Diplomatic Rivalries and Cultural One-upmanship

New Zealand’s Long Quest to Become More Pacific than Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID10475498
AuthorsMichael Goldsmith (0000-0001-9333-6731, University of Waikato, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume106
Issue2
Pages187-196
Publication date2017-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Round Table (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0035-8533 • E-ISSN: 1465-4008
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00358533.2017.1296708
OpenAlexW2606516234
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited5

New Zealand's governmental and non-governmental agencies, academic commentators and media have long framed the country as uniquely and favourably positioned on cultural grounds to be a strategic diplomatic actor in the South Pacific. Justifications for the framing stem from two linked complexes: the history of New Zealand's colonial and post-colonial involvement in a number of Polynesian territories in the Pacific; and the related history of relations between settlers and indigenes in New Zealand itself. These different strands of the argument have increasingly been brought together by the growth in numbers of New Zealand-born and domiciled Pacific Islanders. They, along with Maori, have been recruited into the diplomatic service and overtly contribute to the use of Polynesian encounter rituals in New Zealand's diplomatic outreach. Such histories are used to justify New Zealand's role in the Pacific in its relations with other external powers, especially in diplomatic jostling with Australia. The claims to special insight and cultural capital are subjected to critical scrutiny

Geography · Political science · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

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