8 - The Forum in Regional Politics

Summary

From the Forum’s early years, tensions emerged between national interests and the regionalist agenda, between Australia’s and New Zealand’s role vis-à-vis Island members, between conservative Polynesian leaders and the more newly independent Melanesian members and the question of whether the Forum and the South Pacific Commission should merge into a Single Regional Organization. Many issues were influenced by France’s role in the region, with decolonization and nuclear testing among the most pressing political concerns. Why France was so resistant to change, and so determined to continue its nuclear testing program, may be understood partly in terms of its quest for status and prestige in the broader sphere of global politics in the post-war period. Reflections on French policy in Oceania also shed light on France’s rather ambivalent position within the Western alliance. The chapter also examines how the (partial) decolonization of northern Oceania under US control brought another dimension to regional organization.