‘Pooled regional governance’ in the island Pacific? Lessons from history

Since mid 2003 the Australian Government has been attempting to reshape and revitalise regional cooperation in the South Pacific around the concept of ‘pooled regional governance’. The notion was first promoted by Prime Minister John Howard in the context of announcing his government’s intention to lead a regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands. The Prime Minister argued that the smaller Pacific states needed to share resources if they were to overcome the constraints imposed by their small size and lack of capacity. He illustrated the point by referring to the absurdity of each island country trying to run its own airline or train its police when these could be done through a pooling of resources