Date of Award

Spring 2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Geography

Director of Thesis

Dr. Robert Kopack

Second Reader

Dr. Carl Dahlman

Abstract

This thesis assesses the impacts of geopolitical competition between the United States and China, focusing on the South Pacific as a primary theatre for this great power contest, and investigating the uses of foreign aid by regional powers to effect both the geopolitical alignment and domestic policies of the developing states of the South Pacific. This paper finds that foreign aid to these South Pacific States is geopolitically motivated, and induces greater attention from competing regional powers, furthering the ongoing competition. This paper first provides an overview of the evolving political situation in Kiribati, a Pacific Island Country which has seen increased engagement and aid from China, which has drawn subsequent attention from the United States and its allies. Drawing on testimony from two prevalent I-Kiribati officials, the introduction provides a broad example of how geopolitical competition can upend the aid landscape of developing states, and of how external great-power influence may undermine domestic governance. The next section contains a review of relevant literature on Indo-Pacific development of geopolitics, while the background section provides a comprehensive overview of foreign aid as a means for statecraft during the Cold War, seeking to contextualize aid as a tool for developed states to secure regional dominance. The paper then moves into a case study of Kiribati, examining how a network of aid deals and diplomatic relationships have degraded Kiribati’s democracy, and then moves into a discussion of how foreign aid and geopolitical contest driven by the United States, China, and Australia have impacted the efficacy, benefits, and consequences of these factors on South Pacific States. Overall, this paper finds that the regional power of Australia has failed to be an effective partner to Pacific Countries, the United States willingly ignores the region despite claiming a robust presence, and that China has used these failures as an opportunity to establish a strategic presence in the South Pacific, while promoting authoritarian structures in its countries.

Comments

Defense Presentation: https://arcg.is/1CPmre2 

© 2025 Peter R. Caldwell. All Rights Reserved.

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© 2025 Peter R. Caldwell. All Rights Reserved.

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