New Zealand Under MMP


Book Description

"Prepared as part of a three-year research project (begun in mid-1995) based at the Victoria University of Wellington, and known as 'The New Zealand political change project: the impact of electoral system change in a small democracy'"--P. x.







A Populist Exception?


Book Description

The ‘spectre of populism’ might be an apt description for what is happening in different parts of the world, but does it apply to New Zealand? Immediately after New Zealand’s 2017 general election, populist party New Zealand First gained a pivotal role in a coalition with the Labour Party, leading some international observers to suggest it represented a populist capture of the government. The leader of New Zealand First, Winston Peters, justified his support for Labour as necessary to allow capitalism to ‘regain … its human face’. The new prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, spoke of a kinder, inclusive politics. This book draws on the 2017 New Zealand Election Study to uncover New Zealanders’ political attitudes and preferences post-election. Its authors ask: is New Zealand now A Populist Exception? Through detailed empirical analyses of how populism and authoritarianism affected vote choice, opinions about immigration, satisfaction with democracy and the relevance of gender and indigeneity to these issues, this book finds that New Zealand politics today does not reflect the international trend toward ideological polarisation and electoral volatility. The authors argue that inclusive forms of populism can be pluralist if a leader’s rhetorical approach recognises ‘the people’ as diverse and encompassing. A Populist Exception? concludes that although populism has long been a strong current in New Zealand history, contemporary New Zealand exhibits a moderate form of populism, with liberal and pluralist values in balance with a strong commitment to majoritarian democracy.




Voters' Victory?


Book Description

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.




New Zealand Government and Politics


Book Description

New Zealand Government and Politics , now in its fourth edition, is the leading undergraduate textbook for students of New Zealand political science. It provides an overview of the context, key institutions and processes, written by leading academics and non-academics. This fully revised and refreshed edition has 22 new chapters including an anlysis of the 2005 election.




Towards Consensus?


Book Description

"The authors build their analysis on the rich data provided by replies of over 2000 voters and more than 1000 political party activists and parliamentary candidates surveyed immediately after the election"--Back cover.




The New Zealand Project


Book Description

By any measure, New Zealand must confront monumental issues in the years ahead. From the future of work to climate change, wealth inequality to new populism – these challenges are complex and even unprecedented. Yet why does New Zealand’s political discussion seem so diminished, and our political imagination unequal to the enormity of these issues? And why is this gulf particularly apparent to young New Zealanders? These questions sit at the centre of Max Harris’s ‘New Zealand project’. This book represents, from the perspective of a brilliant young New Zealander, a vision for confronting the challenges ahead. Unashamedly idealistic, The New Zealand Project arrives at a time of global upheaval that demands new conversations about our shared future.




Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds?


Book Description

Mixed-member electoral systems may well be the electoral reform of the 21st century. In the view of many electoral reformers, mixed systems offer the best of both the traditional British single-seat district system and PR systems. This book seeks to evaluate: why these systems have recently appealed to many countries with diverse electoral histories; and how well expectations for these systems have been met. - ;Mixed-member electoral systems may well be the electoral reform of the 21st century. In the view of many electoral reformers, mixed-member systems offer the best of both the traditional British single-seat district system and PR systems. This book seeks to evaluate: why mixed-member systems have recently appealed to many countries with diverse electoral histories; and how well expectations for these systems have been met. Each major country, which has adopted a mixed system thus, has two chapters in this book, one on origins and one on consequences. These countries are Germany, New Zealand, Italy, Israel, Japan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Hungary, and Russia. In addition, there are also chapters on the prospects for a mixed-member system being adopted in Britain and Canada, respectively. The material presented suggests that mixed-member systems have been largely successful thus far. They appear to be more likely than most other electoral systems to generate two-bloc party systems, without in the process reducing minor parties to insignificance. In addition, they are more likely than any other class of electoral system to simultaneously generate local accountability as well as a nationally-oriented party system. Mixed-member electoral systems have now joined majoritarian and proportional systems as basic options which must be considered whenever electoral systems are designed or redesigned. Such a development represents a fundamental change in thinking about electoral systems around the world. - ;An important and timely contribution ... an excellent reference book that provides unique and extensive coverage of a diverse range of cases. - Japanese Journal of Political Science;The book provides a useful classification of some electoral system elements in two dimensions: inter-party (majoritarian vs. proportional) and intra-party (candidates vs. parties dominance), as well as ten single-country good reading studies. - West European Politics;The core of the book, especially the section on how MMP systems came to be introduced in the ten case study countries, will have lasting value for its detail ... the editors' contributions are excellent: they have done much more than simply collate a series of chapters. As a whole, the book will provide an important reference work for the study of what, in their words, 'might prove to be the electoral reform of the twenty-first century'. - Representation




Democracy in New Zealand


Book Description

New Zealand is one of the world's oldest democracies for men and women, Maori and Pakeha, with one of the highest political participation rates. But—from MMP to leadership primaries, spin doctors to "dirty politics"—the country's political system is undergoing rapid change. Examining the constitution and the political system, cabinet and parliament, political parties, leadership, and elections, Raymond Miller draws on data and analysis (including from the 2014 election) to tackle critical questions: Who runs New Zealand? Does political apathy threaten democracy? Will new parties have an ongoing impact? Do we now have a presidential democracy?




Mixed-Member Electoral Systems in Constitutional Context


Book Description

An examination of the ways in which the introduction of mixed-member electoral systems affects the configuration of political parties