2025/01/01 by Szadziewski, Henryk
Social Sciences · #China #Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism #International Development and Aid #International Relations and Foreign Policy #United States #competition #discourse #media #security #think tanks
paper · doi:10.26021/16144
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
This article examines US discourse on Oceania between 2019 and 2025, focusing on knowledge produced by US think tanks and media. Through a text analysis of 324 publications between 2019 and 2023 and a critical review of selected think-tank policy proposals and media reporting from 2024–2025, the study identifies a dominant narrative that centres US engagement in the region around geostrategic competition with China. The findings show that China, competition, and traditional security are the most frequently occurring themes, marginalizing non-traditional security priorities such as climate change and sustainable livelihoods, issues central to Oceania. The paper critiques how elite narratives reproduce US foreign policy, framing Oceania as a passive space for major power rivalry, rarely contesting competition with China, and ignoring Pacific agency. Pacific Islanders account for only one-fifth of all quoted individuals. The election of President Donald Trump in 2024 and policy proposals such as the Heritage Foundation’s Pacific Pivot indicate a clear shift to an America First approach in Oceania, one that intensifies militarized competition with China while sidelining cooperation on climate and livelihoods. The analysis concludes that US knowledge production reflects a partial understanding of Oceania, legitimizing a China-centric policy at the expense of grounded, locally informed engagement. As political discourse narrows under Trump 2.0, the opportunity for reimagining Pacific futures beyond greatpower competition diminishes. The article contributes to emerging scholarship on grounded approaches to geostrategy in Oceania in the context of major-power rivalry.