Decolonisation Interrupted: West Papua, the UN, and the Limits of Self-Determination

Bringing the Pacific into the global history of decolonisation, Decolonisation Interrupted tells the story of West Papua's thwarted bid for independence from Indonesia in the 1960s. Emma Kluge reconstructs a transnational campaign that stretched from local villages and border camps to the corridors of the United Nations, where Indonesian statesmen used their influence to ensure that the claim was denied. Centring West Papuan leaders, petitions, and refugee testimonies, Kluge shows how activists mobilised Melanesian and Black identities, sought African allies, and navigated Afro Asian statecraft, only to find their claims sacrificed to territorial integrity and Cold War–era state-building. She situates West Papua at the heart of global debates over self-determination, decolonisation procedures, and international institutions, arguing that Pacific cases reveal the limits decolonisation for many peoples.