Coup Culture: The Military and the Failure of Constitutionalism in Fiji

Abstract

The government of the Republic of the Fiji Islands1 has been overturned by its own military forces no fewer than four times since 1987. This paper will discuss the legal status of the Fiji Military Forces (FMF),2 tracing the creation and development of the institution, its transition through independence and its present-day status in Fiji. Military governments can cause a number of problems within a state, both legal and political, although this paper will focus on the former. Having the military as part of the government blurs the separation of powers and reduces the ability for those exercising power to be directly accountable to citizens through elections. Having ongoing civilian government also promotes certainty within the law, and stability of the legal system. The aim of the paper is to determine how the FMF might be legally provided for in the long term, with the goal of preventing military interventions from being able to overthrow the government. Given the number of different ways in which law can restrict military power, it is important to look at which kinds of legal restrictions are needed and which are more likely to be effective. While in practice, there is very little that can be done to absolutely guarantee military subservience to civilian power, this does not mean that constitutions, statutes and regulations should not be created in the best possible way in order to maintain the separation of powers within a state.