Appendix To The Journals Of The House Of Representatives Of New Zealand 1996 99

This collection of invaluable essays explores, analyzes and critically evaluates the interaction between globalization and New Zealand sovereignty. The volume is the first to seriously address this subject in a systematic fashion. It pursues three interrelated lines of enquiry: the impact of globalization on the policy making machinery of the New Zealand state; the development of New Zealand political culture, including its sense of national identity; during the globalization era; and New Zealand's role on the international stage in a globalizing world. The book reveals the paradoxes of New Zealand's encounter with globalization. It will provide essential reading for specialists of globalization and for general readers interested in the complex national experience of New Zealand.

This book examines New Zealand's constitution, through the lens of constitutional realism. It looks at the practices, habits, conventions and norms of constitutional life. It focuses on the structures, processes and culture that govern the exercise of public power – a perspective that is necessary to explore and account for a lived, rather than textual, constitution. New Zealand's constitution is unique. One of three remaining unwritten democratic constitutions in the world, it is characterised by a charming set of anachronistic contrasts. “Unwritten”, but much found in various written sources. Built on a network of Westminster constitutional conventions but generously tailored to local conditions. Proudly independent, yet perhaps a purer Westminster model than its British parent. Flexible and vulnerable, while oddly enduring. It looks to the centralised authority that comes with a strong executive, strict parliamentary sovereignty, and a unitary state. However, its populace insists on egalitarian values and representative democracy, with elections fiercely conducted nowadays under a system of proportional representation. The interests of indigenous Maori are protected largely through democratic majority rule. A reputation for upholding the rule of law, yet few institutional safeguards to ensure compliance.