You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Proportional Representation on Trial examines the 1999 election in New Zealand and its aftermath. The last electoral contest of the twentieth century resulted in a complete change of government. In 1999 Labour returned to power as the main party in a coalition minority government. Proportional representation in the form of MMP made the difference. The fourth in a series of election studies, Proportional Representation on Trial traces the evolution of public attitudes to MMP, presents a comprehensive assessment of the effects of proportional representation, and discusses the experiment of the two citizen-initiated referendums.
The 2002 election, called unexpectedly early, was both a landmark and a puzzle. Voters' Veto is an authoritative account, the fifth in a series of election studies which began in 1993, and is based on surveys of over 5000 voters, including Maori political opinion, and data from election candidates. Voters' Veto studies the campaign, the candidates, the media, the issues, the leaders, the electoral system and the social background. Central questions are why Labour did not do as well as expected, why National fell to the lowest level ever polled by a centre-right party, why New Zealand First recovered, and why United Future became such a pivotal player. The book explores the political importance of Maori and the continuing implications of MMP. Voters' Veto continues a unique, immensely valuable ongoing picture of voters' behaviour over more than a decade of change and drama.
Based on New Zealand Election Study (NZES) data from a sample of 2,830 eligible voters, A Bark But No Bite explores a puzzle. While there was a lot of talk about inequality before the 2014 general election in New Zealand, and during the campaign, concern about inequality appeared to have no tangible effect on the election outcome. This book shows that, by its attention to the concerns of middle ground voters, the National Government had reduced the potential of policy differences to drive voter choices. Perceptions of competence and effective leadership were National’s strongest suit, crowding out voter concerns over matters of policy. When voters did consider policy, inequality and relate...
Voters' Victory completes a triad of studies charting New Zealand's shift to a new MMP electoral system. This volume is the story of the first MMP election in 1996 and asks the question: is MMP beginning to deliver what its advocates hoped? The research for the text used two different multi-stage panels and featured a post-election postal survey of over 2000 electors, and a similar survey of election candidates from those parties securing parliamentary representation; a study based on daily telephone interviews throughout the 1996 election campaign; and post-election re-interviews.
Combining an account of the political history and philosophy of the referendum, with a thorough assessment of the practical experiences with referendums in western democracies, this book has established itself as the unrivalled market-leader in the field. Fully revised and with new chapters on campaign spending and the administration of referendums, the second edition of this book provides a thorough overview of the theory and practice of referendums.
His Way is the only authorised biography of New Zealand prime minister Robert Muldoon - one of the dominant political figures of the last half-century in that country. His Way was based on many hours of conversation with Muldoon himself as well as colleagues, friends, and family, and wide access to the prime minister's official and private papers and diaries. Leading political biographer Barry Gustafson shows Muldoon is shown as a champion of the ordinary people whose vision over time became anachronistic and inflexible.
Jane Kelsey’s was a questioning and challenging voice when she wrote this passionate critique of New Zealand’s economic policies in the 1980s and 90s. The social and economic consequences of a decade of market-based reforms are laid bare in this statistically rich and rhetorically powerful work. Drawing on a wide array of sources, Kelsey’s analysis delves into every aspect of the structural reforms that were to have such vast consequences for New Zealand society. Her analysis of those policies and their consequences gains a fresh – and sobering – perspective in the light of the recent global financial crisis.
In The Quiet Revolution, leading political commentator Colin James analyses New Zealand's market-based reforms of the 1980s as they are happening. Writing a first draft of history, he examines how the 'quiet revolution' is seen alternately as a betrayal, a dangerous experiment and a liberation. Combining economic and political analysis, he describes the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring that formed the backdrop to the reforms and the effects of the reform programme itself. He also sees a groundswell of optimism that, he argues, could forge a new and very different society in New Zealand.
This book explores the history of one of New Zealand's most important departments of state: the treasury, founded in 1840. It explores the complex interplay between government, economy and people, taking the story through the controversial "rogermonics" years, up to 2000.
This topical book analyses the practice of negotiating constitutional demands by regional and dispersed national minorities in eight multinational systems. It considers the practices of cooperation and litigation between minority groups and central institutions in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, and the U.S. and includes an evaluation of the implications of the recent Catalan, Puerto Rican and Scottish referenda. Ultimately, the author shows that a flexible constitution combined with a versatile constitutional jurisprudence tends to foster institutional cooperation and the recognition of the pluralistic nature of modern states