Restoration of US Aid to Fiji: The Advantages of Obscurity.

摘要

On May 14, 1987, Colonel Sitveni Rabuka overthrew the democratically elected government in Fiji. The bloodless coup precipitated sharp responses from the U.S. Most importantly, the U.S. suspended all economic and military assistance to Fiji. This paper focuses on how the U.S. subsequently restored economic assistance. The process involved bureaucratic politics and interplay between the executive branch and the Congress. The Reagan administration set a precedent in its use of a section of law permitting the President to restore aid flows if deemed in the national security interest of the U.S. Had Fiji been a major player in the world arena, this would never have happened. It has not been repeated thus far. In that sense, Fiji's relative obscurity and unimportance were advantageous.