Hegemony, anti-hegemony and counter-hegemony : control, resistance and coups in Fiji
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2008
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The thesis argues that the colonial state in Fiji was founded upon ethno-cultural
divisions, which continued in the post-colonial period with the establishment of
indigenous chiefly political hegemony. By using a neo-Gramscian analytical
framework based on the centrality of the role of ethnicity and culture in the study of
colonial and post-colonial societies, the thesis develops three inter-related themes
for the analysis of Fiji’s political history: the role of colonial culture, the importance of
ethno-cultural divisions, and the changing role of the military in hegemony, antihegemony
and counter-hegemony. The thesis proposes a dynamic model of decolonisation
that conceptualises Fiji’s post-colonial political history in terms of
hegemonic cycles that sees indigenous chiefly hegemony subside into
factionalisation of the indigenous polity, inter-ethnic alliances and coercive
indigenous assertion. These cycles operate as a product of conflict between
hegemonic, anti-hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces. The study finds that the
hegemonic cycles were interrupted by a failed indigenous coercive phase in 2000
which led to military counter-hegemony and the ouster of the indigenous political
order in 2006. The thesis notes that the re-alignment of indigenous political forces,
following the latest military intervention, had the potential to re-instate the hegemonic
cycles. The neo-Gramscian model developed in the thesis has a projective element
and can be used to analyse the role of ethnicity and culture in colonial and postcolonial
hegemonies such as in the South Pacific region.
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