Saugestad examines the relationship between the government of Botswana and its indigenous minority, variously known as Bushmen, San, Basarwa, or more recently Noakwe.

Gaining independence in 1978, the Solomon Islands, or 'Happy Isles' as they are commonly known, have recently been rent by crisis. The nation has been torn by dissent and violence, which saw the removal of a legitimate government in 2000 and culminated in the intervention of an Australian-led regional assistance mission in 2003. The forces unleashed by Guale and Malaitan militants in recent years-atrocities, chaos and dislocation-have terrorized the people of the Solomon Islands and will not easily be controlled. A large-scale program of restorative or transformative justice is needed. Militants on all sides need to confess their terrible acts; criminals, the pain and distress they have caused; and leaders the mess they have overseen. Happy Isles in Crisis traces the deep historical roots of this crisis of discontent, disaffection and dissatisfaction among the sometimes disparate communities of the Solomon Islands over land and resources, over the complex entwinement of traditional culture and modern society, and over poor governance and poor economic performance.

Despite the difference in their populations and political status, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea have comparable levels of economic dependence on the extraction and export of mineral resources. For this reason, the costs and benefits of large-scale mining projects for indigenous communities has been a major political issue in both jurisdictions, and one that has come to be negotiated through multiple channels at different levels of political organisation. The ‘resource boom’ that took place in the early years of the current century has only served to intensify the political contests and conflicts that surround the distribution of social, economic and environmental costs and benefits between community members and other ‘stakeholders’ in the large-scale mining industry. However, the mutual isolation of Anglophone and Francophone scholars has formed a barrier to systematic comparison of the relationship between large-scale mines and local-level politics in Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, despite their geographical proximity. This collection of essays represents an effort to overcome this barrier, but is also intended as a major contribution to the growth of academic and political debate about the social impact of the large-scale mining industry in Melanesia and beyond.