Customary Authority and State Withdrawal in Solomon Islands: Resilience or Tenacity?

© 2015 The Journal of Pacific History, Inc. After a period of civil crisis (1998-2003), the Solomon Islands state was often characterised as weak and failing, but the society as strong and resilient. Such characterisations resonate with discussions of 'resilience' now prominent in international development discourse. Focusing on institutions of chiefly authority in Ranongga (in Solomon Islands' Western Province), this paper suggests that while such non-state forms of governance did help to maintain social order in a time of national crisis and economic collapse, they should not be understood as autonomous systems that have retained their identity against external disturbances. To the contrary, like other neo-traditional institutions of governance, chiefs' committees have emerged out of institutions of colonial indirect rule. Contemporary frustration about the state's absence and weakness paradoxically highlights the importance of the state in ordinary communities.