Asia & Oceania

Papua New Guinea

Political journey

Governed by Australia until independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most linguistically diverse countries, with over 800 languages. It has a democratic system marked by frequent no-confidence votes, huge mining and gas resources, and conflict over the future of Bougainville, whose people voted overwhelmingly for independence in 2019.

Papua New Guinea today

Its current leader’s position on the ten Caucus dimensions.

💰EconomySlightly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning growth-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologySlightly tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceSlightly strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsLeaning institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionStrongly religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismCentered on interventionism
Non-interventionistInterventionist

Who leads Papua New Guinea today

Portrait of James Marape

James Marape

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, 2019 to present

Took office promising to “take back PNG” by claiming a bigger share of resource wealth, and has since signed security deals with Australia and the United States.

James Marape sits in the left-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly state-led and leaning authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly religious on religion, strongly traditional on culture and leaning nationalist on nation. The profile is close to the middle on interventionism.

Full profile of James Marape →

Political views closest to Papua New Guinea’s leadership

Social conservatismDefends the traditional family, religion and moral norms in law and society.98%CorporatismOrganizes society into industry and professional bodies that bargain with the state, an…98%One-nation conservatismA paternalist conservatism holding that the better off owe duties to the poor and to…98%Christian democracyBlends Christian social teaching, a social market economy and European cooperation.96%

Countries with similar leadership

Ranked by how close their current leaders are on the ten dimensions.

NauruAsia & Oceania99%MalawiAfrica & Middle East99%Bosnia and HerzegovinaEurope99%Timor-LesteAsia & Oceania99%

Country histories are short summaries. Positions are simplified estimates of the leaders included in Caucus as of October 2026, and percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions.