Research into law, peace and politics
Research overview
Researchers at the University of Melbourne are supporting legal reform, peacebuilding efforts, and gender justice, while developing a critical understanding of Australia’s approach to the region.
See also Constitution Transformation Network, Melbourne Law School and The Initiative for Peacebuilding.
Projects we're involved with
-
Constitutional Implementation for Sustainable Peace [Bougainville case study]
This project, funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy, explores whether, and if so how, the implementation of constitutional inclusion mechanisms (broadly understood) is significant to sustainable peace. Through the Project, ConTransNet developed an analytical framework for understanding the connections between Peace Agreements and Constitutions. The framework distinguishes between textual and substantive constitutional implementation.
In relation to the latter, it identifies three aspects of substantive implementation that require attention: technical implementation, the interpretation of constitutional provisions and cultural adaptation to change. It argues that both the process and the outcomes of constitutional implementation, thus understood, are potentially relevant to sustainable peace.
-
The Bougainville referendum and beyond: Institutional options and issues for transition
The National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea commissioned ConTransNet to prepare two studies to help inform the work of leaders in Bougainville and Papua New Guinea on future governance arrangements for Bougainville.
The first study, Greater Autonomy and Independence for Bougainville: Institutional Options and Issues for Transition, compared five aspects of governance for Bougainville under the existing arrangements, ‘greater autonomy’ and independence. This report was written before the referendum to inform understanding of the two choices before the people of Bougainville at the referendum. It remains relevant as a wide ranging and independent account of the issues that the consultations between government need to take into account.
-
Decentralised Governance Arrangements in Papua New Guinea
The Constitution Transformation Network has partnered with the National Research Institute to prepare a report as a framework for the discussions in Papua New Guinea, which identifies issues and options in the light of comparative experience. The report identifies issues and options for decentralisation, with a focus on framing the structure and principles of decentralisation to reflect the context of PNG.
-
Making and Changing Governments in Pacific Parliamentary Systems
In 2021, the Constitution Transformation Network partnered with the United Nations Development Programme Pacific Office to build knowledge and share experiences on key issues of constitutional governance in the Pacific Region.
A pressing issue facing parliaments in the Pacific, and across the world, is how to promote the stable, effective and accountable change in government. This project outlined principles and practices that might be tailored to the context of Pacific island countries with parliamentary systems.
Our partners
Our people
A/Prof Debra McDougall
Prof Michael Wesley
Recent publications
Our researchers contribute to a large range of publicly-accessible publications.
-
See all recent publications
Chandler, J., 2023. The story behind PNG’s kidnappings. The Saturday Paper 439. Link
Chandler, J., 2022, ‘Enough is enough’: The fight to elect women to Papua New Guinea’s men-only parliament. The Guardian. Link
Chandler, J., 2022. PNG’s women in waiting. Meanjin, 81(4), 122–133. Link
Cox, J., Tararia A., 2023. Climate Change as a Driver of Conflict in Papua New Guinea. United States Institute of Peace Briefing Paper. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace. Link
Dziedzic, A., 2022, Constituencies in a Hybrid State: An Examination of the Shift from "Territorial" to "Electoral" Constituencies in Samoa Journal of Pacific History 5 498-523. Link
Dziedzic, A., 2021. Foreign Judges in the Pacific. Hart Publishing. Link
Dziedzic, A. 2021, "To Join the Bench and Be Decision-Makers": Women Judges in Pacific Island Judiciaries in Melissa Crouch (ed) Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific, Cambridge University Press, pp. 29-65. Link
Dziedzic, A., 2021, Custom, Constitutions and Change: Constitutional Amendments in Samoa and Tonga in 2020 in Annual Review of Constitution-Building: 2020 (International IDEA), pp. 78–87. Link
Dziedzic, A., 2020, Comparative Regional Report on Citizenship Law: Oceania, Global Citizenship Observatory, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Comparative Report 2020/01. Link
Fatupaito, A., Utuva, L., Tauave, S., Alofipo, A., Meleisea, M., Schoeffel, O., Arthur, T. & Alexeyeff, K., 2021. ‘Samoa’s New Labour Trade’, The Journal of Samoan Studies, 11(1): 51-63. Link
Langmore, J.,, T. Miletic, A. Martin, B. Breen, 2020. Security through sustainable peace: Australian international conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Melbourne School of Government. Link
Langmore J. , 2021. Sir Michael Somare and his contribution to Papua New Guinea’s evolution, The Round Table, 110:2, 288-289, Link
McDougall, Derek 2021. Australia and the South Pacific Islands in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, in Humanitarianism in Asia-Pacific: Engaging the Debate in Policy and Practice, eds Alistair Cook and Lina Gong, Springer Nature, Singapore, pp. 41-45. Link
McDougall, Derek. 2021. Concerns for the neighbours (and some others): International involvement in the conflicts in the Southern Philippines and West Papua. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 32(6), 977–1011. Link
McDougall, Derek, 2021. Australia’s humanitarian response to disasters in the South Pacific. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 6(3), 202–220. Link
Spark, C., Cox, J. and Corbett, J., 2021. " Keeping an Eye Out for Women": Implicit Feminism, Political Leadership, and Social Change in the Pacific Islands. The Contemporary Pacific, 33(1), pp.64-95. Link
Titifanue, J., Kant, R. and Finau, G., 2020. A crucible for bottom-up regionalism?: The digital renaissance: West Papuan media suppression and social media in the Pacific. Pacific Journalism Review, 26(1), pp.140-147. Link
Varea, R., Titifanue, J., Varea, R. and Kant, R., 2020. The political affordances of the 'coconut wireless': Rotumans on social media in the 2018 Fiji elections. Pacific Journalism Review, 26(2), pp.221-241. Link
Wesley, M., 2020. "Oceania: Cold War Versus the Blue Pacific." In Strategic Asia 2020: U.S.-China Competition for Global Influence edited by Tellis, Ashley J, Szalwinski, Alison, and Wills, Michael, National Bureau of Asian Research.
Wesley, M., 2023, Helpem Fren: Australia and the regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands. Melbourne University Press. Link
Image: Vili Iese