scholarly journals Breathing Through their Noses: Candidate Selection and Role Adaptation amongst First-Term MPs in the  New Zealand Parliament

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Steven Barnes
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
The Future

<p>Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand Prime Minister from 1960 to 1972, famously counselled first-term Members of Parliament to ‘breathe through their noses’, suggesting that it was in their best interests to keep their heads down and mouths shut. Perhaps this recommendation is instrumental in the low profile of first-term MPs in New Zealand and the subsequent dearth of information available about these individuals. Within political science, scholarly attention has tended to focus on the ‘power holders’ – senior leaders and those perceived to have the most influence. In New Zealand, this has resulted in a growing field of literature about prime ministers, party leaders, and the few parliamentarians who reach cabinet. This thesis steps back from power holders to shed light on new MPs. It is important to know who new MPs are. Within parliamentary systems MPs often serve long apprenticeships before being promoted to the senior positions of their party and government. Thus MPs who enter parliament today may hold significant influence in the future. However, very little is known about legislators when they enter parliament. Do all Members of Parliament wish to become ministers or prime ministers, or do they have more modest aspirations, such as being the best local MP they possibly can? By understanding the motivations of our neophyte politicians we can better understand the types of people who are likely to become significant political actors in the future. This study aims to understand how and why individuals become MPs and how they adapt to the role once they have been elected. This thesis uses information gained from two rounds of interviews conducted with first-term Members of Parliament during their first nine months in office. Thus this research presents an insight into how MPs view candidate selection and follows them through their first few months in the job as they reconcile their pre-election expectations with the roles expected of MPs. The result is an account of how individuals become MPs and the roles they develop once elected.</p>

scholarly journals Breathing Through their Noses: Candidate Selection and Role Adaptation amongst First-Term MPs in the  New Zealand Parliament

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Steven Barnes
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
The Future

<p>Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand Prime Minister from 1960 to 1972, famously counselled first-term Members of Parliament to ‘breathe through their noses’, suggesting that it was in their best interests to keep their heads down and mouths shut. Perhaps this recommendation is instrumental in the low profile of first-term MPs in New Zealand and the subsequent dearth of information available about these individuals. Within political science, scholarly attention has tended to focus on the ‘power holders’ – senior leaders and those perceived to have the most influence. In New Zealand, this has resulted in a growing field of literature about prime ministers, party leaders, and the few parliamentarians who reach cabinet. This thesis steps back from power holders to shed light on new MPs. It is important to know who new MPs are. Within parliamentary systems MPs often serve long apprenticeships before being promoted to the senior positions of their party and government. Thus MPs who enter parliament today may hold significant influence in the future. However, very little is known about legislators when they enter parliament. Do all Members of Parliament wish to become ministers or prime ministers, or do they have more modest aspirations, such as being the best local MP they possibly can? By understanding the motivations of our neophyte politicians we can better understand the types of people who are likely to become significant political actors in the future. This study aims to understand how and why individuals become MPs and how they adapt to the role once they have been elected. This thesis uses information gained from two rounds of interviews conducted with first-term Members of Parliament during their first nine months in office. Thus this research presents an insight into how MPs view candidate selection and follows them through their first few months in the job as they reconcile their pre-election expectations with the roles expected of MPs. The result is an account of how individuals become MPs and the roles they develop once elected.</p>

scholarly journals Institutionalizing Restorative Justice in New Zealand's Criminal Justice System: Gains, Losses and Challenges for the Future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Shank
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
The Future

<p>Restorative justice has played a paradoxical role in the New Zealand criminal justice system. One the one hand, over the past thirty years restorative justice has steadily gained public recognition and received institutional support through judicial endorsements and legislative provisions. In many respects New Zealand has been at the global forefront of incorporating restorative justice processes into the criminal justice system. This, in the hope that restorative justice might improve justice outcomes for victims, offenders and society at large. </p><p><br></p> <p>Yet despite such institutional support for restorative justice, the outcomes of the mainstream justice system have not substantially improved. Ironically, many of the same statutory provisions that enabled restorative justice included punitive provisions that served to tighten the reins of the carceral state. The New Zealand prison population is currently one of the highest in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the downstream consequences of which have been devastating for those impacted, and particularly for Māori. </p><p><br></p> <p>Openly acknowledging that the existing justice system is “broken,” the government launched a criminal justice reform program in 2018 to consider a range of options that might contribute to fundamental change. Initial feedback elicited as part of the process calls for a more holistic and transformative approach to criminal justice. Notably this is what restorative justice, at its best, claims to deliver. However, the New Zealand criminal justice system appears to lack such transformative aims and the role of restorative justice in driving institutional change in the future remains to be seen. </p><p><br></p> <p>This thesis examines the institutional paradox of restorative justice in New Zealand. It explores how and why restorative justice originally became an established part of the criminal justice system and what impact it has had on the system of which it has become a part. Drawing on institutional theory, it assesses how far restorative justice institutionalization has progressed, the factors that have facilitated it and the barriers that have impeded it. Finally, it identifies ways in which restorative justice, when institutionalized through principles, policy, law and practice, can make a more lasting impact for those whom the justice system is intended to serve. </p><p><br></p> <p>Within restorative justice literature, both those who commend institutionalization and those who oppose it highlight problems caused by “isomorphic incompatibility” between the mainstream adversarial system and restorative justice. This thesis argues that while foundational tensions exist between the two approaches, such tensions are not insurmountable. Simplifications or exaggerations of incompatibility overlook important similarities and confluences between the two approaches. Confronting such institutional “myths” is necessary if isomorphic combability is to occur. </p><p><br></p> <p>These claims are illustrated through an examination of sexual violence. The pressing problem of responding well to sexual violence illustrates how isomorphic alignment, through careful integration of restorative principles and practices into the criminal justice system, can enable the state to fulfil its responsibilities of ensuring societal safety and protecting the rule of law in ways that better meet victims’ distinct justice needs and the best interests of all stakeholders. </p>

scholarly journals Letting Down the Ladder or Shutting the Door: Female Prime Ministers, Party Leaders, and Cabinet Ministers

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. 689-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Z. O'Brien ◽  
Matthew Mendez ◽  
Jordan Carr Peterson ◽  
Jihyun Shin
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Coalition Partner ◽  
First Time ◽  
High Prestige

In October 2012 the Danish Socialist People's Party chose Annette Vilhelmsen as its leader. With her ascension to power, women simultaneously headed all three of Denmark's governing parties for the first time. Though an exclusively female-led coalition government remains exceptional, in developed democracies the number of female prime ministers and party leaders has grown in recent years. Since 2000, women have governed in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia and have commanded coalition partner parties in Austria, Ireland, and Sweden. Just as there are now more female leaders, governments are also nominating more women to cabinets than ever before. Women recently held half of all ministerial posts in Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Spain. Female ministers are also serving in high-prestige portfolios from which they were traditionally excluded, including finance and foreign affairs.

scholarly journals Institutionalizing Restorative Justice in New Zealand's Criminal Justice System: Gains, Losses and Challenges for the Future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Shank
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
The Future

<p>Restorative justice has played a paradoxical role in the New Zealand criminal justice system. One the one hand, over the past thirty years restorative justice has steadily gained public recognition and received institutional support through judicial endorsements and legislative provisions. In many respects New Zealand has been at the global forefront of incorporating restorative justice processes into the criminal justice system. This, in the hope that restorative justice might improve justice outcomes for victims, offenders and society at large. </p><p><br></p> <p>Yet despite such institutional support for restorative justice, the outcomes of the mainstream justice system have not substantially improved. Ironically, many of the same statutory provisions that enabled restorative justice included punitive provisions that served to tighten the reins of the carceral state. The New Zealand prison population is currently one of the highest in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the downstream consequences of which have been devastating for those impacted, and particularly for Māori. </p><p><br></p> <p>Openly acknowledging that the existing justice system is “broken,” the government launched a criminal justice reform program in 2018 to consider a range of options that might contribute to fundamental change. Initial feedback elicited as part of the process calls for a more holistic and transformative approach to criminal justice. Notably this is what restorative justice, at its best, claims to deliver. However, the New Zealand criminal justice system appears to lack such transformative aims and the role of restorative justice in driving institutional change in the future remains to be seen. </p><p><br></p> <p>This thesis examines the institutional paradox of restorative justice in New Zealand. It explores how and why restorative justice originally became an established part of the criminal justice system and what impact it has had on the system of which it has become a part. Drawing on institutional theory, it assesses how far restorative justice institutionalization has progressed, the factors that have facilitated it and the barriers that have impeded it. Finally, it identifies ways in which restorative justice, when institutionalized through principles, policy, law and practice, can make a more lasting impact for those whom the justice system is intended to serve. </p><p><br></p> <p>Within restorative justice literature, both those who commend institutionalization and those who oppose it highlight problems caused by “isomorphic incompatibility” between the mainstream adversarial system and restorative justice. This thesis argues that while foundational tensions exist between the two approaches, such tensions are not insurmountable. Simplifications or exaggerations of incompatibility overlook important similarities and confluences between the two approaches. Confronting such institutional “myths” is necessary if isomorphic combability is to occur. </p><p><br></p> <p>These claims are illustrated through an examination of sexual violence. The pressing problem of responding well to sexual violence illustrates how isomorphic alignment, through careful integration of restorative principles and practices into the criminal justice system, can enable the state to fulfil its responsibilities of ensuring societal safety and protecting the rule of law in ways that better meet victims’ distinct justice needs and the best interests of all stakeholders. </p>

PASIFIKA FUTURES WHĀNAU ORA: F’INE – Nurturing the Future for Pasifika LGBTQI

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saneta Manoa ◽  
Phylesha Brown-Acton ◽  
Tatryanna Utanga ◽  
Seini Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
The Future ◽  
Specific Provider

F’INE Aotearoa, through Pasifika Futures Whānau Ora programme, is supporting Pacific Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) individuals and their families to transform their lives and achieve their aspirations.  The LGBTQI community in New Zealand experience significant disadvantage across a range of areas affecting wellbeing, including higher rates of poor mental health, depression and anxiety 1,2,3. For Pacific LGBTQI, the disadvantages are compounded further.  F’INE, an LGBTQI specific provider in New Zealand, is working to change this.

Prime Ministers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Weller
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Power And Influence

Prime ministers dominate, but still lose office. Why? This chapter explores the conundrum that infests debates on the prime ministers’ power and influence. It examines the ambiguous and uncertain institutional environment with its scope for initiatives and choices. It rejects normative notions of what prime ministers should do and illustrates that accusations of excessive power and ambition have been thrown at prime ministers from the very beginning. It identifies the strategy of the book: to compare institutional arrangements in four Westminster systems—Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand—to see how prime ministers have chosen to define their role. It proposes tests for assessing prime ministers and for judging their performance and options.

An Indigenous Māori Perspective of Rangatahi Personhood

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adreanne Ormond ◽  
Joanna Kidman ◽  
Huia Tomlins-Jahnke
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Multiple Realities ◽  
The Future ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Colonial Oppression ◽  
Ancestral Landscape

Personhood is complex and characterized by what Avery Gordon describes as an abundant contradictory subjectivity, apportioned by power, race, class, and gender and suspended in temporal and spatial dimensions of the forgotten past, fragmented present, and possible and impossible imagination of the future. Drawing on Gordon’s interpretation, we explore how personhood for young Māori from the nation of Rongomaiwāhine of Aotearoa New Zealand is shaped by a subjectivity informed by a Māori ontological relationality. This discussion is based on research conducted in the Māori community by Māori researchers. They used cultural ontology to engage with the sociohistorical realities of Māori cultural providence and poverty, and colonial oppression and Indigenous resilience. From these complex and multiple realities this essay will explore how young Māori render meaning from their ancestral landscape, community, and the wider world in ways that shape their particular personhood.

scholarly journals Nudge Versus Boost: Agency Dynamics Under Libertarian Paternalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 130 (629) ◽  
pp. 1384-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Hertwig ◽  
Michael D Ryall
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
The Future ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACT Thaler and Sunstein (2008) advance the concept of ‘nudge’ policies—non-regulatory and non-fiscal mechanisms designed to enlist people's cognitive biases or motivational deficits so as to guide their behaviour in a desired direction. A core assumption of this approach is that policymakers make artful use of people's cognitive biases and motivational deficits in ways that serve the ultimate interests of the nudged individual. We analyse a model of dynamic policymaking in which the policymaker's preferences are not always aligned with those of the individual. One novelty of our set-up is that the policymaker has the option to implement a ‘boost’ policy, equipping the individual with the competence to overcome the nudge-enabling bias once and for all. Our main result identifies conditions under which the policymaker chooses not to boost in order to preserve the option of using the nudge (and its associated bias) in the future—even though boosting is in the immediate best interests of both the policymaker and the individual. We extend our analysis to situations in which the policymaker can be removed (e.g., through an election) and in which the policymaker is similarly prone to bias. We conclude with a discussion of some policy implications of these findings.

scholarly journals Principles and Practices in Four New Zealand Family Focused Adult Literacy Programs: Towards wellbeing in diverse communities

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-58
Author(s):  
Jane Furness
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Adult Literacy ◽  
Literacy Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Literacy Programs ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Adult Literacy Education ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Program Content

The field of family literacy, both theory and practice, has much to offer adult literacy education. However, family approaches in adult literacy are under-theorised and underdeveloped if the holistic wellbeing of the intended participants in programs based on these approaches is the primary concern. This article discusses one dimension of a larger study which explored the wellbeing-related effects of participation in four family focused adult literacy programs in New Zealand. This article discusses the principles and practices that were common across the programs. The study found that, despite differences in program content, foci and approaches, common principles and practices reflected shared values and beliefs about literacy and about people which shaped the program design and participants’ experiences of the program. I reaffirm the ideological nature of literacy, highlighting the necessity of paying attention to values and beliefs in literacy programs in order that the effects of involvement in them are in the best interests of individual participants, their families and their communities.

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