Pacific Step-Up: Exploring Geopolitical Accountability for Aid in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT

Pacific Island Countries (PICs) commonly rely on intergovernmental Official Development Aid (ODA) to assist with social and environmental challenges. Therefore, how national governments are accountable for these commitments is an important issue for donors and recipients. This study investigates the donor side of this relationship by exploring Australia’s ODA relationship with Solomon Islands through its recent Pacific Step-up programme. Given the geographic closeness and history between Australia and Solomon Islands, we adopt critical geopolitics as a framework to inform the analysis. We find that the two common metaphors, family and step-up, are evidence of Australia’s accountability relationship with Solomon Islands; while the concept of tug-of-war explains the background and rising geopolitical anxiety between two regional powers, Australia and China. This study extends our understanding of aid accountability within a novel intergovernmental environment and offers an alternative explanation rooted in a politics of power.

KEYWORDS:

• ODA accountability
• geopolitics
• Pacific Step-up
• Solomon Islands
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), all countries are categorized as developed economies, economies in transition, and developing economies based on their per capita gross national income. These three categories contain sub-groups to reflect other defining characteristics such as geography.

2 France is also a former colonial power but is not a Pacific neighbouring country.

3 Prior to 2016, referred to as the One Belt, One Road Initiative by the Chinese President Xi Jingpin (Szadziewski 2021).

4 The Pacific Ring of fire is a path along the Pacific Ocean distinguished by recurrent earthquakes and active volcanoes (National Geographic 2021).

5 According to the United Nations, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are measured based on per capita income, human assets and economic vulnerability, with most dependant on development financing (aid) and technical assistance. See, https://unctad.org/en/Pages/ALDC/Least%20Developed%20Countries/UN-list-of-Least-Developed-Countries.aspx. Accessed 10/07/2020.

6 These schemes permit employers in Australia, largely in the agriculture and horticulture industries, but growing in other sectors too, to recruit low-skilled and semi-skilled workers for up to three years [for the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme] or six-nine months [for the Seasonal Worker Programme] to fill the labour gaps in both rural and regional Australia (DFAT 2020d; Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme 2020).

7 Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent political issues.

8 Cognitive perspective is concerned with metaphors in thought and practice perspective is focused on the role of metaphors in aiding or hindering communication in specific institutional settings (Semino, Demjen, and Demmen 2018).

9 The initial research set out to explore the Pacific Step-up with a focus on ‘climate change’. However, as shown in the findings, the government and media discourse were more concerned with the accountability/geopolitical relationship as opposed to specific initiatives or issues, such as climate change.

10 These temporary labour mobility schemes have been impacted due to COVID (DFAT 2020d).

11 Tonga’s total external debt in 2018 was approximately AUD$240 million – 41% of its Gross Domestic Product – in which almost 67% of it was owed to China’s Export Import Bank (Fox 2018).