Australia is leading a 2200‑person strong mission to restore law and order in the Solomon Islands. While the operational focus is, rightly, on the force's police component, the force also includes 1500 Australian military personnel as well as 300 military personnel from Pacific island states. All but a couple of hundred are logistic support troops...

The current situation in the Solomons has come about because of a lack of economic progress, declining living standards and the weakness of political institutions inherited from Britain. The crisis is symptomatic of the problems of creating a modern state in a Melanesian society where traditional power relations are not always conducive to representative institutions...