The Construction and Use of National Identity in Contemporary New Zealand Political Discourse

Abstract

New Zealand's Labour-led coalition governments in power from 1999 to 2008 committed themselves to defending and promoting a unique and confident sense of national identity. While Labour officially defined the nation in terms of openness, diversity and tolerance, this article argues that in practice they tended to stress a narrower set of identity markers: those, such as creativity, flexibility and innovation, consistent with its reading of global economic necessity. The article demonstrates how the construction of a supposedly unique and confident New Zealand identity remained strongly structured by global norms. It also shows how an insistence on a shared national vision and a common identity can lend itself to a reductive address of citizens as role-performers and, therefore, to a problematic marginalisation of divergent interests and identities.

Notes

¹Labour was constrained for the duration of this period to work with other parties in order to form governments. In this article, however, I focus on Labour's agenda and actions, as it was the dominant and enduring actor in these various governing arrangements.

²The portfolios taken on by New Zealand Prime Ministers are often revealing of their political priorities. Robert Muldoon was also Minister of Finance, David Lange Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Skilling

Peter Skilling is a lecturer in the Centre for Business Interdisciplinary Studies at AUT University in Auckland. His research interests include the links between economic and discursive power, the politics of sustainability initiatives and the development of cultural policy. The author acknowledges the input of colleagues in the Department of Political Studies and the comments of two anonymous reviewers.