Governance | ANZSIL Perspective

The Falepili Union: A Precedent for the Pacific?

At the 2023 Pacific Islands Forum, Australia and Tuvalu announced the formation of the ‘Falepili Union’, representing a significant shift in the relations between the two states.* Reception to the Union has been somewhat divided, particularly within Tuvalu, and the fate of the agreement was uncertain following the January 2024 election where Prime Minister, Kausea Natano, lost his seat. However, recent reports indicate that Tuvalu’s incumbent Prime Minister, Feleti Teo, has communicated his support for the Union to his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. With ratification of the treaty now imminent, it is worth exploring how the Union could alter not only the relationship between...

BOOK REVIEW: On Tyranny and the Global Legal Order by Prof Aoife O’Donoghue

While the question of tyranny and how the law creates and supports tyranny in society arises frequently in research, including my own, until this delightful new book there has been no comprehensive treatment of the concept. In On Tyranny in the Global Legal Order, O’Donoghue engages with the deep historical review of the philosophical thought on what constitutes tyranny before engaging in an exploration of what that means in our contemporary context. This is both important and valuable because, as O’Donoghue notes, the concept of tyranny shortly after World War II became somewhat banished from political thought in favour of related, but less adaptable, ways of expressing governmental...