Dr Steven Ratuva is a political sociologist at the University of Auckland. With a PhD from the United Kingdom, he has worked in a number of universities including the Australian National University (Canberra; University of the South Pacific where he was Head of Sociology and University of Sussex (UK) where he was a researcher on civil-military relations in Asia. He was also Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales and National University of Taiwan, amongst others. He has been part of a number international research teams on projects on affirmative action, ethnic conflict, inequality, territorial disputes and armed conflict. He has been an international expert advisor and consultant on development, governance and regional security for a number of international organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, Pacific Island Forum, International Labour Organization, International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs and Asian Development Bank. He has also been an advisor for the UN Committee on Decolonization and UN Department of Political Affairs. He has published widely on governance, military coups, civil-military relations, ethnic conflict, development, affirmative action and political systems in Asia and the Pacific and is often invited to present papers around the world on these issues. He is also advisor for a number of governments and international organizations on governance and development in the Pacific and an expert media commentator on Pacific politics. Dr Ratuva is also the President of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association. He is currently involved in a major research project on big power geo-politics and regional security in the Pacific.