The second wave of globalisation and agrarian change in the Pacific Islands

The global agro-food complex is penetrating the most ‘isolated’ and ‘peripheral’ localities of the world. In the Pacific Islands, a second wave of globalisation is pulling a number of small island nations into the increasingly globalised neoliberal agricultural sector. Conscious of the under-analysis of globalisation in Southern agriculture in general, this article has three broad aims. Firstly, it contextualises and traces the evolution of the second wave of globalisation, compares it to the first, and discusses its impacts on the agricultural sector of the Pacific Islands. Secondly, it explores the local socio-economic and environmental impacts of the second wave through two primary research-based case studies in Tonga and Niue. Finally, it calls for a concerted critical research effort designed to uncover the workings of neoliberal agricultural globalisation in the region and suggests means of resisting its worst implications.