ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the many areas in which, even in its choice of language, the Jackson Report is cast in the mould. It attempts to challenge the assumptions underlying the trend of new realism. The book deals with specific aspects of the ethos presented by the Jackson Report. It also deals with the geographical distribution of aid proposed by Jackson and its implications for the regions of the Pacific, South and Southeast Asia and Africa respectively. The book also presents a detailed review of aid allocation in the Pacific islands countries. It focuses on the importance which the Jackson Report attaches to the aid, trade and investment ‘trinity’, and is particularly critical of the report’s propagation of a ‘free trade’ path to economic development for the small island countries of the South Pacific.
