Papua New Guinea in the Twenty-First Century

“Papua New Guinea’s challenges of economic and political development have attracted the attention of successive policy makers and academics from diverse disciplines since well before the country attained its independence in 1975. Renowned for its socio-linguistic diversity and the resilience of its indigenous societies, PNG dwarfs its Pacific Island neighbours in terms of land mass and its rapidly growing population. Renewed international interest in the Southwest Pacific has accompanied the deepening geo-strategic competition in recent years between the United States, its regional partners, and an increasingly assertive China. In this wide-ranging book, David Lea draws on his unique vantage point as a professor of politics at the University of Papua New Guinea to reflect on a complex array of development challenges facing this Pacific Island nation in a time of growing economic uncertainty and great power competition. Lea touches on a range of critical issues including internal security, land tenure and environmental concerns, heavy dependence on resource extraction, the dynamics of PNG’s domestic politics, the fragility of state institutions, and, of course, PNG’s place is a rapidly changing regional and global context. His book provides a further contribution to the literature about a country and region of growing interest to scholars and practitioners of development”. -- Sinclair Dinnen, The Australian National University