Dr. Gordon Nanau - Discipline of Government, Development and International Affairs

Gordon Nanau - Senior Lecturer

Office: 014-102

Tel: (+679) 323 2382

Gordon has carried out research and published around Pacific islands politics and development with a particular focus on governance of service delivery, constitutional reforms, elections, land tenure, sub regional cooperation, leadership, personhood, informality, rural development, ethnicity, vulnerability, resilience, political (in) stability, research methodology, and the impacts of globalization in local communities. He has been awarded research grants and has also led research and consultancy projects in the Pacific Islands.

Academic Qualifications

BA – The University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji

PGDDS – The University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji

MA (Development Studies) – The University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji

PhD (Development Studies) – University of East Anglia, England

Teaching

Dr. Gordon Nanau is a Coordinator and Lecturer in the following courses:

PL203 Governance and Development in the Pacific
PL300 Political Parties, Elections and Democracy in the Pacific: Case Studies
PL307 Political Leadership

MA/PhD Supervisions

PhD Supervisions

Derek Mane: Wantok System, Poverty and Rural Development in Melanesia, South Pacific: The Case of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (with Manoranjan Mohanty) (Completed)

Timoa Takataam: Electoral Governance and the Quality of Democracy in Kiribati, 1979-2016

Tony Hiriasia: The Politics of Fiscal Decentralization: The Case of the Rural Constituency Development Fund (RCDF) in the Solomon Islands (with Paul Carnegie)

Nandi Glassie: Health Reforms in the Cook Islands, 1995 – 2015 (with Vijay Naidu and Haruo Nakagawa)

MA (SRP) Supervisions

Arti Nandani: ICT, Quality Education and Development in Suva and Nausori Schools in Fiji

Don Angikiamo: Indigenous Community, Logging and Mining Development in Solomon Islands: Case Study of Rennell Island

Leke Warua: Education Finances Management and its Impacts in PNG Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Four Secondary Schools in Southern Highlands Province

Firmina Iyabora: Public Sector Governance and the role of NGO Advocacy in Solomon Islands: A Comparative Case Study of Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) and Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) (with Paul Carnegie)

Publications

Articles in Refereed Journals:

2017 Political Reviews: Solomon Islands 2016. The Contemporary Pacific 29(2): 354-361

2016 The Melanesian Spearhead Group and Pacific Regional Cooperation. Pacific Studies: A journal devoted to the study of Pacific Islands, 39(3): 282-310

2015 Representative Democracy, the Constitution and Electoral Engineering in Fiji: 2014 and Beyond. The Journal of Pacific Studies, 35(2): 17 – 34

2015 Melanesia in Review: Solomon Islands 2014. The Contemporary Pacific, 27(2): 528 – 537

2014 Sowing representative democracy in the Kingdom of Tonga: The 2010 Elections and Future Implications for Political Education, Micronesian Educator, 19(2014):60-80 (with Alumita Durutalo, Desmond Amosa and Anchie Mona Latu)

2014 Melanesia in Review: Solomon Islands 2013. The Contemporary Pacific, 26(2): 516-524

2014 Local experiences with mining royalties, company and the state in the Solomon Islands, Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 138 (année 2014-1): 77-92

2012 Melanesia in Review: Solomon Islands 2011. The Contemporary Pacific 24(2) (2012): 407-13.

2011 The Wantok System as a Socio-economic and Political Network in Melanesia. Omnes: The Journal of Multicultural Society, 2(1): 31-55

2011 Melanesia in Review: Solomon Islands 2010. The Contemporary Pacific,23(2): 504-511

2010 Melanesia in Review: Solomon Islands 2009. The Contemporary Pacific, 22(2): 459-466

2002 Uniting the Fragments: Solomon Islands Constitutional Reforms in Development Bulletin 60: 17-20

Book Chapters:

2018 Wantoks and kastom, in Alena Ledeneva, ed. The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Volume 1. London: University College London (UCL) Press; pp.244-248

2017. ‘Na Vanuagu’: Epistemology and Personhood in Tathimboko, Guadalcanal. The Relational Self: Decolonising Personhood in the Pacific. Eds. Upolu Luma Vaai and Unaisi Nabobo-Baba. Suva: The University of the South Pacific Press & The Pacific Theological College; pp177 – 201.

2016 Solomon Islands. Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands. Ed. Stephen Levine. Wellington: Victoria University Press; pp.292 – 312

2015 Promoting Research in a Stubborn Environment: The Experiences of Solomon Islands, 1989 – 2009. Eds. Judith Bennett. Oceanian Journeys and Sojourns: Home thoughts abroad (Essays in honour of Murray Chapman). Otago University Press: Otago; pp. 294 – 318

2014 Land Ownership, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Eds. Frederic Angleviel and Marcelin Abong. La Mélanésie Actualités et Etudes: Foncier et développement durable. L’Harmattan: Paris; pp.173 – 189

2010 How Political Parties Do and Do Not Promote Democratic Governance in the Solomon Islands. Eds. Luc Sindjoun and Marian Simms. Political Parties and Democracy in Africa and Oceania (Vol 4). Praeger Publishing: Santa Barbara; pp. 201- 224

2008 Intervention and Nation-Building in Solomon Islands: local Perspectives. Eds. Greg Fry and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka. Interventionism and state- building in the Pacific: The legitimacy of ‘cooperative intervention’. Manchester University Press: Manchester; pp. 149-162

1998 Decentralisation reform in the Solomon Islands in Governance Reforms in Melanesia. Ed. Peter Larmour. Australian National University Press: Canberra; pp. 183-199

Books, Reviews and others:

2017 Sustaining Peace in the Solomon Islands through a new Constitution? Part 2: The Draft Constitution and Recent Discussions, Department of Pacific Affairs In Brief. Canberra: Australian National University

2017 Sustaining Peace in the Solomon Islands through a new Constitution? Part 1: Half Truths and Historical Contestations, Department of Pacific Affairs In Brief. Canberra: Australian National University

2017 Greed and Grievance: Ex-Militants’ Perspectives on the Conflict in Solomon Islands 1998-2003, by Matthew G Allen. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2013 in The Contemporary Pacific, 29(1): 207 – 209

2015 Moving Beyond the ‘Musical Chairs’ of Solomon Islands Politics. Devpolicy Blog, Development Policy Centre, Australian National University, 10 November 2015.

2011 Logging and Conflict in Birao Ward of Guadalcanal. Islands Knowledge Institute, Working Paper 1 (with Morgan Wairiu)

2011 Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands, edited by Stephen Levine. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2009 in Journal of New Zealand History 45 (1): 140-142 Sp. Iss. APR 2011

Dissertations:

2008 Can a theory of Insecure Globalisation better explain Instability in the South Pacific? The case of Solomon Islands. PhD thesis, School of International Development, University of East Anglia: Norwich, United Kingdom

1995 Decentralization, Development and Popular Participation in the Solomon Islands: A study of the Provincial Government System. MA thesis, USP: Suva

Research & Consultancy Reports:

2016 Safe Workplace Policies in the Solomon Islands. A report commissioned by the Pacific Islands Center for Public Administration (PICPA), Suva, August 2016.

2016 Solomon Islands: Vulnerability and Resilience. A report commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Small States Economic Policy Division, London, March 2016.

2011 ‘Evaluation of the Misereor Funded Project’. Report to the Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF), Fiji (with Miliakere Kaitani and Avelina Rokoduru)

2010 ‘Enhancing the National Conversation: Provincial Consultations Report’. A report presented to the Policy and Evaluation Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office, Solomon Islands Government, March 2010.

Conference Papers and Presentations
2016 “Context and legislative reforms for political stability and peace in Solomon Islands”, Consultation on Social Cohesion and Peace building in the Solomon Islands: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward (21 – 22 March, 2016), The Southern Cross Hotel Conference Centre, Suva, Fiji

2015 “Constituency Development Funding in the Solomon Islands”, a paper presented at the State of the Pacific Conference (7 – 9 September, 2015), The Australian National University, Canberra

2014 “State Gavman as Solomon Islands’ Political Settlement”, a paper presented at the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) and School of Government, Development and International Affairs (SGDIA) Writers Workshop on a Changing Oceania, 3-4 July, 2014, The University of the South Pacific, Laucala, Suva.

2014 Chair and Discussant “Regional Trade Integration: Perspectives from Asia and Africa”, papers prepared and presented by Bishnu Dev Pant (IIDS); Mbouandi Mouhamed (Université de Yaoundé II-Cameroun); Nasir Iqbal (PIDE). 15th Annual Global Development Conference on the theme Structural transformation in Africa and beyond, (18 – 20 June, 2014), Accra, Ghana

2013 “Educating the People: Governance and Delivery of Primary Education in the Solomon Islands, 2000 – 2013”, Global Development Network and University of the South Pacific Validation Workshop, 23-24 October, 2013, Faculty of Arts and Law Seminar Room, USP, Suva, Fiji.

2013 “Security Challenges and Prospects for Effective Governnment in Solomon Islands”, 12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013, The University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji

2012 “Land Ownership, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development in Melanesia”, a paper presented at the Land and Sustainable Development in Melanesia Conference n, November 7 – 10 November 2012, Vanuatu National Museum, Port Vila, Republic of Vanuatu

2011 “Regional Webs and Sub-regional Affairs: A Glance at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in Pacific Regionalism”, a paper presented at the ISA Asia Pacific Regional Section Inaugural Conference 2011, Brisbane (UQ), Australia, 29-30 September.

2011 “Educating the People: Governance of Basic Education in the Pacific, 2000-2010”, a paper presented at the Varieties of Governance: Effective Public Service Delivery Workshop, September 1-3, Le Meridien Etoile, Paris, France

2011 “Understanding Vulnerability, Insecurity and Instability in Melanesia”, a paper presented at the 14th Pacific Partnership Meeting of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, 11-14 May, Radissons Hotel, Nadi, Fiji.

2010 “Local Kastom and Conventional Law Muddles in a Melanesian Mining Environment”, Future Challenges, Ancient Solution: What we can learn from the past about managing the future in the Pacific, USP, Suva, 29th November – 3rd December 2010