The New Cannibalism: The International Community and the Problem of Governance Weaknesses in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In its first section, this article surveys several understandings of state failure, the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and proposes a special category of states suffering under specific forms of misgovernance: ruined states–the consequence of ruling elites’ unwillingness or incapacity to guarantee human security (freedom from want and fear) for their citizens. This unwillingness and/or incapacity is described as the new cannibalism–alluding to the devouring of state resources by corrupt and incompetent power elites, resulting in widespread suffering among the peoples they govern. Secondly, the article summarises the decline in governance in Papua New Guinea (PNG) over some ..