Paper short abstract:

The Tonga National Leadership Development Forum is attempting to influence future leadership in Tonga through formal training of the younger generation of Tonga's royal and noble families. Shifts in the political landscape of Tonga make the future of traditional leadership a contentious issue.

Paper long abstract:

Democratic reforms in Tonga in recent years have called into question the role of the nobility, who have lost significant power in Parliament but retain control, with the royal family, of all of Tonga's land. Their positions in Tonga's social hierarchy were established in the 1875 Constitution from the pre-contact chiefly system, and they continue to be treated as a traditional elite with considerable formal and informal power over the 'commoners' of Tonga. They are strongly resisting any further undermining of their authority and status, and despite its moves towards democracy Tonga remains a constitutional monarchy in which the king holds executive power. My paper looks at the younger generation of Tonga's royal and noble families, many of whom have joined the Young Tongan Traditional Leaders group which has been facilitated since 2012 by the Tonga National Leadership Development Forum (TNLDF), funded by DFAT via the Pacific Leadership Program. I explore how the TNLDF is attempting to influence future leadership in Tonga through its work with these young people, many of whom spend much of their lives outside Tonga, struggle with the Tongan language and are sheltered from the realities of Tonga's fragile economy and other problems.