Electoral and Constitutional Change In New Zealand: An MMP Source Books - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0864693419 ISBN 13: 9780864693419

Publisher: Dunmore Press, 1999

Synopsis

Voting systems are not usually the subject of editorials, letter-to-the-editor and petitions. MMP is the exception. Yet the move to a new electoral system for New Zealand was not entered into lightly or rapidly.

This book provides a documentary record of the process of electoral reform and its consequences. The years of debate and deliberation involved a Royal Commission, two referendums and the writing of a new Electoral Act. But there was much more, including court cases on the enrolment of Maori voters; the drawing up of new electorate boundaries for the whole country; the drafting of new selection rules by political parties for their electorate and party-list candidates.

This collection of documents traces the story of MMP from the Royal Commission's proposals through the break-up of the National-New Zealand First Coalition. The coalition agreements between Jim Bolger and Winston Peters, and between Jenny Shipley and the defectors from New Zealand First are both published in this volume. Other documents focus on the resignation of Alamein Kopu from the Alliance - and what, if anything should have been done about it - as well as the wider impact of MMP on New Zealand's politics and law-making - on Parliament, Cabinet and the public service.

Changes to the honours system, the role of the Governor-General and to New Zealand's highest court are among the broader constitutional topics in this reference source. The final section of the book brings together speeches and proposals envisaging a New Zealand republic in the new Millennium.

A companion to The New Zealand Politics Source Book (now in its third edition), this collection of primary materials will be invaluable for anyone interested in a serious answer to the most important question being asked about MMP - how did it happen?

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Boston is Professor Public Policy in the School of Business and Public Management at Victoria University of Wellington. He has published widely on various aspects of New Zealand Politics, public management, higher education and social policy. He is a member of the New Zealand Political Change Project, a multi-year research programme (funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology) examining the impact of proportional representation on New Zealand's political institutions and ploicy processes. The members of the Project are the co-authors of New Zealand Under MMP: A New Politics? (Auckland University Press, 1996), for which they received the inaugural Wallace Award from the Electoral Commission "in recognition of their significant contribution to public understanding of electoral matters."

Stephen Levine is Associate Professor and Head of the School of Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. He is Director of the New Zealand Political Change Project, a co-editor of the New Zealand Politics Source Book (Dunmore Press, 1992, 1994 and 1999) and a co-editor of New Zealand's politics journal, Political Science. With Elizabeth McLeay he is General Editor of the School's Occational Publications Series, whose latest book (edited by Alan Simpton) is The Constitutional Implications of MMP (Dunmore Press, 1998).

Elizabeth McLeay is Associate Professor of the School of Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. Recent publications include The Cabinet and Political Power in New Zealand (Oxford University Press, 1995). With the other members of the New Zealand politcal Change Project she was a co-editor of (and contributor to) From Campaign to Coalition: New Zealand's First General Election Under Proportional Representation (Dunmore Press, 1997) and has published articles on the political representation of Maori and women, comparative public policy, housing, and policing policy. She was a founder of the New Zealand Politics Research Group and is a former co-editor of Political Science.

Nigel Roberts is Associate Professor of the School of Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. His research and teaching interests include New Zealand and Scandinavian politics, with special emphasis on electoral studies. A member of the New Zealand Political Change Project, he is co-author of Political Tolerance in Context (Westview Press, 1985) and Voter's Choice (Dunmore Press, 1992), as well as numberous survey-based studies of New Zealand public opinion and voting behaviour (conducted in collaboration with Stephen Levin). He is a frequent media commentator on New Zealand politics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dunmore Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0864693419
• ISBN 13: 9780864693419
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 497
• Editor: Roberts Nigel S., McLeay Elizabeth, Levine Stephen, Boston Jonathan