health issues.Women’s narratives show that reproductive health problems did not figure prominently among the health issues women described. Health was related to the social and material circumstances of women’s lives. It was discussed as a social and cultural experience, not an isolated and individual condition and all women prioritized people and relationships. Women were part of a nexus of complex social relationships that were socially and historically layered with links to many generations. The types of relationships women experienced were influenced by personality, faith and socio-cultural values.The relationship between women’s health and the social conditions of their lives is given token recognition in health policy and women’s health programming in Papua New Guinea. Women face a health system that pre-imposes a narrow definition of women’s health to the detriment of gender issues and women’s empowerment. The findings reveal that in the Wosera women’s work and the physical burden of women’s roles, marriage and risk and experience of violence, and an unresponsive and inappropriate health service were major risk factors and barriers to women’s health. Based on this finding a holistic and rights based approach to women’s health policy, programming and advocacy is proposed. It is argued that the daily inequalities, discrimination and oppression that women face in their everyday lives, affects their ability to achieve the right to health and a host of interrelated rights such as the right to education, right to food and nutrition and freedom from discrimination.The study also emphasized the relevance of psychosocial constraints for women’s health. Psychosocial factors, linked to material circumstances and individual behaviour, exerted a powerful influence over health and affected a woman’s ability to cope with difficult life circumstances. Feelings of powerlessness, helplessness and stress-related disorders among women were related to the gender inequalities that worked to perpetuate the low status of women throughout the life span. Women who could not count on male support (husbands, male relatives, sons) and were the target of constant abuse and neglect were identified to be particularly vulnerable and at a risk of depression and stress.The study also documented that women throughout the life cycle displayed inherent resilience and adopted different coping strategies for dealing with the demanding and complex circumstances of their lives but some women were better positioned than others to cope. The active coping mechanisms of women showed a strength, assertiveness and resourcefulness in response to constant hardship. Resilience was enhanced when women had access to social networks and supportive social relationships and were therefore better able to deal with constraints to health. A particular threat to coping was found to result from a woman’s experience with gender constraints, violence and lack of social support.The findings from this study contribute to a rethinking of the traditional biomedical approach to women’s health research. The study challenges the worldview that prioritizes reproductive health over an approach to women’s health that concerns the totality of women’s lived experiences throughout the life span. This study calls for the need to increase the focus of research on the application of psychosocial and rights-based perspectives to understand the diversity of women’s health-related experiences, the complexity of their social relations and the relationship between challenging social and material circumstances and health outcomes. Recommendation and implications for further research, education, policy, advocacy and programming action, are proposed and discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 17, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 354-371).

In Papua New Guinea, the cocoa industry has long been concerned with low smallholder productivity and the low adoption rate of research-induced technology (Proceedings of the National Cocoa Consultative Workshop 2003; Omuru et al. 2001). Recent production efficiency studies (Fleming and Lummani 2001) in smallholder cocoa production in the East New Britain province, have ascertained that many farmers are not performing to their full potential given existing technology levels. While uncovering some important findings regarding 'efficiency', these studies have given scant attention to the social context in which smallholder production is carried out. In particular, these studies ignored the fact that farmers' economic practices are greatly influenced by their society and culture. There is thus a need for supplementary studies regarding smallholder economic behaviour. This study fills this gap by investigating how social factors influence smallholders' decisions concerning the production, transportation and marketing of their cocoa. Prior to commencing this thesis, my preliminary investigations in East New Britain province suggested that transport costs bear little relationship to supply and demand market principles. For example, in 2004, a tonne load of copra cost K70 to transport to buyers in town, while a one tonne load of cocoa cost K320 over the same route. Transport costs and, similarly, marketing appear to be influenced greatly by non-market factors, such as kinship and perceptions about the relative value of the goods to be transported. Because PNG village economies exhibit a high degree of "social embeddedness", this study combines several theoretical and methodological approaches, to bring the social dimension into the analysis of cocoa economic practices.The thesis argues that socio-cultural factors greatly influence the economic behaviour and the entrepreneurial success of farmers. The results have important industry policy implications for designing agricultural extension strategies more appropriate to the socioeconomic situations of farmers.

Health indicators in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are poor by virtually any standards and have declined over the last 2 decades. As in other developing countries that find it impossible to achieve ‘health for all’ through western medical services alone, the idea of developing an integrated health system, one that incorporates traditional medicine, has been proposed as a way of addressing poor health status. The idea of developing an integrated health system in PNG is not new but only recently has it translated into action with tangible results including a draft ‘National Policy on Traditional Medicine for Papua New Guinea’. Over many years researchers have bemoaned the paucity of information on cultural beliefs and treatment practices that could make the incorporation of traditional medicine into the health system, along the lines proposed in the National Policy, better informed. To date this information gap has not been filled.The thesis includes a review of literature on traditional medicine around PNG and the results of a case study conducted by indigenous research assistants among the Nasioi speakers of Central Bougainville. An international perspective is brought to bear through a critique of theoretical models of integration and a review of practical experiences in other countries that have tried to develop various types of integrated health systems. Information from each of these sources is considered in an endeavour to address the urgent need for information to inform the implementation of the National Policy on Traditional Medicine for Papua New Guinea.All available studies on traditional medicine in PNG were included in the literature review. Despite PNG's vast cultural diversity it became evident that some common elements exist between different cultural groups.The case study used a focused ethnographic approach to examine treatment-seeking responses to illness and associated beliefs and decision-making criteria in relation to traditional and modern medicine. It also investigated the organization of traditional health services, attitudes towards an integrated health system and the potential for practitioners to collaborate with one another. The case study made it possible to focus on pertinent issues that had not been covered in earlier studies. The case study suggests that in areas where the organization of and attitudes toward traditional medicine resemble those in the Nasioi area there may be great potential for a health system that incorporates traditional medicine to deliver health benefits to communities. The case study also serves as an example of research that could be replicated or adapted by provinces that need more information about their own situation before embarking on the process of incorporating traditional medicine into the local health system.The process by which integration might proceed in PNG is considered in the context of integration experiences in other countries. Although ideologically attractive, total integration is not realistic for PNG at this stage. The informality and lack of documentation on traditional medicine as well as the lack of resources to support the development of an integrated health system mean that PNG’s own version of an incorporated or collaborative model of integration is more appropriate.It should be noted that in this thesis the term ‘integrated health system’ is used to cover the full range of varying degrees of integration of traditional with modern medicine and should not be taken to imply only a fully integrated system. Similarly, the terms ‘integration’ and ‘incorporation’ are normally used to refer to the process and not the outcome.Even an incorporated health system may not be a viable proposition in all parts of PNG. Where it is feasible, incorporation would need to be progressed in a carefully considered and planned manner with a realistic and long-term approach. The process would require coordination at national level and the flexibility for provinces to participate according to their own prevailing circumstances and capacity. Incorporation should proceed slowly and will require government support including the allocation of resources. It may be possible to pilot and thus fine-tune PNG’s integration model in a few places, such as the Nasioi area, before expanding to multiple provinces.The potential benefits of an incorporated health system include strengthening of primary health care, better access to services, more affordable services, cultural relevance, a holistic approach, preservation of traditional knowledge, increased autonomy and possibly cost savings. An incorporated health system is worth pursuing because, if carefully planned and implemented, it does have the potential to improve health status in a country where health indicators desperately need to be elevated.

The thesis examines the socio-economic factors influencing household farm investment decisions and land mobilisation of coffee smallholder farmers in Eastern Highland Province, Papua New Guinea. Through the prism of coffee production and the adoption of large-scale commercial production of pineapple and broccoli, the thesis documents and explains the reasons for the dramatic changes in land use, land tenure, labour and gender relations over the last two decades.

Health indicators in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are poor by virtually any standards and have declined over the last 2 decades. As in other developing countries that find it impossible to achieve ‘health for all’ through western medical services alone, the idea of developing an integrated health system, one that incorporates traditional medicine, has been proposed as a way of addressing poor health status. The idea of developing an integrated health system in PNG is not new but only recently has it translated into action with tangible results including a draft ‘National Policy on Traditional Medicine for Papua New Guinea’. Over many years researchers have bemoaned the paucity of information on cultural beliefs and treatment practices that could make the incorporation of traditional medicine into the health system, along the lines proposed in the National Policy, better informed. To date this information gap has not been filled.
The thesis includes a review of literature on traditional medicine around PNG and the results of a case study conducted by indigenous research assistants among the Nasioi speakers of Central Bougainville. An international perspective is brought to bear through a critique of theoretical models of integration and a review of practical experiences in other countries that have tried to develop various types of integrated health systems. Information from each of these sources is considered in an endeavour to address the urgent need for information to inform the implementation of the National Policy on Traditional Medicine for Papua New Guinea.
All available studies on traditional medicine in PNG were included in the literature review. Despite PNG's vast cultural diversity it became evident that some common elements exist between different cultural groups.
The case study used a focused ethnographic approach to examine treatment-seeking responses to illness and associated beliefs and decision-making criteria in relation to traditional and modern medicine. It also investigated the organization of traditional health services, attitudes towards an integrated health system and the potential for practitioners to collaborate with one another. The case study made it possible to focus on pertinent issues that had not been covered in earlier studies. The case study suggests that in areas where the organization of and attitudes toward traditional medicine resemble those in the Nasioi area there may be great potential for a health system that incorporates traditional medicine to deliver health benefits to communities. The case study also serves as an example of research that could be replicated or adapted by provinces that need more information about their own situation before embarking on the process of incorporating traditional medicine into the local health system.
The process by which integration might proceed in PNG is considered in the context of integration experiences in other countries. Although ideologically attractive, total integration is not realistic for PNG at this stage. The informality and lack of documentation on traditional medicine as well as the lack of resources to support the development of an integrated health system mean that PNG’s own version of an incorporated or collaborative model of integration is more appropriate.
It should be noted that in this thesis the term ‘integrated health system’ is used to cover the full range of varying degrees of integration of traditional with modern medicine and should not be taken to imply only a fully integrated system. Similarly, the terms ‘integration’ and ‘incorporation’ are normally used to refer to the process and not the outcome.
Even an incorporated health system may not be a viable proposition in all parts of PNG. Where it is feasible, incorporation would need to be progressed in a carefully considered and planned manner with a realistic and long-term approach. The process would require coordination at national level and the flexibility for provinces to participate according to their own prevailing circumstances and capacity. Incorporation should proceed slowly and will require government support including the allocation of resources. It may be possible to pilot and thus fine-tune PNG’s integration model in a few places, such as the Nasioi area, before expanding to multiple provinces.
The potential benefits of an incorporated health system include strengthening of primary health care, better access to services, more affordable services, cultural relevance, a holistic approach, preservation of traditional knowledge, increased autonomy and possibly cost savings. An incorporated health system is worth pursuing because, if carefully planned and implemented, it does have the potential to improve health status in a country where health indicators desperately need to be elevated.

This thesis examines how the Kamoro (also known as the Mimika) people of the south-west coast of Papua (former Irian Jaya), Indonesia have adapted to major political and economic changes over a long history of interactions with outsiders. More specifically, it is an ethnohistorical analysis of Kamoro strategies of engagement dating back to the seventeenth century, but focusing on the twentieth century. Taking ethnohistory to most generally refer to the investigation of the social and cultural distinctiveness of historical consciousness, this thesis examines how perceptions and activities of the past shape interpretations of the present. Though this thesis privileges Kamoro perspectives, it juxtaposes them against broader ethnohistorical analyses of the “outsiders” with whom they have interacted. For the Kamoro, amoko-kwere, narratives about the ancestral (and eternal) cultural heroes, underlie indigenous modes of historical consciousness which are ultimately grounded in forms of social reciprocity. One key characteristic of the amoko-kwere is the incorporation of foreign elements and their reformulation as products of indigenous agency. As a result of this reinterpretation expectations are raised concerning the exchange of foreign material wealth and abilities, both classified in the Kamoro language as kata. Foreign withholding of kata emerges as a dominant theme in amoko-kwere and is interpreted as theft, ultimately establishing relationships of negative reciprocity between the Kamoro and the powerful outsiders. These feelings are mirrored in contemporary Kamoro conceptions of their relationships with the Indonesian State and the massive PT Freeport Indonesia Mining Company who use a significant amount of Kamoro land for deposition of mining waste (tailings) and for the development of State and company infrastructure.

The neo-liberal policies of liberalization and deregulation, as utilized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its dealings with countries of the developing world, tend to facilitate the conditions for financial crisis. This can be traced by examining the economic crises of Mexico in 1982 and 1994/95, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998 and looking at the main causes and triggers of these crises. It is evident that the financial vulnerability that these countries suffered from existed due to, and not in spite of, these policy prescriptions. The IMF continues to present these policies as proven successes - a view that this dissertation contests. Further to this, the policies that the Fund uses are formulated for use in semi-peripheral economies and have little relationship to the actual economic environments of peripheral countries such as those of sub-Saharan Africa or Papua New Guinea. The ideology of free-markets and globalization is seen as unassailable by the IMF. By encouraging countries to remain part of the global financial system through debt rescheduling and open-markets policies, the IMF holds an increasingly fragile economic environment together. This dissertation formulates and tests four hypotheses in relation to Mexico, Asia, Russia and Papua New Guinea and the periphery. These are - (1) If there are periods of 'irrational exuberance' among investors in Third World debt, these are likely to contribute to debt crises. (2) If IMF policies are implemented in the Third World as dictated, then their primary benefits will accrue to the elites in those countries and in the developed world. (3) If Third World countries open their economies to foreign capital, then they are more likely to experience debt crises. (4) If IMF policies are implemented in peripheral countries, then they are even less likely to be successful than in semi-peripheral countries.

In this thesis I examine the local notions of indigenous shell (tabu) and state-issued currencies used by Tolai people of Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. Following the general viewpoint of the New Melanesian Ethnography as inspired by Marilyn Strathem and Roy Wagner among others, the thesis aims to demonstrate how we can describe, analyse, and understand the relational dimensions of traditional and introduced currencies in terms which are consonant with recent accounts of the sort of 'dividual' personhood that is reportedly distinctive to Melanesia. In Chapter I, I outline Tolai understandings of personhood with respect to the 'traditional' system of social organisation and kinship, focusing upon indigenous conceptualisations of the body. In Chapter 2, I describe how this symbolisation of relations and the body is for villagers a significant aspect also of tabu, providing its conceptual background: its various meanings, mythical understandings, and subunit classification as well shaping the processes of production, exchange, and accumulation in which it has been deployed. In Chapters 3-6, I argue that the indigenous version of dividual personhood has played a key role in the Tolai history of currency utilisation and in the local organization, operation and transformation of various exchange spheres ('barter', 'purchase', 'hire', and 'secular' and 'ceremonial sharing') consequent to the villagers' entry into new relations non-Tolai persons, to the issuing of state currencies, and the introduction of imported commodities.

This thesis addresses the puzzle of how a development policy model of partnership works by examining the case of the Papua New Guinea Church Partnership Program (CPP), involving seven Papua New Guinea churches, their partner Australian faithbased NGOs, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the National Government. By focusing on the effects on churches of engaging in a donor-funded program, the research adds to a particular strand in the anthropology of development literature concerned with how development interventions work, and to another in development studies concerned with the relationship between religion and development. This thesis uses a Foucauldian governmentality perspective to understand development and foreign aid as regimes of practice, shaped by a secular tradition that uses a language in which the policy model of partnership has become both normative and instrumental. It also understands Christianity as a regime of practice, shaped by a religious tradition that uses a particular language for talking about development. Employing the extended metaphor of the kundu or hour-glass drum, the thesis analyses processes of translation of the Christian and secular 'rhythms', or languages of development, being played by the partners. Key interlocutors carry out the work of translation in order to make their languages mutually intelligible. In so doing, they find themselves enacting a kundu relationship, which affirms their personal agency as partnership trustees. As partners with diverse interests are brought together to achieve CPP outcomes and their own organisational goals, being in a kundu relationship creates local translation spaces where the dynamic interaction of Christian and secular regimes of practice occur. These spaces present opportunities for manoeuvre on the part of the churches, and for the exercise of a productive form of power that simultaneously disciplines and empowers them in unanticipated ways. In this way, the thesis discerns continuities in the dialectical encounters between the global and the local in Papua New Guinea's missionary and colonial histories and the present-day development landscape. The conclusion is that Papua New Guinea churches are assuming organisational identities as agents of a form of development that is underpinned theologically and translated into the vernacular. The churches are framing their engagement with development as a means of fulfilling what John's Gospel calls 'life in all its fullness'.

This thesis considers the association between western Melanesian ethnographic economic specialisation and prehistoric systems of production and distribution. Contrasting theories for the development of historical specialisation are reviewed and the criticism made that these are chronologically limited to the late Holocene. The statement is made that to fully appreciate temporal change we must expand our view to encompass the preceramic period. Obsidian is one of the few archaeologically visible materials which was distributed in both preceramic and ceramic times. This material is chosen as a “measuring device” to map variation in production and distribution patterns in the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea. A review of ethnographic and anthropological literature revealed that the Admiralty Islands were characterised by a high level of village or lineagebased economic specialisation. Obsidian was one of the materials produced and distributed within this system. A study was carried out on obsidian use at Pamwak Rocksheiter on Manus Island, and at a number of mid to late Holocene localities on Manus and Mouk. Characterisation analysis revealed that offshore obsidian, probably from the Pam Islands, began to be utilised in the terminal Pleistocene. Trends of increasing accessibility through time and a move to incorporate increasing quantities of Lou obsidian were revealed. A significant discovery is the possibility of a major increase in the use of Lou obsidian coincident with the appearance of Lapita. Retouched obsidian blades and microblades were found to be present in only post- Lapita contexts. Chronological change in blade production strategies was revealed on Lou. This involved the development of highly standardised triangular forms by approximately 1600-1300 BP, followed by a simplification of technology as reflected in the appearance of minimally modified tanged forms. This occurred within the last 1000 years and is interpreted as showing increased demand for weapon points. This demonstrates a move toward the form of spearpoint production recorded by nineteenth century ethnographers. The conclusion drawn is that none of the models yet advanced for the devlopment of economic specialisation in Melanesia is adequate for interpreting change in production and distribution in the Admiralty Islands. The roots of economic specialisation may lie further back in time than catered for by existing models.

In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development published its long awaited report: "Our Common Future". The report contained a detailed discussion of global environment and development problems and a set of recommendations which the Commission suggested could alleviate many of those problems. At the core of the Commission's recommendation was the 'sustainable development' concept which the Commission strongly suggested countries should adopt as the principal vehicle for overcoming many of the global environmental and social ills. But, what is sustainable development? What are its core values? How can sustainable development be utilized to arrest and resolve global societal problems? Does sustainable development have a universal application? Under what conditions can sustainable development be successfully implemented? These are some of the key issues that are addressed in this research paper. In this paper I look at the origin and definition of the sustainable development concept and identify the relevant principles of the concept. I also identify the tools that are necessary for the implementation of the concept. The underpinning of my argument is that sustainable development can be successfully implemented by countries particularly developing countries because the concept has strong roots in traditional cultures which are dominant in developing countries. I explore this position and the various issues that have been identified above by adopting Papua New Guinea (PNG) a developing country as a case study.

This thesis examines aspects of poverty, risk and coping mechanisms in remote rural Papua New Guinea. The three essays draw on a unique cross sectional data set, collected in February 2012, from a study area in Obura Wonenara District in Eastern Highlands Province. The essays contribute to filling a gap in the literature on poverty in Papua New Guinea, which, to date, has had limited household studies of poverty in remote areas, and has largely neglected the role of a range of risks and their relationships to poverty as well as the role of informal insurance networks in responding to different kinds of risks. The essays also add to the scarce international literature on poverty in remote locations, and extend the international literature on informal insurance by studying both inter-household and intra-household transfers, and examining the extent of external support networks. The results show that the study area households face extraordinarily high levels of risks and are very weakly networked. Geospatial factors interact with inadequate government services, low levels of human capital, a lack of markets and underdeveloped family and social capital to contribute to the community members living in poverty, with limited household assets. Even those with higher asset levels are likely to be animal-based protein deficient. Multiple market failures mean that coping mechanisms are limited and there is an excessive reliance on consumption-reducing strategies. Households are too poor to enter into extensive informal insurance networks, which are underdeveloped both between and within households. Only a handful of households have potential insurers outside of the study area. The poorest within the study area are relatively geographically disadvantaged,more food insecure, more exposed to serious risk, more reliant on consumption reducing strategies and less insured through social networks. However, while relative poverty within the study area is certainly real, the main conclusion from the research is that nearly all of the people living in the study area are poor and extremely vulnerable to suffering from irreversible harm due to malnutrition.

This thesis is the first detailed geographic and ethnographic study of Papua New Guinea's thriving betel nut trade. It tells the story of the trade of betel nut into the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), and examines the daily lives and interactions of the diverse collection of participants involved in the trade - the 'betel people' - and how they have contributed to the making of a flourishing, contemporary and indigenous market. Betel nut is a stimulant that has long been produced, exchanged and consumed throughout lowland PNG, but was absent from the pre-colonial highlands. Since the 1960s increasing numbers of highlanders have started chewing betel nut which has given rise to a long-distance wholesale trade that connects rural lowland producers to the highland consumers. Betel nut is now the country's most important domestic cash crop, and its sale and resale is a prominent, and potentially lucrative, livelihood activity for rural and urban people in both the lowlands and the highlands. This thesis is based on thirteen months nomadic ethnographic fieldwork in which betel nut, and the actors that shape its trajectory, was followed from the lowland production areas into the highland marketplaces and beyond. I document the considerable scale and complexity of the trade, the efflorescence of intermediaries within it, and the high level of specialisation amongst its actors. 'Following' betel nut and betel people also foregrounds the importance of social relationships, and the associated processes of inclusion and exclusion, to shaping the structure and the dynamics of the trade. The highly competitive and opportunistic nature of the trade leads betel people to transact in the same places and often with the same people, and it encourages them to cultivate and nurture those relationships which provide security and enable access in new places. Betel people trade to make money, but I suggest that trade relationships regularly overflow the marketplace. Further, the transactions within the trade are routinely conceptualised as more than simple commodity transfers. I also seek to frame the trade in relation to the power asymmetries between different actors, and emphasise the diverse manifestations of cooperation and competition in trade negot1at1ons. Drawing on the growing literature within geography and anthropology concerned with the social embeddedness of 'economic' activity, this research emphasises that the making of markets is a dynamic and contested process, one that is always spatial, grounded in particular places. In doing so it contributes to better understanding marketplaces, livelihoods, and the creation of alternative modernities in contemporary PNG. The betel nut trade is full of contradictions and tensions, but also the aspirations of a great number of 'grassroot' Papua New Guineans.

Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country characterised by tremendous linguistic, environmental, and cultural diversity, has experienced a history of educational reform and political and social turbulence. Attempts to inform educational interventions and successful policy change in PNG have been erratic. In addition, there is a paucity of sound methodological research which has impeded effective change. As such, little is known about the key determinants of academic outcomes for PNG students. The purpose of the current study was to test a comprehensive cross-cultural model of the relation of a suite of psycho-social constructs to academic outcomes for PNG students from urban, rural, and village educational settings. This model examined the influence of socio-economic status, parent education, future goal orientation, perceived instrumental value, motivation, self-concept, and self-regulation upon PNG students’ academic outcomes. In order to test this model in PNG, three main studies were conducted. The first study (n=917) aimed to examine the psychometric properties of relevant instrumentation, and the differences in students’ endorsement of future goals, perceived instrumentality, motivation, self-concept, and self-regulation, across different groups in PNG. This study found the instrumentation to be valid and reliable for use in PNG, as well as structurally invariant across gender, grade, and region groups. Gender, grade, and region profile differences were also found for each of the five psychological variables. The second study (n=917) aimed to examine the relations between key socio-economic and psychological factors, and the impact that these variables had upon achievement and effort outcomes. The results firstly highlighted students’ socio-economic status and parent education as being positive predictors of student outcomes. Next, village-oriented future goals and perceived instrumentality, mastery and social motivation, and domain specific academic self-concept, were all found to be significant, positive predictors of students’ achievement and effort scores. Furthermore, authority future goals and perceived instrumentality and performance motivation were found to be negative predictors of student outcomes. Finally, the third study (n=52) aimed to illuminate and extend the results of the quantitative studies with qualitative data from students, teachers, and parents. This study found that these groups emphasised the importance of future goals, perceived instrumentality, motivation, and self-regulation as predictors of students’ educational experiences, and they highlighted the underlying relations between these variables and student outcomes. Results also highlighted a number of additional psychological, linguistic, and socio-cultural factors, as serving important roles in students’ educational experiences. Findings of the current investigation were interpreted within the cross-cultural framework of the student model that was utilised. The findings have important implications for our understanding of the key determinants of student achievement and effort within PNG, but also for future cross-cultural research examining related determinants within other Indigenous, developing, and Indigenous majority countries. Furthermore, the findings have implications for future research, practice, and policy interventions within PNG, and provide guidance for the development of culturally sensitive and appropriate interventions to aid the achievement and effort of students living in PNG.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis explores possible evidence of intensified production in the prehistory of Manus Province (Admiralty Islands), Papua New Guinea. This research aim draws on broader archaeological assumptions that changes in past subsistence are traceable through durable modifications of the landscape and often signal attempts to intensify production. To address this issue two examples of walled complexes, both constructed for subsistence production, are compared. On the small volcanic island of Baluan, walled garden enclosures cover the landscape while in the other, inhabitants of Andra constructed a nearly continuous barrier of walled fish traps along the reef edge. Three approaches were used to address these issues. The first is descriptive in that it documents through ethnographic interviews and field observations the physical structure, function and customary use of both walled complexes. Particular attention is given factors influencing yields, labor requirements and the consequences of capital investments, all considered significant in measuring intensified production. For Baluan, agricultural procedures and cycles are reconstructed as are the island's once pronounced and diverse assemblages of fruit and nut trees. For Andra, the walled trap complexes were one of 28 fishing methods known to be used by a specialized fishing community to exploit highly differentiated reef environments and their diverse fish populations. While the function of the walled traps are examined in detail, all 28 methods are also described. The second approach attempts to isolate and deduce phases of chronological and spatial development in these complexes, focusing primarily on their establishment, expansion and the possible intensification of their structural capacities. On Baluan analyses examine a sample of 736 walled enclosures while, for Andra, the sample included 221 walled fish traps visible on aerial photographs and 47 mapped examples. The third approach emphasizes the environmental and social context of these developments as they can provide the impetus for production increases or present limitation to these efforts. Several common elements emerged from comparisons between these two, almost contrasting, walled complexes. Customary use and the structural histories of the complexes suggest that competition over the allocation of resources was of greater significance in their development than attempts to increase production. Underscored is the value, in similar circumstances, of considering the organizational aspects of production in explaining these developments instead of focusing solely or primarily on issues of production increases or labor requirements. In both cases, pressures on production were expressed most strongly at the level of the household, a trend reflected in the replication of individual forms that constitute the complexes. Although neither complex appears to strongly and directly express the process of intensification, evidence suggests that both were components in a larger trend in which production as a whole was intensifying and becoming more concentrated. These results serve as reminders that the most archaeologically visible components of subsistence may not represent production prominence or precisely mark significant phases of intensification.

This thesis investigates the factors that have been influential in shaping Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) foreign policy in the period 2003–2015. It focuses on three case studies as the baseline for analysis: the enhanced cooperation program (ECP) between PNG and Australia in 2003, the Julian Moti affair in 2006 and the case of West Papua in 2015. The period 2003–2015 is significant because it encompasses several important developments that contributed to PNG’s shifting priorities, the most notable of which being the growing economy. PNG’s economic growth during this period gave the government a new sense of economic independence and confidence. The period showed a growing resistance to Australia’s influence in PNG. Leaders became more nationalistic and assertive. Deference to Australia was replaced with disputes and frequent opposition. PNG also developed a stronger sense of its place in the region and increasingly saw itself as a significant regional power with a role to play in shaping regional order. This research illuminates important areas of continuity and significant changes that have taken place in respect to PNG’s foreign policy over the period 2003–2015. An important area of continuity is the centrality of the PNG–Australia relationship. PNG has long aspired to conduct foreign policy that is independent from Australia’s influence, but this aspiration has been limited in part because PNG remained dependent on Australia. The period under review has not observed the emergence of a more coherent foreign policy that can minimise Australia’s influence in PNG. Political elites have evoked sentiments of nationalism and have deployed nationalist rhetoric—against perceived Australian dominance—to justify PNG’s independence and national sovereignty. However, the rhetoric was not translated into a coherent policy to downplay Australia’s influence. This was reflected in the ECP and Moti cases. Measured against key foreign policy concepts, the study did not convey a strong sense of institutional consolidation and coherence. Pervasive indigenous cultures played a significant role in foreign policy. The institutional context of foreign policy in PNG remains weak and more personalised in individual political leaders. The courts have acted to stabilise foreign policy engagement, but this is largely reactive. The case of West Papua reflected a subtle change in PNG’s foreign policy development. It provides an example of PNG’s departure from the traditionally reactive to the more strategic approach to foreign policy. The issue of human rights in West Papua has been a concern for PNG, but successive governments have refrained from condemning the human rights abuses and have often claimed that it was Indonesia’s domestic problem. In 2015, PNG departed from the non-interference policy and spoke openly against the human rights abuses in West Papua. This happened against a backdrop of regional positioning and strengthening. PNG deployed its nascent foreign policy tool—aid diplomacy—and consolidated its position in the region. It then pushed the issue of human rights through the sub-regional forum, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). This is a significant development in the evolution of PNG’s foreign policy, as it showed a concerted foreign policy.

The colonies of German New Guinea (GNG) and British New Guinea (BNG; from 1906 the Territory of Papua) experienced different paths of development due to the virtually opposite decisions made regarding commercial activities. The establishment of these colonies in the 19th century, and all of the major events and decisions relating to them up to 1914, were based on solely commercial motivations. This thesis examines the circumstances leading to the founding of GNG and BNG. It analyses the impact of government decisions and the growth of capitalist enterprises in East New Guinea during its first 30 years (1884–1914). This thesis argues that both the German and British governments were reluctant to become involved in colonisation. In the context of the political pressures prevailing in Berlin and London respectively, both governments succumbed but insisted that the cost of administering and developing the colonies was to be borne by others. The establishment costs of GNG were accepted by the Neu Guinea Compagnie (NGC) until 1899. It was a haphazard and experimental undertaking which was expensive financially and in human life. When the German government assumed administrative and financial control in 1899 the development of GNG had generally progressed in line with Chancellor Bismarck’s view that Germany’s colonies should be treated as economic enterprises. This was despite the bureaucratic form of government NGC had established. In contrast, there were claims that BNG was to be established on defence strategic requirements and to protect the indigenous Papuan population from non-British influences. This was fallacious posturing by the Australian colonies in order to attain control over the entire eastern sector of New Guinea and adjacent islands. The objective of the Queensland sugar planters was to procure cheap labour and for Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to prevent the setting up of competitive agricultural industries. After Britain acquired southeast New Guinea, and the recruitment of Papuan and Melanesian labour into Australia had been outlawed, BNG was left to the gold prospectors, with no sustainable plantation industry taking place until Australia assumed administrative control over the Territory in 1907. Neither colony had any military significance. Both colonies shared a common European morality in administration. By 1914 GNG had become a commercially viable enterprise; BNG, now Papua, had failed to take advantage of the 1902–1912 boom in tropical produce. Given their similar size and geography, the economic performance of the two colonies should also have been similar. That this did not occur is beyond dispute.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

This study explores the basis on which Papua New Guinean landowners make land- and resource-use choices, and considers the implications of these for the adoption of commercial tree growing. Theoretical insights from the Hierarchical Needs Theory, Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, and Farmer Adoption-Decision Framework enabled development of a conceptual model, the 'PNG Landowner Decision Environment'. This model was used to assess landowners' attitudes and behaviour relevant to the use of household assets, engagement in subsistence and cash-income generating activities, patterns of exchanges and consumption, and allocation of labour, land and financial resources, to understand their choices in land- and resource-use decisions. The primary research question was: On what basis do Papua New Guinea landowners make land-and-resource-use choices? This was investigated through two subsidiary questions: - What are landowner households' livelihood strategies? - How do these strategies influence landowner households' land- and resource- use choices? Field research was carried out over an 18-month period from late 2007 to early 2009, at four case study sites; in the Upper Ramu region of Madang Province; in the Upper Markham Valley region of Morobe Province; in the Middle Fly region of Western Province; and in the Gogol, Naru and North Coast region of Madang Province. Participant observation and individual and group interviews were the main research methods employed. In total, 268 participants, comprising 175 men and 93 women, representing 175 households were interviewed, A strong interrelationship was evident between the motivational factors of landowners and their land- and resources-use choices. Key factors were their needs and aspirations, the livelihood strategies and outcomes, their knowledge and skill base, the institutional systems and processes within which the landowners operated, and their capital assets. PNG landowners' attitudes and behaviour in relation to adoption choices are largely consistent with those of smallholder farmers elsewhere, with the level of participation and involvement in particular activities influenced by personal preferences and values, and by the imperative of satisfying their basic needs. Landowners' decisions focused on three time horizons: the immediate future, principally in terms of food production; annual or similar cycles, principally in relation to recurring cash requirements; and the much longer-term, which was associated with intermittent cash requirements and had significant legacy dimensions. Decisions about commercial tree growing options need to be linked to these considerations, and to the different planning horizons that PNG landowners pursue for various livelihood outcomes.

Against the backdrop of the historical failure of official development assistance to alleviate poverty in the Third World, this thesis examines the current approach of Western aid donors toward development. The thesis asks whether aid policy processes indicate a willingness, or capacity, on the part of official donors to more fully engage with the causal complexity of development, and so potentially improve development outcomes. Considering the case study of the Australian bilateral aid program to Papua New Guinea from both top-down and bottom-up policy perspectives, the thesis concludes that, in relation to Australia, there are significant structural and institutional impediments to change. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and its interpretation of national interest, dominate high-level aid policy-making, even though the objectives of foreign policy and those of foreign aid differ. Australia's official development agency, AusAID, is limited in its capacity to legitimately challenge this dominance, not least because its use of contracted-out projects restrict its corporate knowledge and its ability to influence policy agendas and networks. Overcoming this impasse requires creative management on the part of senior public servants and non-governmental members of the aid policy community alike.

It has been assumed in this thesis that there are gaps in the various spaces of meaning, understanding, treatment and theorisation of internal migration in Papua New Guinea, at different scales, to have resulted in the contestation of its nature, experience, outcomes and explanations in Papua New Guinea. Internal migration is the most contested aspect of the process of development change and progress in the country because while migration follows the rural-urban path according to conventional expectations, the bulk of experiences and outcomes are of poverty and issues. Yet its relevance and pivotal role in the development process renders it an important issue that requires proper understanding and explanation. This research proposes to fill the spatial knowledge gaps about internal migration at both the micro-level of individuals and households and the macro-level of the economy and society, and at the methodological and theoretical levels. These gaps are rooted in the absence of a holistic explanation of internal migration that properly answers simultaneously the questions of 'what is migration?' and 'who is the migrant?' Thus, it is important that the role and response of both migrants and migration to changes, including social and economic progress, are incorporated in that integrated and holistic explanation. The lack of clarification of the meaning of internal migration has arisen mainly from the ambiguity in the nature of treatment, understanding, and explanation of migration at the societal, methodological and disciplinary levels. At the practical level, migrants are stigmatised as criminals and are considered as not belonging in their places of residence, where they have moved and settled. The unfavourable public view on migrants and migration have influenced State and Provincial Government reactions and planning against migrants and migration. Media reports that blame criminal activities on migrants have contributed to an escalation ofboth emotional and physical reactions against them. However, the National Constitution stipulates that all citizens can move anywhere in the country for the purpose of participating in economic activities, so that internal migration is acceptable and legalised in that sense. The reaction of the society to migration reflects a literary divergence and a philosophical chasm that is rooted in disciplinary traditions of the social sciences. Disciplinary traditions have differentiated between the micro-level study of migrants and macro-level study of migration as mutually exclusive. The freedom of movement guaranteed in the National Constitution reflected the contemporary thinking of the time when the Constitution was written, that migration was necessary for distributing labour to places of industry, employment and high wages. This is the opposite of migration that arises from the conditions found in less economically developed places, and of migrants as poor, unemployed, uneducated and a problem for development and progress. Such explanations highlight the need for an integrated perspective that informs, improves understanding and explains internal migration and that which fill in the knowledge gaps already identified. In turn, this holistic understanding and explanation requires a proper contextualisation of the benefits and costs of migration to society. This thesis argues that the proper context for researching, understanding and explaining internal migration is Papua New Guinea's hybrid socio-economy (Curry 2003), in which there are no clear boundaries between socio-cultural and economic processes of meaning, valuing, experience and practice. It further argues that the integrated methodology is a mixed methods approach that can guide the formulation and implementation of the research design, methodology and research outcome. The ambiguities referred to above imply the need to provide operational definitions of internal migration, migration, and migrant. 'Internal migration' refers to voluntary or involuntary (see 6.4.1) movements of people between different places within the country leading to semi-permanent or permanent residence. This term will be used interchangeably with 'migration'. The term 'migrant' refers to individuals or groups of people who, for a variety of reasons, including economic and social, undertake voluntary and or, involuntary movements between places, leading to semi-permanent or permanent residence. The central focus of this thesis is on 'in-migrants', which may refer to voluntary or involuntary migrants (see Chapter 6), who for a variety of reasons, move into places including rural, urban and peri-urban locations. The economy will be discussed in terms of the national, provincial, district, LLG, village, household and individual levels. 'National' refers to the country as a whole. Province, district, LLG and village refer to the administrative units of governance from largest to the smallest. Household refers to a core nuclear family but may include relatives and non-relatives living with them. The operational definitions provided of internal migration, migration and migrant expose the partiality of exclusive explanations and treatment of internal migration within macro or quantitative and micro or qualitative approaches. At the same time, realisation is made of the need to combine the approaches in terms of a mixed methods research so as to order to capture the effects of the dual economy, which comprises a large subsistence, dominated by social institutions, and a small cash economy. A mixed methods approach, which included both quantitative and qualitative data, was employed in this research (see Chapters 3 and 4) in order to reflect the hybrid socio-economic context in which migration occurs and is experienced. Quantitative methods of data collection used were the 2000 National Census and field surveys of migrant families. A country-wide picture of migration was obtained from an analysis of the National Population Census of 2000, of 5,190,786 individual cases (the total population). These data were transformed into SPSS tables for analyses. Independent variables of age and sex were cross-tabulated against dependent variables of relation to household, highest level of education completed, duration in years of residence, and occupation to determine the relationship between migrant characteristics and economic outcomes for migrants from their migration. In Chapter 3, cross-tabulations are performed of migration data at the level of the province for the whole country. Chapter 4 reports on migration data of the same variables in two case study provinces of Morobe and the Eastern Highlands, down to the level of District, in each province. Survey questionnaires administered during the field work to collect household data on migration and socio-economic variables in the provinces of Morobe and the Eastern Highlands were aimed at clarifying the patterns of the role of families in migration and livelihood outcomes arising from migration. A migrant survey questionnaire (Appendix 1.4.1) was conducted on 50 migrant households with 25 questionnaires in each province, and 50 non-migrant households also with 25 in each province. Migrant households were sampled according to province of origin, age ofhead ofhousehold, occupation and marital status. Only five households composed of either migrant and or non-migrant households were selected in five peri-urban and ten rural villages. These data were analysed in Excel. The results are reported in Chapters 5 and 6. Qualitative methods used to capture the patterns of migrant experiences and livelihood outcomes from migration were observation and participant observation, a travel diary, field notes and in-depth life migration history interviews with individual migrants selected from each of the surveyed households. Observations were conducted at the same time as the administration of the survey questionnaires and in-depth life migration history interviews. A travel diary was kept daily. Field notes also were kept of interesting or unusual anecdotal evidence and experiences of migrants and their livelihood outcomes. Traditional expectations that migration IS the key to accessing social services and economic opportunities are implicated from the study of quantitative data but qualitative data reveal that these expected outcomes from migration are the ideal but the general outcome from migration for the majority of migrants is poverty which includes access and affordability issues (see Chapter 1). Yet, migrants are making intentional decisions and as active participants and agents of change they are the beneficiaries of the social and economic outcomes that result from migration. 'Migration' between locations that results in semi-permanent or permanent change of residence continues to occur and is here to stay. 'Migrants,' who are individuals or groups, including the household, participate both as actors and agents of that change in the process ofmigration to places perceived to offer better economic opportunities and social services. Specific analysis of the quantitative data from the 2000 Census shows that the impact of the economy on migration to rural and peri-urban places is unequal. These sectors of the hybrid or dual economy are dominated by the social institutions which outweigh the impact of the small cash economy. At the urban, peri-urban and roadside places to which migrants move, and which they perceive as offering high levels of employment opportunities, they do not realise the expected social and economic outcomes that might have motivated them to move there. At the macro-level of the national or provincial economies therefore, the majority of migrants tend to have rural social and economic characteristics including no education, a subsistence occupation, a short-term duration of residence, and extended family households. These characteristics are those of poverty (see Chapter 1). Qualitative data collected during fieldwork acquired experiential and livelihood data of migrants arising from the migration experience that have assisted to explain in the Chapters 5 and 6 the causes, effects, outcomes, and behaviour, and the multiple Iuoves of migrants that are an integral aspect of the internal migration experience in PNG. Life histories, household surveys, field notes and observations conducted on rural and peri-urban migrants yielded data that support the important role and relevance of internal migration as a cause and an effect of development change and migrants as active agents of that process and as livelihood participants and beneficiaries in the outcomes. The experience patterns of individual and migrant household provided complementary insights about the relationship between internal, migration and the development process in the country. As a development process, migrants move to access services, sources of cash incoine such as markets, employment in urban and peri-urban locations because these are not generally to be found in their poor rural places of origin. The motivations or causes for the majority of movements are social, representing sponsorship of migration for poor rural migrants as opposed to perceptions that all movements are voluntary. Contrary to conventional perspectives, internal migration follows a step-wise direction to destination hence it occurs in a process where a variety of social and economic negotiations continue to be made between migrant and sponsors or carers, between places to ascertain the next move and a destination. The evidence that a migration is completed are migrant owns a house, garden and a regular source of cash income generation activities. Migrants can continue to participate in travels referred to as hevi for participation in life cycle events including births, deaths, initiations, marriages and events of family and friends and events requiring heavy financial engagements including compensations, house constructions, and school fees, because migrants attempt to rescue their rural households from these burdens. A finding also was that remittances are used for hevi-related travels (see Chapters 5 and 6) and not necessarily on improving the livelihood platform of rural origin households. Outcomes of their fulfilment of socio-cultural obligations and relationships are more important outcomes for migrants than economic investments of cash generated at destination. These research insights have also demonstrated the usefulness of the mixed methods research approach to yield information on internal migration that have clarified the differences and interrelations sought between quantitative or macro-and qualitative or micro-level approaches. The research has also demonstrated that both quantitative methods which provide data on migration patterns and migrant characteristics and qualitative methods which provide data on the socio-cultural meanings, understandings and outcomes of migration and migrant experiences, have an important complementary role and relevance for migration research. The research has also highlighted that these clarifications can correct misunderstandings and explanations of internal migration at the practical, societal, methodological and theoretical levels. The research has also demonstrated that half a century of attempts to bridge the gap between macro-explanations of migration and micro-explanations of migrants is enabled through the combined application of both quantitative and qualitative methods, techniques of data analyses and data. Quantitative data identifies the patterns of influence of the cash economy on migration and its impact on migrants in terms of the characteristics of those who move. Qualitative data provides insights into the migrant experience and information on these patterns and their influences. This exercise has been informed by considerations of migration from the various disciplines of the social sciences including economics, sociology, anthropology and geography. As a geographical research, it has rightly evoked the traditional claims about the synthesising nature of geography in terms that its essence of spatial linkages bridges both the quantitative or macro-and qualitative or micro-level explanations about internal migration in Papua New Guinea. There is promise and urgent need for developing a mixed methods explanation of internal migration in the context of the widespread poverty outcomes from migration, instead of economic prosperity that was envisaged in the National Constitution in 1975. In terms of its practical relevance to PNG, although this research did not focus on Port Moresby which is the capital city and largest recipient of peri-urban in-migrants, it studied focuses on two urbanising provinces of Morobe and the Eastern Highlands and not on the largest urban centre of the national capital. Morobe is also the largest province in the country. Finally, in the hybrid and dual economy, the rural poor utilise migration as their strategy for accessing, benefiting and transferring the benefits and wealth of progress to those poorer than themselves, who remain at their rural origins. The crime-related allegations about internal migration suggest that just like any other development program, internal migration requires a wise management plan and a greater focus on integrated rural development as part of the development plan.

After a series of transitional phases, the microfinance industry has recognised that microfinance should comprise a variety of financial services, not only credit. In their endeavour to provide services to low-income populations, microfinance practitioners have therefore delivered services through a variety of institutional forms and delivery methods. While the outreach has been promising, the provision of services on a cost covering basis has lagged. Practitioners have attributed the difference in performance to differing country contexts (in particular urban, highly populated versus rural, less populated areas) and institutional capacity.
The goal of this thesis is, therefore, to identify factors which potentially affect the performance of microfinance institutions but have so far not found due consideration. With the increasing trend towards commercialization the microfinance industry, like commercial banking, relies more on economic, capitalist principles in cash based economies. These principles and the use and need for cash based services are assumed to be universally accepted and existing. I attempt to identify issues, in particular characteristics of societies, which contradict this notion and thus might impact on the performance of microfinance institutions. I examine these in Bogia District of Madang Province, a rural area of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition, I study a potential role model for a microfinance institution that might be able to integrate these local specificities beneficially into its service delivery.
This thesis makes this argument in theoretical terms in Chapters Two and Three, which comprise a review of factors affecting the performance of microfinance institutions, in particular focusing on factors so far not deeply researched. The review establishes that some issues are more considered as influencing performance than others. In particular the potential clients' understanding of economic principles and their familiarity with the functions and use of money in partly established cash economies find little consideration in the microfinance research literature.
Chapter Four provides background details to PNG and Chapter Five details the research methods as well as the field site. Chapters Six and Seven analyse the key findings of the field research, in particular: i) the local socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics and their potential impact on the performance of microfinance institutions and ii) an application of these findings to examine whether a co-operative could serve as a role model for the successful service delivery in rural areas of PNG.
Through the field research it could be documented that these issues are crucial to identify for any microfinance institution since familiarity with financial services and functions of money and understandings of contractual obligations of villagers in rural areas, in particular for credit services, may vastly differ from the institutions’ perception. Through their remoteness villagers are also used to interact informally within their clan and kinship groups. Therefore, a co-operative set-up will be a suitable option for delivering microfinance services in rural areas of PNG since it is a familiar and accepted form and can incorporate local specificities into its service delivery and thereby contribute to the economic development of its members.

This thesis is the result of a journey through nine countries, documenting the lessons of over eighty diverse stakeholders, ranging from multinational resource company executives to local landowners, about how businesses can amend their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices to facilitate peaceful development. Drawing on the cases of Bougainville and Papua, it analyses the effectiveness of dominant mainstream models of CSR pursued by major resource companies to respond to threats to peace that arise from the issues of most concern to locals. A problem that this thesis reveals is that despite a commitment to CSR, Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), PT Freeport Indonesia (Freeport) and BP (British Petroleum) failed to resolve local grievances related to their business practices in Bougainville and Papua. A framework of 'Interdependent Engagement' is designed in response to these failures. Interdependent Engagement addresses limitations of CSR to resolve the conflict flashpoints associated with the extraction of natural resources. Contrary to common expectations, the voluntary social and environmental initiatives pursued by the extractive industry do not automatically lead to improved conditions for local communities. In some cases, particularly where armed conflict arises, these initiatives may even produce more harm than good. Despite this potential danger, corporations continue to be encouraged to expand the scope of their existing CSR practices to encompass a role in peace building. Guided by a multi-site research design, the thesis connects the motivations, intentions and constraints of corporations operating in zones of conflict with local perspectives and expectations in the CSR context. The data confirm that dominant forms of CSR as used by the case study companies are limited in their capacity to assist resource extraction companies to avoid social conflict. This is due to the fact that CSR has historically tended to focus primarily on the distribution of material benefits, rather than on engagement with the deeper sources of injustice that resource companies often become entangled with. Drawing on the case studies of Bougainville and Papua, eight sites of interdependence between BCL, Freeport and BP and the grievances at the heart of the two conflicts are identified: 1. historical injustice; 2. the denial of customary land rights; 3. regional inequality & contests over resource wealth; 4. cultural, political and economic marginalisation; 5. human rights violations; 6. community disruption; 7. environmental damage, and 8. aspirations to define the future. The thesis finds that there are four important limitations of dominant models of CSR discourse that have constrained its ability to engage with these interdependencies. These are: the emphasis on pledges over institutional change, responsiveness to host states to the exclusion of local communities, failure to incorporate alternative visions of justice into the design of voluntary social and environmental initiatives, and the implementation of one-size-fits-all solutions to complex social and environmental problems. A significant outcome of this thesis is a new method for the design of CSR in areas affected by conflict - Interdependent Engagement. Based on the principles of mutuality, reflexivity, engagement and flexibility, Interdependent Engagement is presented as a model of CSR transformed. -- provided by Candidate.

This thesis examines how the Kamoro (also known as the Mimika) people of the south-west coast of Papua (former Irian Jaya), Indonesia have adapted to major political and economic changes over a long history of interactions with outsiders. More specifically, it is an ethnohistorical analysis of Kamoro strategies of engagement dating back to the seventeenth century, but focusing on the twentieth century. Taking ethnohistory to most generally refer to the investigation of the social and cultural distinctiveness of historical consciousness, this thesis examines how perceptions and activities of the past shape interpretations of the present. Though this thesis privileges Kamoro perspectives, it juxtaposes them against broader ethnohistorical analyses of the “outsiders” with whom they have interacted. For the Kamoro, amoko-kwere, narratives about the ancestral (and eternal) cultural heroes, underlie indigenous modes of historical consciousness which are ultimately grounded in forms of social reciprocity. One key characteristic of the amoko-kwere is the incorporation of foreign elements and their reformulation as products of indigenous agency. As a result of this reinterpretation expectations are raised concerning the exchange of foreign material wealth and abilities, both classified in the Kamoro language as kata. Foreign withholding of kata emerges as a dominant theme in amoko-kwere and is interpreted as theft, ultimately establishing relationships of negative reciprocity between the Kamoro and the powerful outsiders. These feelings are mirrored in contemporary Kamoro conceptions of their relationships with the Indonesian State and the massive PT Freeport Indonesia Mining Company who use a significant amount of Kamoro land for deposition of mining waste (tailings) and for the development of State and company infrastructure.

This research explores the experiences of young people, youth leaders, villager elders/ leaders, parents of teenagers, and government workers in Goroka, Papua New Guinea (PNG), to facilitate further understanding of youth development approaches and strategies. The study in particular investigates the possibility of establishing a link between relevant traditional youth upbringing methods and the positive youth development approaches emerging from the Western world. Positive youth development approaches are those strength-based approaches that promote young people’s capabilities to learn and strive in the diverse settings they live, in contrast to the conventional youth development approaches which addresses immediate youth problems. The National Youth Policy of PNG focuses on involving young men and women in meaningful activities in social, spiritual, political, and cultural development through participation in the affairs of their families and communities. The results of the research indicated that the Youth Policy’s objectives were never fully implemented in Goroka. This may have contributed to the numerous problems encountered by young people that include: confusion between traditional and modern cultures, poverty and hardship, drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, theft, and unemployment. The enormous efforts by schools, churches, government departments, donors, and youth-oriented organisations to deal with youth issues seemed inadequate in relation to the contemporary youth population. It is evident that conventional youth development approaches have failed to educate young people that it is a viable option to return home and become productive citizens. Thus alternative youth development approaches have to be found to assist these youth. This finding points to a need to establish a link between traditional culture, whereby the whole community takes responsibility for guiding young men and women through the transition to adulthood, and positive youth development. It suggests further research should be conducted to determine how this might be achieved by building upon the existing youth development approaches and strategies.

Personal Viability (PV), an entrepreneurial skills and personal development training program, has become a national phenomenon in Papua New Guinea since its introduction in the country in 1995. With the support of various key leaders in Government, civic and social organisations, the Government of Papua New Guinea officially launched the program in 1996 mandating the Entrepreneurial Development Training Centre (EDTC) to carry out the training in all 20 provinces of the country. This thesis is concerned with the influence of PV training in the context of large-scale natural resource development, with the focus on Lihir, an open-cut gold mine community in the New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea. Since the gold mine operation started on the island, Lihir has experienced dramatic social, economic and political changes as a society. One element of this has been the effect on traditional gender roles and relations as a result of people‘s increased engagement in the global capitalist economy. As PV is promoted as a contemporary strategy for economic development thus motivating people to cultivate a spirit of entrepreneurship, this thesis explores its influence on the lives of women and men in Lihir, and in particular their attitude and behaviour toward the usage and management of wealth and resources; their participation in customary activities; and changes in their traditional gender roles and relations.