L’équipe de recherches ANR Inclusive peace a été représentée au colloque annuel de la PIPSA (Pacific Islands Political Science Association) les 20 et 21 février 2025  à Wellington, New Zealand.

 Inclusive Peace project – Possible evolutions in power sharing in New Caledonia

Speakers (both present):

– Mathias Chauchat (Professor of Public Law, LARJE, University of New Caledonia, in a personal capacity): An overview of power-sharing in New Caledonia and its decolonization process.

– Anthony Tutugoro (Postdoctoral researcher in Political Science and teaching assistant, LARJE, University of New Caledonia): How do actors perceive power-sharing and the inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process in New Caledonia?

Since the pro-independence movement, and more broadly the Kanak people, has chosen not to participate peacefully in the third referendum scheduled under the Nouméa Accord, the future of New Caledonia has been closely watched by observers of this sui generis French collectivity. Since the insurrection in May 2024 against the constitutional law amending the electoral body for the provincial elections, the international community has been wondering about the potential for resolving the long-standing colonial dispute in this South Pacific archipelago. The Inclusive Peace project, launched in 2023, is attempting to take a new approach to this issue. The aim of this international research program, which brings together universities from England, Canada, Japan and New Caledonia, is to compare various states or collectivities categorised as deeply divided societies which, through their own histories of conflict, have adopted power-sharing at an institutional level.

In the context of this research, we are therefore interested in power sharing for a complex people as it operates in New Caledonia and in its possible evolution by using mixed methods. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups are currently being conducted with institutional leaders, political and customary leaders, and members of associations campaigning for greater civic inclusion at the political level. The aim of these interviews is to gain a better understanding of the logic and practice of power-sharing in the archipelago since the signing of the last political peace agreements, Matignon-Oudinot (1988) and Nouméa (1998). Besides this body of interviews, a quantitative survey will be carried out in early 2025 on a representative sample of the New Caledonian population. It will aim to measure the range of acceptable compromises that the various groups involved would be prepared to concede in the context of decolonisation and of an extension of the archipelago’s power-sharing arrangements.

The panel will first provide an up-to-date overview of the socio-political situation in New Caledonia. Secondly, it will reveal the initial results of the qualitative interview and the data collected on the ground in 2024.

Vous trouverez ici en lien de téléchargement l’intervention de Mathias Chauchat : PIPSA Wellington 2025 written English