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Politicians and Professionalization in the P acific I slands: Revisiting Self‐Regulation?
Author(s) -
Corbett Jack
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/polp.12050
Subject(s) - professionalization , politics , incentive , dilemma , political science , humanities , sociology , law , art , economics , philosophy , epistemology , microeconomics
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.Full Tex