In 2017 and 2018 a project by the Lowy Institute on South Pacific Fragile States produced independent research and forward-looking analysis on the key drivers of instability in the South Pacific, and the associated security challenges for Australia and the wider region. This included examining geopolitical challenges within an increasingly crowded and complex regional environment, domestic stresses faced by South Pacific nation states, and non-traditional challenges, such as climate change and transnational crime, that may destabilise the South Pacific.

The Project included workshops and roundtables which brought together external experts and government officials in an effort to build genuinely strategic approaches to complex issues relating to a broad national and regional security issues. The findings of the project were published through analysis papers, a series of online articles in the Interpreter, and were presented to the Australian government and wider public in a conference in early 2018.

The South Pacific Fragile State Project was funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Defence.

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