GLOBALIZATION, STATELESS CAPITALISM, AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TONGA’S SATELLITE VENTURE

Authors

Anthony van Fossen, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia

Abstract

Globalization has led some Pacific Islands countries into ventures that use their sovereignty to advance private interests against regulation by metropolitan states. Tongasat, Tonga’s innovative satellite enterprise, is one such recent initiative in “stateless” capitalism that has deep structural similarities with flags of convenience and offshore tax havens. The microstate has claimed a disproportionate percentage of geostationary slots and succeeded in filling a number of them. Tongasat’s emergence is analyzed in terms of the contemporary world-system, declining U.S. hegemony over the global satellite regime (creating opportunities for independent entrepreneurs), and the end of the cold war (making inexpensive Russian satellites available for commercial uses in Tonga’s slots). Tonga’s satellite venture has benefited members of the ruling elite but made few contributions to the country’s internal development. Tongasat has been at the vanguard of moves toward privatization, deregulation, congestion, and conflictual competition in outer space.

Recommended Citation

van Fossen, Anthony (1999) "GLOBALIZATION, STATELESS CAPITALISM, AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TONGA’S SATELLITE VENTURE," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 22: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol22/iss2/2