Abstract
Main description
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Pacific regionalism is in a severe crisis after the Micronesian states Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and the
Federated States of Micronesia have announced their withdrawal from the most important regional organization, the Pacific
Islands Forum (PIF). This article discusses the reasons for the split that go beyond the mere selection of a new Secretary
General of the Forum as the major trigger of the withdrawal and analyses possible consequences of the split within Oceania
and beyond. It argues that characterizing “Micronexit” as a result of diverging interests between the United States and China
is an oversimplification that ignores intraregional causes of the conflict. There are manifold divisions amongst PIF’s member
states, which can lead to a decline of cooperation in the Pacific Islands’ region, even outside the Forum structures, e.g.
at the United Nations, if no solution to the impasse can be found.
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