Sovereignty and Independence in the Contemporary Pacific

Abstract

Political status in the contemporary Pacific Islands takes several forms: Guam is officially an organized unincorporated seeking to become a of the United States; American Samoa is a unorganized unincorporated the Northern Mariana Islands are a us commonwealth that, by many people's reckoning, is still part of the us Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; Tonga is an independent king dom; Tokelau is New Zealand territory; the Cook Islands are a self-gov erning state in free association with New Zealand; Wallis and Futuna are an overseas territory of France; Kiribati is an independent republic; and