We all know there have been significant political events this year, and in an effort to improve my understanding around why Trump won a second term, I read National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy by Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin (Pelican Books, 2018).
What I hadn’t counted on were some uncomfortable realisations about New Zealand politics in 2024 and why certain policies are being advanced.
The authors, looking at the electoral success of national populists with Trump in the United States, Brexit in the United Kingdom and growing movements across Europe of varying degrees of influence and success. They identify four broad transformations over the decades which have contributed to this. They call them the four Ds:
People’s distrust of the increasingly elitist nature of liberal democracy, which has fueled a feeling among many that they no longer have a voice in the conversation …
Ongoing anxieties about the destruction of the nation that have been sharpened by rapid immigration and a new era of hyper-ethnic change …
Strong concerns about relative deprivation resulting from the shift towards an increasingly unequal economic settlement, which has stoked the correct belief that some groups are being unfairly left behind relative to others …
The rise of de-alignment from the traditional parties, which has rendered our political systems more volatile and larger numbers of people ‘available’ to listen to new promises, while others have retreated into apathy.
(p.271-272)
The authors are also careful to point out the supporters of populists are not uniform and have different motivations for why they may support them. This is a particularly important point for those of us on the Left who oppose the destructive consequences of national populism.
Anyway, in New Zealand the chief proponents of populism are within the current government, spread across three parties.
Distrust of elites exists across the political spectrum. On the Left, it tends to be of the rich and powerful. On the Right, it tends to be of those with inconvenient expertise. So David Seymour refuses to name his translator of the Treaty of Waitangi and expert te reo Māori translators have said it is bunk. Legal experts, historians, even the Waitangi Tribunal have condemned it. But their expertise offers nothing for Seymour. In fact he positions himself as fighting against these elites.
Further examples include Nicola Willis’s decision to cancel the contract for the Cook Strait ferries, and the decision of Casey Costello to halve the excise on heated tobacco products.
“Analyis of officials’ advice has found the majority of new laws and regulations introduced in the Government’s first year have been affected by time constraints and a lack of evidence, or evidence that does not support legislative changes.” – Newsroom
In terms of destruction of the nation, immigration isn’t nearly as contentious here as it is elsewhere in the western world. Our distance and lack of land borders pretty much eliminates that as an issue, although a search for Winston Peters in relation to the subject reveals that he has often made political capital of that issue over the years. Indeed, the Royal Commission into the terrorist attack in Christchurch highlighted social cohesion as a New Zealand characteristic worth safeguarding.
However, Māori have felt the brunt of this instead over the past year, with the afore mentioned Treaty Principles Bill, closure of agencies created specifically to target their needs and a delegitimisation of the Māori language at government level.
There is scope for a left-wing populist message to draw back votes from the right, especailly as the past year has proven to be such a shit show. I think this is an important book to read for politically engaged people, especially those of us on the left.
While New Zealand is insulated from many of the same issues the US faces, the experiences of the past year clearly point to a strong influence of right wing populism on our government and how it tries to craft a policy programme it thinks will appeal to New Zealand. I’m not buying what they’re selling.
Recommended.