Politics, Current Affairs & Economic thought > New Zealand Politics

Dop October 2008, Rangiora softcover 512pp 148mmx210mm revised second edition of 2005 ed USA This book is a revised second edition of the "Historical Dictionary of New Zealand" PUBLISHED IN USA IN 2005 and describes the many changes of the past decade while building on the solid foundations of the earlier editions that examined the country's long and lively history. It covers everything from relations between the Pakeha and the Maori to the country's environmental policies. The introduction provides a good starting point, an... read more

Without really knowing why, many New Zealanders are baffled and disturbed by the current economic turmoil of our cripplingly high interest rates, and a massively over-valued New Zealand dollar that is destroying the returns of our mainstay exporters. Since the radical reforms of Rogernomics in the mid 1980s, our political masters, and most mainstream economists have consistently told us that this situation is the inevitable result of good economic management. Bryan Gould however, disagrees. In Rescuing the New Zealand Economy he ar... read more

There has never been a book about NZ politics like this before. Over a two year period sources within the National Party provided the author with an astonishing assortment of internal reports,e-mails,appointment diaries,etc: documenting the rise to power of Don Brash and his two year campaign to get into government. The result is an unprecedented picture of the internal workings of a political party and a disturbing, but riveting study of the nature of modern politics. First published November 2006.

This collection of essays honouring the late Emeritus Keith Jackson addresses the public interest in New Zealand. This subject is of increasing importance at a time when politicians are grappling with serious issues that call into question the boundaries between the private and public spheres. The essays, by leading scholars and acknowledged experts in their field, reflect Keithâ€ÃÂÂ... read more

In this 'best of' collection from one of New Zealand's leading political cartoonists, Garrick Tremain offers and hilarious perspective on some of the most notable and most ridiculous moments in New Zealand politics and popular culture from the last two decades. First published August 2008.

The future is coming. The question is: are we ready?New Zealand Unleashed is a look at what sort of society New Zealand will need to be to best tackle an unpredictable future. It is about how New Zealand can thrive on the uncertainty of the future, rather than fear and resist it. In this book Steven Carden doesn't outline what New Zealand should do, rather he argues how New Zealand should be. To accomplish that, he examines aspects of biology, physics, psychology, New Zealand's history, business and education. New Zealand Unleashed... read more

Crisis is a first-hand account of the 2007-09 global financial and economic meltdown, as experienced, observed and interpreted by Alan Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.The book backgrounds the crisis, then takes readers from the overheated markets of 2007, through the collapse of investment banks and crises in multiple economies and on to the recovery of the world economy. Dr Bollard describes the crisis in human terms as systems, relationships and personal stamina are put to the test, capturing the drama as pol... read more

This book is an important study of the growth of the New Right in New Zealand in the years 1984 to 1999. Its value arises from the way it focuses on the global context of the economic and moral programmes for change in the 1980s and 1990s, aiming to provide a more accurate picture than that given either by those who see the reforms as part of the play of global capitalism or by those who see them in terms of local personalities and agendas.

'Seductive Marketing' and 'Media Spin' are just two of the tools social engineers are using - not to sell you a product but to change the way you and your children think, forever. Ian Wishart is back with his hardest hitting book yet, Eve's Bite, an expose of just how much damage social engineering and political correctness have done to New Zealand and the western world. Wishart tracks the spread of the world's most contagiously deadly ideologies and finds them now deeply rooted in schools, universities, workplaces and government... read more

The Helen Clark we see today is a carefully manufactured, airbrushed political brand. She's also New Zealand's most powerful politician, ever. Absolute Power strips away the facade to find what makes the real Helen Clark tick, and explores the track record of a government that boasted it would bring a new age of "frugality and integrity", and an end to "cronyism, sleaze and dishonesty". Absolute Power is not just about what happened publicly and what played out on the news each night. It is much more about what was going on behind ... read more

The New Zealand General Election of 2008 Publishing December 2009.

At first glance, significant changes have happened to women's roles in NZ political and economic life since 1984 when the cover photo was taken: Helen Clark was our first elected woman prime minister, we've had women as the CEOs of our largest companies and as the head of our judiciary. This book however urges us to look a little closer... just one example: "The Prime Minister's Summit on Employment" early this year included 26 women (16.8%) of the total 181 non-ministerial participants. The conference chair was male as were eight... read more

The Baubles of Office is the story of a cliff-hanger election, New Zealand’s closest yet under MMP. For nearly two weeks no one knew who had won, Labour or National. On election night it was Don Brash who was cheerful and elated, Helen Clark who seemed grim and shaken. New Zealand acquired a government only when Winston Peters ignored a last-minute written appeal from the leaders of four other parties to come to a meeting to agree on terms. Instead, he met with Helen Clark and became the country’s Foreign Mini... read more

Why do a few businesses make wonderful success stories but most fail to make any real progress? Can you turn failure around and make it a success? This is something Richard Prebble needed to learn, and learn quickly when in 1987 he walked out of Prime Minister David Lange's office the biggest businessman in New Zealand's history. As the new Minister of state owned enterprises (SOEs), Richard Prebble was responsible for twenty-one government businesses worth over 20 billion dollars (over 100 billion dollars in today's terms). All we... read more

n 2001, the United States launched the 'war on terrorism' in purported response to the September 11th attacks. With hasty process, the New Zealand government quickly signed up. But what is this war really about? The agenda of the 'war on terrorism' is very different to the propaganda we are being sold by politicians and the mass media. It is an agenda of domination and control over our lives and the extension of state and corporate power. Against Freedom, written by Valerie Morse, details the agenda against freedom, from the leg... read more

Maori and Parliament is a collection of nineteen presentations and papers from twenty-one academics, political commentators and current and former parliamentarians and is the result of the Maori and Parliament conference held at Parliament in May 2009.

A comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the role and influence of political leadership in New Zealand, Political Leadership in New Zealand discusses this topical issue from a variety of valuable perspectives. More than simple studies of various leaders, chapters cover leadership and national identity; leadership in response to globalisation; leadership in New Zealand foreign policy; the populist tradition of leadership; how to adapt traditional, adversarial leadership styles to MMP; Maori conceptions of political 'chieftainship'; e... read more

Journalist Jane Clifton has covered New Zealand politics for 25 years, putting its scandals, coups, relationship breakdowns and crises under the microscope. Here she takes the reader into the corridors (and tunnels) of power, where ego, vanity and insecurity reign and good intentions struggle to survive. Fascinating and funny.

Have your say: Influencing public policy in New Zealand is a straightforward guide for New Zealanders who want to understand how the public policy process works and how they can engage in it. Few people realise that they have the power to influence government policies. Have your say gives practical advice for individuals who want to make their concerns heard, as well as for lobby groups, political activists and community groups. It shows how we all can get involved in shaping government policies that affect everyone. Frances Hughes... read more

On 15 of October, 2007, three hundred police officers dressed in full riot gear, including balaclavas and sunglasses, raided the township of Ruatoki which lies at the northern end of the Ureweras. At the same time as Ruatoki was being locked-down, police raids were taking place in other parts of the country. By the end of the day, 17 people were reported as arrested; four from Wellington, six in Auckland, one in Palmerston North, one in Hamilton and five in the Bay of Plenty area. The 'global war on terror', launched in the US five... read more