Chiefs Today - East-West Center / Edition 1

by Geoffrey M White, Lamont Lindstrom

Overview

This volume presents detailed analyses of the accommodations between chiefs and states in 13 Pacific societies. In some states, traditional perquisites and political authority have overlapped so that the state is a contemporary form of chiefdom. Elsewhere, chiefs operate as a mechanism of local accommodation to centralized state authority, facilitating state operations in the local community. This text is concerned with the renewed significance of chiefs, and considers how the discussions and disagreements that surround them are a vital part of debates about identity and power in the Pacific today. In some cases, these debates produce calls for the revitalization and reempowerment of chiefs; in others, they spark attempts to constrict or otherwise regulate their powers. Pacific societies examined are: Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Rotuma, Solomon Islands, Tana Toraja, Tonga, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, and New Zealand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804728515
Publisher:	East-West Center
Publication date:	08/31/2009
Series:	East-West Center Series on Contemporary Issues in Asia and t
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	343
Product dimensions:	5.97(w) x 8.85(h) x 0.77(d)

Editorial Reviews

Explores the relationship between traditional leadership and new forms of government in 13 Pacific societies. In some, traditional perquisites and political authority have overlapped so that the state is a contemporary form of chiefdom; in others chiefs operate as a mechanism of local accommodation to centralized state authority, facilitating state operations in the local community; in still others, local chiefs have risen up against central authority and led their communities in opposition to the state and depredations. The studies illuminate processes of social change. Paper edition (unseen), $18.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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