David Lea is professor of political science at the University of Papua New Guinea.

• IntroductionChapter 1 Historical OverviewChapter 2 Melanesian Culture, World View and CosmologyChapter 3 Crime and Security in Papua New GuineaChapter 4 Customary Land Tenure and the Birth of the Incorporated Land GroupChapter 5 Customary Melanesian Land within a Modern Legal FrameworkChapter 6 Environmental Issues and Mining: The OK Tedi CaseChapter 7 Environmental Issues and the Forestry IndustryChapter 8 Associated Ethical Issues for REDD Based Emissions Trading Schemes in MelanesiaChapter 9 Bureaucracy: Is It an Issue in the Developing World of Papua New Guinea?Chapter 10 Electoral Reform in Papua New Guinea and the Quest for Improved GovernanceChapter 11 Papua New Guinea, Asian Democracies and Parallels in Post-Colonial DevelopmentChapter 12 Foreign Policy and the Challenges for Political Independence and SovereigntyChapter 13 Sovereignty and GlobalizationChapter 14 As Chinese Intellectuals embrace the Ideas of Carl Schmitt: What are the Implications for Papua New Guinea and

“Papua New Guinea’s challenges of economic and political development have attracted the attention of successive policy makers and academics from diverse disciplines since well before the country attained its independence in 1975. Renowned for its socio-linguistic diversity and the resilience of its indigenous societies, PNG dwarfs its Pacific Island neighbours in terms of land mass and its rapidly growing population. Renewed international interest in the Southwest Pacific has accompanied the deepening geo-strategic competition in recent years between the United States, its regional partners, and an increasingly assertive China. In this wide-ranging book, David Lea draws on his unique vantage point as a professor of politics at the University of Papua New Guinea to reflect on a complex array of development challenges facing this Pacific Island nation in a time of growing economic uncertainty and great power competition. Lea touches on a range of critical issues including internal security, land tenure and environmental concerns, heavy dependence on resource extraction, the dynamics of PNG’s domestic politics, the fragility of state institutions, and, of course, PNG’s place is a rapidly changing regional and global context. His book provides a further contribution to the literature about a country and region of growing interest to scholars and practitioners of development”.