ABSTRACT
This chapter "locates" Belau's relationship with the United States. It emphasizes how directly Belau's history has been connected to the politics of colonialism, to wars fought between foreign governments, and to international nuclear militarization. The chapter examines the era of US administration of Belau and how US military priorities have dominated US policy making in Belau. Only by examining this larger context is it possible to more clearly understand how politics have changed in the past five decades and to situate women's and men's political participation within those transformations and the discourse that surrounds them. The US-Japan confrontation in Belau in 1944 involved some of the fiercest battles in the Pacific. These military exchanges brought a harshness of living that many Palauans continue to speak of today. Entire villages were forced to relocate to forested areas within Belau.
