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Patricia O’Brien

Patricia O’Brien

Dr. Patricia O’Brien is a historian, author, analyst and commentator on Australia and Oceania. She is a faculty member in Asian Studies at Georgetown University and in the Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University.

Patricia O’Brien is a wide-ranging historian and analyst of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. She is the author of “Tautai: Sāmoa, World History and the Life and Ta’isi O. F. Nelson” (2017), “The Pacific Muse: Exotic Femininity and the Colonial Pacific” (2006), and is co-editor of “League of Nations: Histories, Legacies and Impact” (2018) and numerous other works. She was the resident Australian and Pacific historian at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., from 2000-2013, the Jay I. Kislak Fellow in American Studies at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in 2011, and the J. D. Stout Fellow in New Zealand Studies at Victoria University Wellington in 2012. From 2014-2019 she was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the School of History, Australian National University, Canberra.

In 2020, she returned to Georgetown University’s Asian Studies Program to teach on Pacific pasts, presents, and futures. As well as ongoing historical writing and research, she has done analysis, podcasts, and media commentary on Pacific-related topics, including Samoa’s constitutional crisis, regional relations with Papua New Guinea, U.S. atomic testing in the Marshall Islands, the current Compact of Free Association negotiations, the AUKUS agreement, and COVID-19 in the Pacific and U.S.-based Pasifika communities. In 2021, she also joined the Australian National University’s Department of Pacific Affairs as a visiting fellow and she was a fellow with the Pacific Partners Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC from 2021-2023.

 

Posts by Patricia O’Brien
July 30, 2024

France’s Growing Pacific Crisis

By Patricia O’Brien
The first step to resolving the New Caledonia crisis is for France to return to the resolve it demonstrated in the mid-1990s and drastically alter its course – fast. 

July 22, 2024

Shifting Models of Sovereignty in the Pacific

By Patricia O’Brien
The ambiguous and evolving status of the Cook Islands and Niue holds lessons for other Pacific powers.
July 15, 2024

The Pacific’s Evolving Map

By Patricia O’Brien
The quotidian legacies of colonialism in the Pacific are dramatically shaping the present. 

June 01, 2024

Papua New Guinea: All Geopolitics Is Local

By Patricia O’Brien and Douveri Henao
The whole Pacific is grappling with Beijing’s campaign to become the dominant regional power and the pushback from a coalition of rival nations. PNG is experiencing this competition in unique ways.

May 04, 2024

Jeremiah Manele Becomes Solomon Islands Prime Minister

By Patricia O’Brien
Whatever window of opportunity the election presented for a change of course on the geopolitical front has closed. But Manele has an opportunity still to deflate regional tensions.

April 30, 2024

Sogavare Stands Down as Dust Settles From Solomon Islands Election

By Patricia O’Brien
The four-time prime minister says he won’t contest for the top office, with the election results repudiating in part the geopolitical direction he’s led the Solomon islands.
April 27, 2024

China, Fiji and the Fentanyl Scourge

By Patricia O’Brien
Recent sensational revelations show how extensively Fiji has been affected by – and integral to – one of the most sensitive dimensions of China’s rise: the illicit drug trade.

March 08, 2024

Is This the End of the COFA Saga?

By Patricia O’Brien
With COFA funding expected to finally get congressional approval, the U.S. will need to work to overcome the negative perceptions generated by the protracted struggle to fund vital U.S. Pacific partners. 

March 06, 2024

What’s Next for Papua New Guinea After Violent Start to 2024?

By Patricia O’Brien and Douveri Henao
2024 has already tested Papua New Guinea, with deadly unrest in the capital and tribal fighting in the highlands. Where do matters currently stand for the government of James Marape?

February 12, 2024

Marape’s State Visit Puts Australia-Papua New Guinea Bonhomie on Display

By Patricia O’Brien
For Australia, it is critical to keep good ties with PNG amid China's growing influence.

February 09, 2024

COFA Collateral Damage and Its Consequences: A View from Palau

By Patricia O’Brien
Palau President Surangel Whipps says that “there was optimism and hope” when the Palau-U.S. compact agreement was signed. But concerns are mounting as funding stalls in the U.S. Congress.
January 20, 2024

Is Christianity Marape’s Political Saving Grace in Papua New Guinea?

By Patricia O’Brien and Douveri Henao
PNG, recently rocked by riots, is likely to declare itself a “Christian nation” in early 2024.

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