Politicians and Professionalization in the Pacific Islands: Revisiting Self-Regulation?

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Author(s)
Corbett, J
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
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In this article, I examine the nature of political practice in the Pacific Islands against two dominant measures of professionalization: incentive and institutionalist. Drawing from a range of qualitative data-interviews with politicians, published life histories, and observation-from across the region, I find that professionalization is largely unapparent against these measures. However, despite the likelihood that this absence will continue, the professional politician continues to be a standard against which political leadership in the Pacific is assessed, and thus poses a significant problem for would-be-reformers. In ...
View more >In this article, I examine the nature of political practice in the Pacific Islands against two dominant measures of professionalization: incentive and institutionalist. Drawing from a range of qualitative data-interviews with politicians, published life histories, and observation-from across the region, I find that professionalization is largely unapparent against these measures. However, despite the likelihood that this absence will continue, the professional politician continues to be a standard against which political leadership in the Pacific is assessed, and thus poses a significant problem for would-be-reformers. In response to this dilemma, I find that the older idea of self-regulating professional ethics, usually disregarded by proponents of these newer and more managerial measures, has more to offer than might first appear.
View less >
View more >In this article, I examine the nature of political practice in the Pacific Islands against two dominant measures of professionalization: incentive and institutionalist. Drawing from a range of qualitative data-interviews with politicians, published life histories, and observation-from across the region, I find that professionalization is largely unapparent against these measures. However, despite the likelihood that this absence will continue, the professional politician continues to be a standard against which political leadership in the Pacific is assessed, and thus poses a significant problem for would-be-reformers. In response to this dilemma, I find that the older idea of self-regulating professional ethics, usually disregarded by proponents of these newer and more managerial measures, has more to offer than might first appear.
View less >
Journal Title
Politics and Policy
Volume
41
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2013 The Policy Studies Organization published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.. This is the accepted version of the following article: Politicians and Professionalization in the Pacific Islands: Revisiting Self-Regulation?, Politics & Policy, Vol. 41(6), pp. 852-876, 2013, which has been published in final form at dx.doi.org/10.1111/polp.12050. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (ttp://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
Subject
Policy and Administration
Political Science