Chiefs Today - East-West Center (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780804728515)

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.

Author: Geoffrey M. White
ISBN-10: 0804728518
ISBN-13: 9780804728515
Publisher: East-West Center
Language: English
Published: 08/31/2009
Pages: 343
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 8.85h x 5.97w x 0.77d