Source: From Michael R. Ogden, Ph.D. of the University of Hawaii (forthcoming in the World Encyclopedia of Political Systems, 3rd
Edition. New York: Facts on File.). Some data were edited to reflect current information.
Nauru is an island republic of approximately 12,000 people in the western Pacific Ocean
some 1,200 miles northeast of Papua New Guinea and one of the worlds smallest
states. Until it was granted self-government in 1966 and full independence on
January 31, 1968, Nauru was a United Nations trust territory administered by
Australia on behalf of its fellow trust powers, New Zealand and Great Britain.
It is an associate member of the Commonwealth, belongs to several U.N.
agencies, and maintains an extensive consular network. Phosphate-rich Nauru
has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, yet prospects for
onshore development after the phosphate is mined out are poor. The Nauruans
look to their government for wise management of the country's assets to secure
their autonomy, way of life and livelihood in an uncertain future.
Nauru's constitution -- adopted on January 29, 1968, and amended on May 17,
1968 -- established it as a republic with a parliamentary system of
The president is head of state as well as head of government. He is elected by
the Parliament from among its members every three years. In his role as prime
minister, he appoints four or five members of Parliament to join with him to
form the cabinet. Cabinet ministers, including the president, take charge of
the various government departments and are collectively responsible to
The unicameral Parliament consists of eighteen members, who are elected every
three years by resident Nauru citizens over the age of twenty. The Parliament
chooses a speaker and a deputy speaker, as well as the president, from among
A Supreme Court was established by the constitution and a District Court and a
Family Court also operate. In most cases, the highest court of appeal is the
High Court of Australia.
Nauru is divided into fourteen districts, which are grouped into eight
electoral constituencies. Two representatives are elected in each constituency
except Ubenide, which is composed of four of the smaller districts and has four
representatives in Parliament.
The political system -- dominated by Hammer DeRoburt until his death on July
15, 1992 -- has been relatively stable. DeRoburt was the first and longest
running president of Nauru, having served in this capacity from independence
until 1989, except for a fourteen-month period between December 1976 and May
1978 when he was replaced by Bernard Dowiyogo (Lagumont Harris served for three
weeks in 1978). However, after an August 1989 vote of no confidence deposed
DeRoburt for the last time, he was replaced by Kenas Aroi, chairman of the
Nauru Phosphate Corporation and former finance minister. Aroi held the
presidency only until the general elections in December 1989 when Bernard
Dowiyogo was again elected president. The consummate politician, DeRoburt also
held the position of Head Chief of the Nauru Local Government Council
continuously from 1955 until his death.
Electoral politics in Nauru has more to do with kin relationships than issues.
Parliamentary factions form from time to time but, apart from the Nauru Party,
which appeared briefly to oppose DeRoburt in 1976, there are no formal
Phosphate exports of about 1.0 million tons annually generate huge revenues
for the Nauru government and allow it to levy no taxes and to provide free
health and education services. Many of the material necessities of life,
including water, are imported. At present rates of extraction, the phosphate
will be worked out in the late 1990s. However, a significant proportion of the
phosphate revenue has been invested in commercial enterprises and overseas real
estate developments, thereby assuring some future income for Nauru.
Nevertheless, Nauru will face considerable difficulties when the economic life
of phosphate is exhausted.
In September 1991, Nauru became the fifty-second member of the Asian
Development Bank, allowing it to participate in the bank's regional programs, a
move which should allow access to funds for addressing the task of
rehabilitating mined phosphate lands. Nauru has also withdrawn from several
money-loosing joint ventures (one in India and another in the Philippines) in
an attempt to better manage its financial resources.
Meanwhile, Nauru won its long standing court case against Australia -- and, by
extension, the other partner governments that comprised the administering
authority under United Nation trusteeship; namely New Zealand and the United
Kingdom. The precedent setting decision handed down by the International Court
of Justice at The Hague determined that Australia had failed to fulfill its
"trust obligation" and therefore owed Nauru approximately Aust.$72 million in
land rehabilitation damages for phosphate lands mined-out prior to
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