210027 SE G6/G7 (Engl.): Australian and New Zealand politics (2006S)

Australia and New Zealand are European societies in the Pacific, always conscious of their heritage and geography. Once they were seen as social laboratories for democratic practices; with payment of members and votes for women, union-based Labor parties. But they had different relations with indigenous people and their traditions. More recently they choose to relate to the world in different ways, with Australia part of the coalition of the willing in Iraq and New Zealand banning nuclear ships and phasing out its air force.

The seminar will explore the operation of politics in Australia and New Zealand and their different approaches to the region and the great powers. Why have two countries so similar in origin chosen different paths?