External influences and the 2006 Fiji military coup

It is in the nature of any civil conflict for the protagonists to be more concerned with their internal divisions than with the impact of their dispute abroad. This political fact of life played a significant, if perverse, role in the dynamics of the recent coup in Fiji. For the people of Fiji, the December 5, 2006 military overthrow of the Government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was a very Fijian event driven by the conflicted pluralism of a deeply divided society. Yet, as the regional hub of the South Pacific, the archipelagic country looms large in the interests of many powers engaged with the Pacific Islands. Thus, the relevance of the international dimension in the overthrow of the Qarase Government has tended to be under-regarded by those within Fiji and overestimated by those outside