This article surveys processes of decolonization and political development in Oceania in recent decades and examines why the optimism of the early years of self government has given way to a persistent discourse of crisis, state failure and collapse in some parts of the region. It argues that the essential context for understanding .these trends lies in the limits to genuine self-determination imposed by the process of decolonization itself, and by the universalized ideas of state and nation it introduced. Despite their awkward fit with indigenous institutions and practices, these institutions are continually reinforced through significant international pressures including intervention.
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