Nauru
Located 4,023 kilometers (2,500 miles) southwest of Hawaii, the island of Nauru has an area of 21 square kilometers (8.11 square miles)—about six times the size of New York's Central Park. In 2004 the population was estimated to be 12,809. At one time it was perhaps the world's richest nation on a per capita basis. In the mid-1970s, Nauru's per capita income was about $50,000 per person; however, in 2001, it was estimated at about one-tenth that amount, or $5,000—about the same as that of Macedonia, Peru, Lebanon, and China.
Nauru's great wealth came from mining the huge phosphate deposits that covered the center of the island, and the decline in its wealth came from the depletion of these deposits, the apparent failure of the investment strategy Nauru developed to compensate for the inevitable exhaustion of the phosphate deposits, and the inability of the country to develop effective alternative economic ventures. Ninety years of phosphate mining also have made a wasteland of Nauru's central plateau. Growing economic difficulties led to efforts to develop an unregulated offshore banking industry, which has been plagued by apparent money laundering activities by allegedly criminal sources.
Nauru became an independent nation on January 31, 1968 and has been a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations and of the United Nations since 1999. Nauru's constitution, adopted January 29, 1968, establishes a presidential form of government with an eighteen-member unicameral parliament elected by popular vote for 3-year terms. The first president of Nauru was Hammer DeRoburt (1923–1992), the former head chief of Nauru and "father of the Nauruan nation," who served until 1976, was reelected in 1978, and served, with two brief interruptions, until 1989. DeRoburt was defeated in 1976 by Bernard Dowiyogo (1946–2003), who subsequently served as president on six additional occasions before his death. In August 2003 Rene Harris (b. 1948) became president.
The president serves as both chief of state and chief of government and is elected by parliament for a 3-year term. The president appoints a cabinet from the members of parliament. The president and the cabinet can be removed from office by a vote of no-confidence in the parliament. This has happened frequently in Nauru's history as an independent republic: The country has had changes in the presidency on twenty-four occasions since its independence. Often, votes of no-confidence and changes of president have resulted from disputes between an incumbent president and parliament over budgetary matters and policies to deal with Nauru's "phosphateless" future.
Nauru's judicial system consists of a Supreme Court (in 2001, a single sitting justice), a district court, and a family court. The constitution allows appeals from the Supreme Court of Nauru to the High Court (the top court) of Australia. The judiciary has a reputation for independence.
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/THE GALE GROUP)Freedom House includes Nauru among the world's "free" nations, giving the country a top rating for the exercise of democratic political rights. Its rating for observance of citizen civil rights and liberties is somewhat lower due to attempts to interfere with press efforts to investigate purported money laundering schemes by government officials.
Australia.
Bibliography
Banks, Arthur S., and William Overstreet. "Nauru." In Political Handbook of the World 1979. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
Freedom House. "Nauru." Freedom in the World 2003. New York: Freedom House, 2003. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/res earch/freeworld/2003/countryratings/nau ru.htm>.
Mellor, William. "Nauru Goes from Riches to Rags." International Herald-Tribune Online, June 3, 2004. <http://www.iht.com/articles/522 945.html>.
"Nauru." CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2004. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicat ions/factbook/geos/nr.html#Geo>.
Schimmel, B. "Nauru." Rulers. <http://www.rulers.org/ruln1.htm l>.
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