Widening debate on NZ’s role
Foreign policy is rarely a major issue in New Zealand public debate. Elections are won and lost on the state of the economy, on party credibility and on leaders winning the narrative wars. There are many urgent domestic issues to be addressed: from poverty to the state of our rivers. And world crises and conflicts, such as in Libya or Syria, seem far away. The Pacific Ocean acts as a large buffer to many of the world’s problems.
New Zealand’s foreign policy is directed by a relatively small group of policy-makers, academics and experts. This community often speaks in an acronym-studded language – of the UNFCCC (aka the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the tonguetwister CPTTPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership). They debate the future of multilateralism and international cooperation, and highlight that it is increasingly under-threat from Trump’s unilateral, Twitter-paced foreign policy.
These are important conversations about how Aotearoa New Zealand should engage with the world and we acknowledge, and appreciate, the insights these experts bring.
We want to widen the group of people taking part in conversations about our country’s role in the world, and to challenge the orthodoxies in our foreign policy. That’s why we have created New Zealand Alternative.
We take up the challenge set by Winston Peters at this year’s Otago Foreign Policy School: ‘‘It is not a time for intellectual timidity. It is a time for original thinking as we develop foreign policy prescriptions . . .’’
He issued a direct invitation to think differently about our foreign policy: ‘‘Creative syntheses and challenging old verities is needed more than ever so be bold and take risks in your work. If you do you will find in this Government a receptive ear to your ideas.’’ New Zealand Alternative was founded with a commitment to contribute to bold thinking on the place of Aotearoa New Zealand in the world.
New Zealand Alternative launches this week, founded by a group of New Zealanders with a commitment to an independent, values-driven foreign policy for our South Pacific nation – a New Zealand alternative. Through writing, hui and collaborations with others, we seek to reframe and shape public debate about the role New Zealand plays in the world. We will propose and promote practical and imaginative ideas for Aotearoa’s role on the global stage, grounded in progressive values and evidence.
We seek to identify concrete opportunities where New Zealand can provide diplomatic leadership, and support others, to advance international action on peace and disarmament, decolonisation and indigenous rights, feminist foreign policy, alternative models of economics and trade, humanitarian action and environmental justice. We will engage a broad, and diverse range of New Zealanders living and working at home and overseas.
We see a particular need to examine what progressive foreign policy looks like today. Can trade agreements become progressive if they ensure the rights of workers, women, indigenous people and protect the environment, as this Labour-led Government claims? And how can New Zealand have an ‘independent’ position in the world, given what many experts see as a battle for hegemony between the United States and China?
How can we make kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and kindness central to our foreign policy, as Jacinda Ardern claimed at the United Nations General Assembly? We are keen to engage with a wide group of Kiwis to debate what New Zealand could be doing differently in the world: those on the political Right and those on the Left, young and old, first and seventh and 20th generation Kiwis.
To kick off this debate we have written a report on how New Zealand could take a leadership role in international conflict prevention and mediation. The report draws on interviews with 30 experts in New Zealand and overseas, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Foreign Minister Sir Don McKinnon, and documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA).
The report recommends New Zealand set up an independent conflict prevention unit. It highlights bi-partisan support for an expanded New Zealand role in conflict prevention, which has never fully materialised.
Through this report, and our future work, New Zealand Alternative seeks to encourage all Kiwis to consider what our role in the world should be.
Nina Hall is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is a founding member of New Zealand Alternative, with Max Harris, Thomas Nash and Laura O’Connell Rapira.