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Open research questions in Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

164 gap statements mined from Island Studies and Pacific Affairs papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 1,670 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The study is limited to a context-specific understanding of islandness in São Tomé & Príncipe. It does not provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of islandness and smallness on democracy in other contexts.

    “Somos Todos Primos” (We’re All Cousins) in São Tomé & Príncipe: Islandness, Closeness, and Democracy in a Small Island State · 2026 · DOI

  • The concept of islandness is contested and dependent on who is doing the explaining. There is a need for a context-specific understanding of islandness in São Tomé & Príncipe. The study aims to address this gap by exploring how members of parliament perceive the effects of islandness and smallness on their country's democracy.

    “Somos Todos Primos” (We’re All Cousins) in São Tomé & Príncipe: Islandness, Closeness, and Democracy in a Small Island State · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of knowledge about the Sámi people at the EU level. The EU's policies may have negative impacts on the Sámi people due to this lack of knowledge.

    Indigenous narratives as enablers of policy change: the Saami Council’s productive engagement for improving EU policies · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could focus on developing strategies for small island states to navigate the new world order. It could also explore the potential for collaboration between islands to protect shared interests.

    Confronting the New World Order: Small island states in the Indian Ocean · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should examine TAN effectiveness in other human rights cases and the long-term evolution of Papua discourse in Pacific regional diplomacy.

    The Diplomacy of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua in Internationalizing Human Rights Issues in Papua: A Transnational Advocacy Network Perspective · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should investigate the applicability of Foucauldian governmentality theory to other small-island contexts. Future research should explore the development of more effective governance mechanisms in small-island contexts. Future research should examine the impact of neoliberal governance on urban planning in small-island contexts.

    Conceptualising Governmentality and Sustainable Urban Planning in Malta: A Foucauldian Analysis of the National Planning Framework · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need for more nuanced understanding of the governance mechanisms underlying urban planning in small-island contexts.

    Conceptualising Governmentality and Sustainable Urban Planning in Malta: A Foucauldian Analysis of the National Planning Framework · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding of how human societies and environments have co-evolved over long time periods. The paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the socioecological transitions in Shetland. The analysis demonstrates that many ecological challenges on the islands derive not from fixed environmental limits, but from past societal decisions and policy regimes.

    Life, land and sea: Socioecological transitions in Shetland · 2026 · DOI

  • These findings confirm that remittance levels and diaspora size are insufficient indicators of institutional sustainability (Levitt and de la Dehesa, 2003).

    When diaspora representation fails: social proximity and overseas constituencies in Polynesian micro-states · 2026 · DOI

  • The international community's rejection of the possibility of statehood enduring notwithstanding total submergence or mass exodus would exacerbate the effects of sea-level rise. There is a need to examine the connection between self-determination and State continuity under international law, with reference to Small Island Developing States.

    State Continuity, Self-Determination and Sea-Level Rise · 2025 · DOI

  • The paper suggests the need to recognize the emergence of new social, political, and economic forms among existing conditions. It highlights the importance of care as a relational and contextual understanding of justice.

    PŪ‘OLO OF HOPE: THE POLITICS OF CARE FROM THE SHORES OF HAWAI‘I TO THE STREETS OF EUROPE · 2025 · DOI

  • The dominant frameworks are insufficient to address the depth, breadth, and complexity of the challenges faced. There is a need to reimagine social, political, and economic models in response to multiple crises.

    PŪ‘OLO OF HOPE: THE POLITICS OF CARE FROM THE SHORES OF HAWAI‘I TO THE STREETS OF EUROPE · 2025 · DOI

  • Our results suggest the allocation of adaptation finance to the RMI is insufficient relative to needs, poorly coordinated, and fails to reach places where it is most needed.

    Following the money: climate adaptation finance in the Marshall Islands · 2024 · DOI

  • The increasing availability of direct satellite broadcasting, however, and/or a shift in TVNZ's approach may help improve the situation in the near future although long‐term implications remain to be seen.

    The dynamics of dependency: A Polynesian encounter with television · 1999 · DOI

  • There is a need to understand the causes and consequences of the 1987 military coup in Fiji. The international response to the coup is not well understood.

    The military coup in Fiji · 1987 · DOI

  • What remains to be asked is ‘what are the advantages of non-literacy and how can these advantages be maximized?’ (see also Ong, 1982). Evidence for and against the Whorfian hypothesis remains inconclusive.

    The politics of small languages in Australia and the Pacific · 1987 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature on Caribbean integration, highlighting the need for a comprehensive analysis of the region's economic and political challenges. The paper also identifies a gap in the region's economic development, highlighting the need for a coordinated approach to promote regional integration.

    Whither CARICOM? The Performance and Prospects of Caribbean Integration in the 1980s · 1985 · DOI

  • The scarcity of women on the plantations is highlighted as a key factor.

    Veil of Dishonour:Sexual jealousy and suicide on Fiji plantations∗ · 1985 · DOI

  • Small island states are inherently small and limited in their ability to rebut the advances of larger nations. Collaboration between islands may not be an effective solution to protect shared interests.

    Confronting the New World Order: Small island states in the Indian Ocean · 2026 · DOI

  • The ‘Southern World’ remained little known and undifferentiated in 1756 when Charles de Brosses partitioned it into the geographical regions ‘Polynesia’, ‘Australasia’ (both neologisms), and ‘Magellanica’.

    Naming ‘Polynesia’: Cartography, Geography, and Toponymy of the ‘Fifth Part of the World’ · 2021 · DOI

  • These alternative visions for the nation were shaped and limited by the economic law and policy reform of structural adjustment, producing a new official nationalism of partnership, implemented in settlements of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi 1840.

    Nation as Partnership: Law, “Race,” and Gender in Aotearoa New Zealand's Treaty Settlements · 2005 · DOI

  • This article examines two different claims – one which is specific to Hawaiians as an indigenous people subjugated by US colonialism, and the other which is not limited to the indigenous and focuses on the broader national claims to Hawai'i's independence.

    The multiplicity of Hawaiian sovereignty claims and the struggle for meaningful autonomy · 2005 · DOI

  • The parties in Java, 580 Journal of Contemporary History however, could not establish radio contact with Colombo and were detached from ADCS.

    Hot Intelligence in the Tropics: Dutch Intelligence Operations in the Netherlands East Indies during the Second World War · 1987 · DOI

  • Given the differing premises of the parties to this debate, it is scarcely surprising that no mutually satisfactory resolution has been found, and even if ANZUS survives, the crisis seems destined to precipitate a general rethinking of regional security in the South Pacific.

    Regionalism, strategic Denial and South Pacific security · 1986 · DOI

  • The study is based on a single case study in the village of Nairukuruku. The field research was limited to a period of seventeen months. The paper does not provide a comparative analysis of other Fijian chiefdoms.

    THE SINS OF THE FATHER': RANK AND SUCCESSION IN A FIJIAN CHIEFDOM · 1986 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) There is a need for a context-specific understanding of islandness in São Tomé & Príncipe (““Somos Todos Primos” (We’re All Cousins) in São Tomé & Príncipe: Islandness,…”, 2026); (2) There is a lack of knowledge about the Sámi people at the EU level (“Indigenous narratives as enablers of policy change: the Saami Council’s…”, 2026); (3) Future research could focus on developing strategies for small island states to navigate the new world order (“Confronting the New World Order: Small island states in the Indian Ocean”, 2026); (4) Future research should examine TAN effectiveness in other human rights cases and the long-term evolution of Papua discourse in Pacific regional diplomacy (“The Diplomacy of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua in…”, 2026); (5) Future research should investigate the applicability of Foucauldian governmentality theory to other small-island contexts (“Conceptualising Governmentality and Sustainable Urban Planning in Malta: A…”, 2026). 164 gap statements have been mined from Island Studies and Pacific Affairs papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 1,670 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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