Mixing Metaphors: Differences in the language and understanding of development policy in the Pacific Islands

Development ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Wallace
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Katia Schnellecke

<p>As one of the world’s largest donors, the European Union provides development assistance to the Pacific Island Countries. At the same time, the EU actively promotes its own values and principles toward the Island Countries as part of the development cooperation with the region. In taking on the role of a norm promoter, the EU promotes its core values in the Pacific region such as democracy, good governance, the rule of law, and also gender equality. The Union is committed the promotion of equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and men. The norm is emphasised and promoted in all development strategies for the Pacific region and in the agreements with the Island countries. But how committed is the EU to gender equality when it comes to the active promotion of the norm in the development projects for the Pacific Islands?  This thesis investigates the divergence between the EU’s rhetoric and practice when it comes to the promotion of gender equality in its development policy towards the Pacific region. An analysis of the Union’s rhetoric promotion of gender equality and practical support of the norm in the development projects for the Pacific region provides clear evidence for a gap between the EU’s intentions and reality. Whereas the norm is actively promoted throughout the EU’s strategies and agreements with the Pacific region, gender equality is neglected in the plans for most of the development projects.  This thesis argues that the successful promotion of gender equality is hindered by internal and external barriers as well as the EU’s fragmented composition into different units and actors, that pursue a policies based on norms as well as for interest-related reasons. The identified divergence between the EU’s intentions and reality has a crucial impact on its role as a norm promoter: it undermines its power as a normative actor and its legitimacy to shape the concept of normal.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Katia Schnellecke

<p>As one of the world’s largest donors, the European Union provides development assistance to the Pacific Island Countries. At the same time, the EU actively promotes its own values and principles toward the Island Countries as part of the development cooperation with the region. In taking on the role of a norm promoter, the EU promotes its core values in the Pacific region such as democracy, good governance, the rule of law, and also gender equality. The Union is committed the promotion of equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and men. The norm is emphasised and promoted in all development strategies for the Pacific region and in the agreements with the Island countries. But how committed is the EU to gender equality when it comes to the active promotion of the norm in the development projects for the Pacific Islands?  This thesis investigates the divergence between the EU’s rhetoric and practice when it comes to the promotion of gender equality in its development policy towards the Pacific region. An analysis of the Union’s rhetoric promotion of gender equality and practical support of the norm in the development projects for the Pacific region provides clear evidence for a gap between the EU’s intentions and reality. Whereas the norm is actively promoted throughout the EU’s strategies and agreements with the Pacific region, gender equality is neglected in the plans for most of the development projects.  This thesis argues that the successful promotion of gender equality is hindered by internal and external barriers as well as the EU’s fragmented composition into different units and actors, that pursue a policies based on norms as well as for interest-related reasons. The identified divergence between the EU’s intentions and reality has a crucial impact on its role as a norm promoter: it undermines its power as a normative actor and its legitimacy to shape the concept of normal.</p>


Author(s):  
Judith A. Bennett

Coconuts provided commodities for the West in the form of coconut oil and copra. Once colonial governments established control of the tropical Pacific Islands, they needed revenue so urged European settlers to establish coconut plantations. For some decades most copra came from Indigenous growers. Administrations constantly urged the people to thin old groves and plant new ones like plantations, in grid patterns, regularly spaced and weeded. Local growers were instructed to collect all fallen coconuts for copra from their groves. For half a century, the administrations’ requirements met with Indigenous passive resistance. This paper examines the underlying reasons for this, elucidating Indigenous ecological and social values, based on experiential knowledge, knowledge that clashed with Western scientific values.


2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Zuluaga ◽  
Martin Llano ◽  
Ken Cameron

The subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae) is the third richest clade in the family, with ca. 369 described species and ca. 700 estimated. It comprises mostly hemiepiphytic or epiphytic plants restricted to the tropics, with three intercontinental disjunctions. Using a dataset representing all 12 genera in Monsteroideae (126 taxa), and five plastid and two nuclear markers, we studied the systematics and historical biogeography of the group. We found high support for the monophyly of the three major clades (Spathiphylleae sister to Heteropsis Kunth and Rhaphidophora Hassk. clades), and for six of the genera within Monsteroideae. However, we found low rates of variation in the DNA sequences used and a lack of molecular markers suitable for species-level phylogenies in the group. We also performed ancestral state reconstruction of some morphological characters traditionally used for genera delimitation. Only seed shape and size, number of seeds, number of locules, and presence of endosperm showed utility in the classification of genera in Monsteroideae. We estimated ancestral ranges using a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model as implemented in the R package BioGeoBEARS and found evidence for a Gondwanan origin of the clade. One tropical disjunction (Monstera Adans. sister to Amydrium Schott–Epipremnum Schott) was found to be the product of a previous Boreotropical distribution. Two other disjunctions are more recent and likely due to long-distance dispersal: Spathiphyllum Schott (with Holochlamys Engl. nested within) represents a dispersal from South America to the Pacific Islands in Southeast Asia, and Rhaphidophora represents a dispersal from Asia to Africa. Future studies based on stronger phylogenetic reconstructions and complete morphological datasets are needed to explore the details of speciation and migration within and among areas in Asia.


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