The FSM Pg2

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The FSM Pg2

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With few exceptions, the people are Christians. Until recently, they were about evenly divided between mainstream Protestant denominations and Roman Catholicism. However, a number of Evangelical churches and other competing faiths have gained a following in the FSM and religious differences have added an element of tension to island life.

Extended family life remains strong in the outer islands, but it is being eroded in the urban centers. The movement of people from rural to urban areas has been accompanied by an increased reliance on the money economy. Many basic traditional skills such as canoe making, fishing, and agriculture are being lost. Clothing and housing are increasingly more Western in style. Dependence on imported Western foods is also increasing. Even a basic necessity such as fish (canned) is imported. Many of the imported foods have a higher fat, sugar, and salt content than do the traditional foods they have replaced. As a result, there has been an increase in obesity, hypertension, and heart disease.

Overcrowding in urban areas and the declining influence of the extended family have contributed to an increase in a number of social problems, including spouse and child abuse, alcohol abuse, juvenile delinquency, and youth suicides.

Economy

The FSM's economy is relatively simple. United States funds are the only major source of income. The arrangement of free association will provide the FSM with about $1.39 billion between 1986 and 2001. It also receives additional grants from the United States. Total income from the United States averages about $100 million a year. The national and state governments have borrowed against future payments. Small amounts of aid come from other donors. The FSM also receives income from the sale of licenses to foreign fleets to fish in its exclusive economic zone. Copra (dried coconut meat) is the only cash crop but it is of minor value.

The government is the largest employer. It provides all basic services and supports large bureaucracies at both the national and state levels. Even in remote areas, local officials, teachers, and health care workers are government employees. Most outer islanders, however, still engage in subsistence activities.

Commercial enterprises flourish and provide additional employment in urban areas. Included are businesses that sell foodstuffs, household appliances, and motor vehicles.

Tourism also provides income and in the early 1990s more than 20,000 visitors arrived annually. However, significant growth is hampered by the remoteness of the islands and the country's poor infrastructure, and since 9/11, tourism has been poor.

The national currency is the United States dollar. The Federated States of Micronesia is a member of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.

Each state has an international air terminal and port facility. The four main islands have major airline service. Local enterprises manage air transport to some of the outer islands. Several shipping lines provide monthly service from elsewhere in the Pacific, Asia, and the United States. Small vessels shuttle among the islands. Roads are generally poor.

Given the large area that the islands cover, radio is the most important means of communication. Each state operates a station. There are television stations, but service is limited. The national government publishes a newsletter in English.

Until recently, the production of electricity was also a government function. Diesel-powered generators are the sole source of energy.

Government

From 1947 until 1979, the islands that now make up the FSM were part of the United States-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. That year, the districts of Kosrae, Ponape (now Pohnpei), Truk (now Chuuk), and Yap approved a constitution, establishing the Federated States of Micronesia. The districts are distributed according to population and there are five in Chuuk, three in Pohnpei, and one each in Yap and Kosrae. The country has a unicameral legislature consisting of 14 members. One senator from each state is elected to a four-year term and one senator from each of the country's 10 districts is elected to a two-year term. Voters must be age 18 or older. The president and vice president are chosen by the legislature from among the four state senators. Special state elections are held to replace the senate seats vacated by the president and vice president.

The four states have considerable autonomy. Each has a unicameral legislature, a governor, and a lieutenant governor. All officials are elected. There are municipal governments at the village level. Some village leaders are elected while others are traditional chiefs.

The nation's supreme court is headed by a chief justice and as many as five associate justices. All are appointed by the president with the consent of the legislature. The states and some municipalities have courts at the local level.

The FSM's Compact of Free Association with the United States, implemented in 1986, defines the political arrangement between the United States and the FSM. While the FSM is self-governing, the United States has the responsibility for defense. It may establish military bases and deny other nations access to Micronesia. In return, the FSM receives financial support and its citizens have the right of free entry to reside and work in the United States. The economic and defense provisions of the compact expire in 2001. Negotiations regarding the FSM's future relationship with the United States will commence in 1999.

History

Pottery pieces and other archaeological evidence suggest the ancestors of today's Micronesians settled the islands as early as AD 200. There are ruins in Kosrae state that date back to the 13th or 14th century. The ruins of Nan Madol, near the island of Pohnpei, consist of nearly 100 artificial islets. These stone structures served as the walled fortress of a kingdom that was powerful during the 13th century.

In the early 1500s Spanish explorers became the first Europeans to sight the islands. However, foreign influence was not significant until the early 1800s when American and British whalers began frequenting the islands. Missionary activities and a trade in coconut oil occurred by the mid-19th century. In the 1880s Spain unsuccessfully attempted to extend its control over the Caroline Islands (what is now the FSM and Palau). After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain lost its colonial empire in the Pacific and the Carolines came under German colonial rule. With the onset of World War I in 1914, Japan occupied the islands. Eventually, the Japanese-held islands in the region, which included the Caroline Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands, became a League of Nations mandated territory.

Micronesia was a major battle ground during World War II (1939-1945). The United States occupied the islands at the war's end. In 1947 the islands came under U.S. administration, as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, under the authority of the United Nations. United States interest in the trust territory was primarily strategic. American-style political institutions were introduced, but little economic development took place.

Negotiations for self-government in Micronesia began in the late 1960s with the assumption that a single nation would emerge from the trust territory.

Fragmentation occurred during the 1970s, however, and differences in culture, history, and self-interest made unity impossible. The three island groups with the greatest strategic value-the Northern Marianas, the Marshall Islands and Palau-demanded to chart their own futures. In spite of differences, the districts of Kosrae, Pohnpei (then Ponape), Chuuk (then Truk), and Yap were given little option but to remain together. They ratified a constitution in 1979 that established the Federated States of Micronesia; in 1986 the FSM negotiated a Compact of Free Association with the United States that provides economic assistance until 2001. In 1999 the FSM began negotiating with the United States regarding its relationship after 2001. Compact II was approved by the negotiating committees of the U.S. and FSM in 2003 which will extend U.S. aid until the year 2023.

Contributed By:

Robert C. Kiste1

Updates by R. Barker, 2003