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Reconciling liberal democracy and custom and tradition in Samoa's electoral system (pdf 57K)

This is an extract of Development Bulletin No. 60, Dec 2002, titled South Pacific Futures . The Development Bulletin is an international development journal with a special focus on Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Island countries and Southeast Asia, produced by the Development Studies Network of the Australian National University.

The arrival of Europeans in Samoa in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries introduced institutions and practices of liberal democracy, which were gradually incorporated into Samoa's existing customs and traditions.

When Samoa became the first Pacific Island country to gain political independence on 1 January 1962, her constitution legalised the coexistence of the two systems and provided the country's electoral system. Forty years later, Samoa continues to experience problems with its electoral system arising from the difficulties of trying to reconcile liberal democracy with Samoan customs, traditions, institutions, practices and value systems.

 

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