Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T05:57:06.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ministate and macrocooperation: Fiji's peacekeeping debut in Lebanon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Ramesh Thakur
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During 1982 the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was conspicuous largely for a lack of any effective role. Paradoxically, however, Fiji had earned a measure of distinction for its contribution to international peace through UNIFIL, and was in consequence asked to participate in the Sinai peacekeeping force in 1982. At the same time, Fiji's first experience in international peacekeeping also exposed it to many of the constraints and frustrations of such ventures. As has been shown elsewhere, UNIFIL's experiences are in keeping with the history of UN peacekeeping. The argument in this paper is that the experiences of the Fijian component of UNIFIL are equally at one with the experiences of national contingents generally in UN forces; that in certain areas the Fijian involvement displays unique features that are partly a function of its ministate characteristics; and that Fiji's contributions to peacekeeping is an effective answer to old doubts about UN membership for ministates.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1984 , pp. 269 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. James, Alan, ‘Painful Peacekeeping: The United Nations in Lebanon 1978–1982’, paper presented at the 24th annual convention of the International Studies Association, Mexico City, April 1983;Google Scholar and Thakur, Ramesh, ‘International Peacekeeping: The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon’, Australian Outlook, 35 (August 1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Boyce, Peter J. and Herr, Richard A., ‘Microstate Diplomacy in the South Pacific’, Australian Outlook, 28 (April 1974), p. 35.Google Scholar

3. For a discussion of relations between Fiji and India, see Thakur, Ramesh, ‘India and Overseas Indians: The Case of Fiji’, Asian Survey (forthcoming).Google Scholar

4. The reasons for both Canadian reluctance and India's undesirability can be found in Thakur, Ramesh, Peacekeeping in Vietnam (Edmonton, 1984).Google Scholar

5. Quoted in Wiseman, Henry and Taylor, Alastair M., From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: The Politics of Transition (New York, 1981), p. 47.Google Scholar

6. According to an officer with the Ministry of Defence in New Zealand, ‘There can be very few Fijian officers or non-commissioned officers who have not attended at least one course in New Zealand.’ Sinclair, Paul, ‘New Zealand and the Pacific: Defence and Co–operation’, New Zealand International Review, 6 (May/June 1981), p. 13.Google Scholar

7. Fiji Times, 24 September 1979.Google Scholar

8. UN Chronicle, March 1982, pp. 31–3, and April 1982, pp. 5–11. Fiji was one of the very few developing states to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism. But as a result, Fiji's nominee for president of the Law of the Sea Conference, Mr S. Nandan, ran into strong Arab opposition in 1981. The Fiji Times editorially remarked that ‘The Arabs don't like us, and for a reason that we can hold our heads high for, and be proud. The Arabs don't like us because we had the guts to do the decent thing.’ (14 March 1981).

9. Thus even a study specifically of the weaker states devotes just one page to defining ministates, with the disclaimer that ‘There is no need to go into further detail on the mini-states since this study is not concerned with the weakest of all states, but with weak states in general’. Handel, Michael, Weak States in the International System (London, 1981), p. 48.Google Scholar

10. East, M. A., ‘Size and Foreign Policy Behaviour: A Test of Two Models’, World Politics, 25 (July 1973), p. 559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11. Sunday Sun (Fiji), 28 October 1979.Google Scholar

12. See, for example, Blair, Patricia, The Ministate Dilemma (New York, 1968)Google Scholar; Plischke, Elmer, Microstates in World Affairs (Washington, 1977)Google Scholar; and UNITAR, Status and Problems of Very Small States and Territories (New York, 1969).Google Scholar

13. United Nations, Security Council, Official Records (S/9414), 27 August 1969.Google Scholar

14. Boyce, P. J., Foreign Affairs for New States (St. Lucia, 1977), pp. 234–5.Google Scholar

15. Fiji Sun, 22 December 1979.

16. Fiji Sun, 22 December 1979.

17. Fiji Times, 8 October 1979.

18. Sunday Sun, 28 October 1979.

19. The bulk of the 2,700 stron g Sinai force is made up of three main contingents (Fijians, Colombians and Americans) with the remaining eight (Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Uruguay and the UK) providing the balance of under 500 men. Their participation obviously has greater political–symbolic value than military significance.

20. Otago Daily Times, 13 June 1981.

21. Fiji Times, 23 February 1979.

22. Fiji Times, 5 February 1979.

23. Fiji Times, 27 June 1981.

24. Otago Daily Times, 22 June 1981.

25. Sunday Sun, 28 October 1979.

26. Sunday Sun, 28 October 1979.

27. Fiji Times, 23 February 1979.

28. This account of the incident is from The Times (London), 9 April 1983.Google Scholar

29. The Times, 25 April 1983.

30. Quoted by Moorhouse, Frank, ‘Professional Peace-Keepers “Cook and Look”’, The Bulletin (Sydney), 7 September 1982, p. 92.Google Scholar

31. Fiji Sunday Times, 28 October 1979.

32. Fiji Sunday Times, 28 October 1979.

33. The Military Balance 1982–1983 (London, 1982), p. 97.Google Scholar

34. Fiji Times, 12 October 1979.

35. UN Chronicle, May 1982, p. 66.

36. Fiji Times, 6 February 1979.

37. Kalb, Madeleine G., ‘UN Peacekeeper Frustrated’, New York Times; as reproduced in New Zealand Times, 10 April 1983.Google Scholar Perhaps after 15 months of the war, with 520 Israelis killed and 3,300 wounded, more Israeli leaders were in sympathy with Urquhart's analysis. See Marcus, Yoel, ‘“Heartbreak” Made Menachem Begin Resign’, Guardian Weekly, 9 October 1983.Google Scholar

38. See UN Chronicle, October 1982, pp. 3–11.Google Scholar For a review of Israel's policy towards UNIFIL from 1978 to 1981, see Verrier, Anthony, International Peacekeeping: United Nations Forces in a Troubled World (Harmondsworth, 1981), ch. 7.Google Scholar

39. Fisk, Robert, ‘Israel wages war of nerves on UN force’, The Times (London), 7 February 1983.Google Scholar

40. UN Chronicle, October 1982, p. 14.

41. The Fijian political system is modelled on British parliamentary government, but is more than just a pale imitation of Westminster. The 52-member House of Representatives is elected on the basis of a complex formula designed to protect the interests of the indigenous Fijians against the numerically larger Fiji-Indians. After the September 1977 elections, Ratu Mara's Alliance Party had 36 seats. Elections in July 1982 reduced his majority to four. The Senate consists of 22 appointed members, of whom only seven are the Prim e Minister's nominees. Eight are nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs, six by the Leader of the Opposition, and one by the Council of Rotuma. In general the Senate reviews legislation from the lower House; it can debate special motions; and it may appoint select committees of inquiry. It has the final say on matters concerning native land. Opposition to foreign policy decisions are largely symbolic.

42. Fiji Times, 25 June 1981.

43. Fiji Times, 4 October 1979.

44. Fiji Times, 3 March 1979.

45. Fiji Times, 24 September 1979.

46. UN Chronicle, June 1980, p. 15.

47. ‘Statement Delivered by Ambassador Vunibobo during the Ministers' UNIFIL Meeting of Troop Contributing Countries in Dublin’ (1980; copy of text supplied to author upon request).

48. Fiji Sun, 18 December 1979.

49. Fiji Times, 9 November 1979.

50. Fiji: The First Decade, 1970–1980 (Suva, Ministry of Information, 1980), p. 21.

51. See Bull, Hedley, The Anarchical Society (London, 1977), ch. 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

52. Harbert, Joseph R., ‘The Behaviour of the Ministates in the United Nations, 1971–1972’, International Organization 30(1), (1976), p. 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For a more recent discussion, see Ramonat, Wolfgang, ‘Microstates in the United Nations’, Aussen Politik 32(3), (1981).Google Scholar