Abstract

This chapter explains why the 1997 Burnham peace talks succeeded where earlier Bougainville negotiations failed. It argues that Melanesian trautim and Māori pōwhiri functioned as integral forms of indigenous diplomacy, not symbolic additions, enabling reconciliation, legitimacy, and commitment. By reshaping the social foundations of negotiation and complementing conflict ripeness, these practices helped produce durable agreements and challenge assumptions that conventional diplomacy alone can secure sustainable peace.

A chapter in Carter, Fry, and Nanau’s Oceanic Diplomacy (2025), the first book on traditional and contemporary indigenous practices that increasingly define Pacific regional diplomacy.

Citation

Evett, Jayden. 2025. “Mā whero, mā pango ka oti te mahi: The role of indigenous diplomacies in the success of the 1997 Burnham peace talks.” In Oceanic Diplomacy: Reasserting Indigenous pathways through the contemporary Pacific, edited by Salā George Carter, Greg Fry, and Gordon Nanua, 355-384. Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.4.1721.

  • Master’s thesis (2021)) – My Master of Diplomacy (Advanced) thesis completed at the Australian National Univesrity was the basis for this chapter, which is a condensed version of its analysis and findings.