南太平洋诸岛国政治体制的一个鲜明特点是酋长制或者族长制，它是家族、村落和国家最基本的运行机制。这种传统的政治管理体制，不但维系了整个国家的运转，还在某种程度上节约了处理民事纠纷的成本。其中，萨摩亚的族长制更具代表性，它是萨摩亚行之有效的基层权力，靠着千余年来的祖宗宗法和经验累积管理并维持整个家庭和社会的运转。但由于萨摩亚在历史上曾遭受英国、德国、新西兰等国的殖民统治，其政治体制呈鲜明的两极特点，即在基层单位实行酋长制，在国家权力机关实行民主制。两者在很大程度上形成默契的上下级关系，呈和谐共存之态势。此外，宗教是游走于这两层权力机关之间的一个特殊要素，它对于民众精神世界的驾驭于无形中有力地辅佐了权力运行，从而在一定程度上维护了社会秩序，强化了基层权力体制。三者的有机结合形成了萨摩亚独特的政治文化。
An obvious characteristic of the South Pacific Island countries’ political system is the chieftaincy institution which is the most elementary running system in an extended family，a village and a society. It not only sustains the operation of the whole nation，but also saves the cost of dealing with the disputes between the citizens. The chieftaincy institution in Samoa is quite typical of this among the countries. However，due to the fact that Samoa used to be a colony of German，British and New Zealand，the chieftaincy institution is operated at the local government level，while democracy is operated at the national level. The two systems have always been getting along well. Moreover，religions act as a special factor that mediates between the two given its influence on people’s spiritual life. The three factors working together becomes an outstanding feature of politics and culture in Samoa.
