Pacific Islands Political Studies Association

The Pacific Islands Political Studies Association (PIPSA) is an international academic body dedicated to the study of Pacific Islands states and territories, focusing on their societies, politics, systems of government, and international relations.

It was established in Hawaii in 1987 at a meeting of scholars of the Pacific Islands who recognised the need to stimulate and coordinate research and other academic activities to develop our knowledge and understanding of the region.

In its early years PIPSA was associated with Brigham Young University in Hawai'i, then the University of Guam, Monash University, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch NZ, and the University of the Sunshine Coast. There has been a commitment from the start for PIPSA to serve the countries and peoples of the region by providing political, economic and social analysis of contemporary issues.

Membership
While the majority of PIPSA’s members are academics, members also come from the ranks of aid workers, business people, the clergy, military officers, politicians and public servants. PIPSA’s principal activity is a biennial conference held at different locations around the Pacific. PIPSA Conferences have so far been held in Hawai'i, Australia, the Cook Islands, Guam, Palau, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and Niue.

As of 2018, PIPSA’s membership stood at approximately 100.

Leadership
The current executive is:

President: Professor Stephanie Lawson, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University. Vice-Presidents: Associate Professor Malakai Koloamatangi, Pasifika Director, Massey University; Dr Iati Iati, Lecturer in Politics, Otago University. Immediate Past President: Professor Steven Ratuva, Director, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Research, University of Canterbury. Secretary-Treasurer: Dr Kerryn Baker, Research Fellow, SSGM, Australian National University.

Executive Committee Members: Charles Hawksley Nicole Georgeou Tim Fadgen Catherine Ris Lynda Tabuya Carine David

Publication Committee Members: Semir Alwadi David Hegarty Nicole Georgeou Michael Leach

Conferences and publications
Papers coming out a PIPSA conference held in Rarotonga in 1993 were published in a volume called New Politics in the South Pacific (1994).

The fifth PIPSA conference was held in Palau in 1996, resulting in the publication of Leadership in the Pacific Islands: Tradition and the Future (1998), and was subsidized by Palauan chief Roman Tmetuchl.

The 2016 conference was held in Niue.