Is the decline of democracy in Papua New Guinea inevitable? : a democratic audit for Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Is the decline of democracy in Papua New Guinea inevitable? This is the central question that would be answered in the thesis. Papua New Guinea has had a democratic system of government since becoming an independent state in 1975. It has a written Constitution reflecting all the major tenets of liberal democracy. However how democratic is Papua New Guinea in reality? In order to answer this question the level of democracy needs to be measured. The Democratic Audit framework is used for the assessment because of its open-ended question style and applicability to emerging democracies. Audit questions are used to consider Papua New Guinea's democracy in relation to the four dimensions of democracy: free and fair elections, open and accountable government, political and civil rights and civil society. In each case audit questions are used to probe a range of bgal and practical aspects of the democratic system From this process, it was clear that certain themes appeared across the four dimensions of democracy. These themes were the rule of law, legitimacy, accountability and transparency and corruption. They all appeared to be problematic and as a result their shortcomings have affected the level of democracy in Papua New Guinea. Successive governments are committed to maintaining democracy and have instituted a number of changes with that aim in mind, but more is required from both the government and society as whole to consolidate democracy in Papua New Guinea.