UHM Center for Pacific Islands Studies | CPIS

Terence Wesley-Smith

 

Terence Wesley-Smith

Professor Emeritus
PhD University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (1988)

Professor Terence Wesley-Smith has been with the Center for Pacific Islands Studies since 1985 and served as director from 2010 to 2018. He is a political scientist and holds degrees from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He taught courses about contemporary issues in Oceania, and PACS 601 Learning Oceania, the introductory seminar for the MA program. Prof Wesley-Smith’s research interests include political economy and international politics of Pacific Islands, with an emphasis on Melanesia; China’s role in Oceania; and Pacific Islands studies as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry.

Prof Wesley-Smith retired in July 2021 and is now Professor Emeritus with the center. He continues to write about the impact of China’s rise in the Pacific, with a particular focus on US policy to counter Beijing’s influence in the region.

Selected works

  • 2024 With Gerrad Finin, US Funding Delays Hurth the Pacific–But There are Bigger Worries. 28 February. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/29/us-funding-delays-hurt-the-pacific-but-there-are-bigger-worries>
  • 2023 With Greg Fry, Sea of Western Flags in Oceania? DevpolicyBlog, 6 March <https://devpolicy.org/sea-of-western-flags-in-oceania-20230306/>
  • 2022   With Gerard Finin. Good Intentions, Hubris and the Road to Hell at the US-Pacific Islands Summit. Honolulu Civil Beat, 10 November.
  • 2022   With Gerard Finin. Washington’s charm offensive and the US-Pacific Island Country Summit. Devpolicy Blog 3 November.
  • 2022   With Gerard Finin. Biden’s summit with Pacific leaders is a direct response to China—but the US should tread carefully. The Guardian, 27 September.
  • 2022   With Gerard Finin. Partners or Pawns? The Pacific Islands in US strategy and the Washington summit. Devpolicy Blog 23 September.
  • 2022   With Greg Fry, Tarcisius Kabutaulaka. ‘Partners in the Blue Pacific’ initiative rides roughshod over established regional processes. Devpolicy Blog 5 July.
  • 2022   With Gerard Finin. Pacific Leaders may be sceptical of US engagement. East Asia Forum, 6 April.
  • 2021   With Gerard Finin, “US-Pacific Engagement and the Biden Presidency: The Limits of a China-Centered Approach.” Journal of Pacific History, 56(4): 437-458.
  • 2021   Edited with Katerina Teaiwa and April Henderson, Sweat and Salt Water: Selected Works of Teresia Kieuea Teaiwa. Honolulu and Wellington: University of Hawai`i Press, Victoria University Press.
  • 2021   With Gerard Finin, “The US strategy to counter China in the Pacific could be a $1bn misstep,” The Guardian 7 September.
  • 2021   Edited with Graeme Smith, The China Alternative: Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands. Canberra: Australian National University Press.
  • 2021   “Introduction: The Return of Great Power Competition.” In Graeme Smith and Terence Wesley-Smith (eds.) The China Alternative: Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 1-40.
  • 2021   “A New Cold War? Implications for the Pacific Islands.” In Graeme Smith and Terence Wesley-Smith (eds.) The China Alternative: Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 71-105.
  • 2020   Co-contributor, Introduction to Pacific Studies. Honolulu: Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Teaching Oceania iBook Series, Volume 6.
  • 2020   “The Pacific Pledge: Changing US Policy in the Pacific Islands,” Blue Book of Oceania (2019-2020), National Centre for Oceania Studies, Sun Yat-sen University.
  • 2019   With Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, “New Cold War: China’s Surge in Pacific Islands must be addressed by U.S., Hawaii.” Honolulu Star Advertiser, 18 August.
  • 2018   Teresia K. Teaiwa: A Bibliography (with Katerina Teaiwa and April Henderson). Journal of Pacific History 53 (1): 103-107.
  • 2016   Geopolitics, Self-Determination, and China’s Rise in Oceania. In Self-Determinable Development of Small Islands, edited by Masahide Ishihara, Eiichi Hoshino, and Yoko Fujita, 85-99. Singapore: Springer.
  • 2016   Reordering Oceania: China’s Rise, Geopolitics, and Security in the Pacific Islands. In China and the Pacific: The View from Oceania, edited by Michael Powles, 98-110. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
  • 2016   Rethinking Pacific Studies Twenty Years On. The Contemporary Pacific 18 (1): 153-169.
  • 2015   China in the Pacific Islands: Impacts and Implications. In Handbook on China and Developing Countries, edited by Carla P Freeman, 479-495. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • 2013   China’s Rise in Oceania: Issues and Perspectives. Pacific Affairs 86 (2): 351-372.
  • 2013   Changing Patterns of Power. In The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society, edited by Moshe Rapaport, 147-158. Revised edition. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
  • 2010   China in Oceania: Reshaping the Pacific? (edited with Edgar Porter). Foundations of Asia Pacific Studies Series, volume 1. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
  • 2010   Remaking Area Studies: Teaching and Learning across Asia and the Pacific (edited with Jon Goss). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
  • 2010   Epeli’s Quest: Essays in Honor of Epeli Hau‘ofa. The Contemporary Pacific 22 (1): 101-123. A collection of 8 essays, edited with an introduction.
  • 2008   Altered States: Regional Intervention and the Politics of State Failure in Oceania. In Intervention and State-Building in the Pacific: The Political Legitimacy of “Co-operative Intervention,” edited by Greg Fry and Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, 37-53. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
  • 2007   China in Oceania: New Forces in Pacific Politics. Pacific Islands Policy 2. Honolulu: East-West Center.
  • 2007   The Limits of Self-Determination in Oceania. Social and Economic Studies 56 (1&2): 182-208.
  • 2007   Self-Determination in Oceania. Race and Class 48 (3): 29-46.
  • 2006   There Goes the Neighborhood: The Politics of Failed States and Regional Intervention in the Pacific. In Redefining the Pacific? Regionalism, Past, Present and Future, edited by Jenny Bryant-Tokalau and Ian Frazer, 121-126. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited.