Pacific democracy: global indices and lived realities

This episode explores the state of democracy in the Pacific, focusing on a joint report by International IDEA and the Australia National University's Department of Pacific Affairs (DPA). The report, released in mid-2025, assesses data from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. It then looks at all Pacific nations, covering the six themes of grassroots democracy, scale, localised politics, cohabitation, political marginalisation and democratic innovation. After an introduction by International IDEA Director for Asia and the Pacific Leena Rikkila Tamang and DPA head Sonia Palmieri, three ANU Pasifika researchers, Michael Kabuni, Anna Naupa and Romitesh Kant, discuss the findings.Metrics like voter turnout and constituency funds are analysed. Challenges such as gender representation and civil society participation are highlighted. The conversation also touches on the role of international donors and the need for more research to understand the complexity of Pacific democracy.Assessing the State of Democracy in the Pacific - download the International IDEA / DPA reportThe Global State of Democracy 2025: Democracy on the Move - download the International IDEA reportUnspoken Rules of Politics: Uncovering the Motivations of Voters in Vanuatu's Elections - download DPA reportRefereeing democracy: judiciary, parliament and executive in 50 years of Papua New Guinea politics - article by Michael KabuniVoting Methods and Their Distribution in Papua New Guinea - DPA discussion paper by Thiago Cintra Oppermann, Nicole Haley and Colin Wiltshire  Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre. Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for latest updates on our blogs, research and events.You can send us feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].