Beyond These Shores: Aotearoa and the World

by Nina Hall (Editor), Fairlie Cahppuis (contributor), Amelia Evans (contributor)

This book is distinct from existing scholarship as it brings together a new generation of voices, who are seldom heard in current foreign-policy debates.’

New Zealand looks out to a turbulent world. Long- standing alliances are fracturing, nationalism is surging and the oceans are rising. The contributors within these pages are not, as editor Nina Hall notes, conventional foreign policy voices, but these are far from conventional times. These contributors ask that we fundamentally rethink Aotearoa’s role in the world and offer practical ideas grounded in progressive values and evidence.

Contributors
Fairlie Chappuis, Amelia Evans, Max Harris, Thomas Nash, Tina Ngata, Tulia Thompson and Zeng Dazheng.

What are BWB Texts?
BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Spanning contemporary issues, history and memoir, new BWB Texts are released regularly, and the series now amounts to well over fifty works.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

Paperback

Published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Only 31 of the world’s hundred largest economies are countries.”

“In 2017 Fonterra generated more revenue than the poorest 18 countries in the world.”

“International legal human rights frameworks do not directly apply to corporations, but only to governments and individuals.”

“The top 10 % of New Zealand households possess more than half of the wealth, while the bottom 40% own just 3%.”

This is a decent collection of Kiwi essays, but the stand out one for me has to be, "Rethinking the China-New Zealand Relationship" by Zeng Dazheng. He does a clever job of reframing the argument, reminding us that according to one calculation the US has attempted to influence elections in other countries at least 81 times since the end of WWII.

He also poses other questions, like asking why the continuing decline in standards of living so often get blamed on migrants rather than excess greed and lies of capitalism. Elsewhere NZ is called out for its historical revisionism, colonialism and various other contradictions and skewed priorities, like the lack of transparency on the Five Eyes project, and misused funds,

“Nor was there much hand-wringing around New Zealand’s purchase of P8 Poseidon aircraft to do its part under US leadership, at a time when NZ nurses and teachers were on prolonged strike for modest pay rises.”

“What is at issue here is not whether China will change, but in what direction, and under whose leadership.”

“We should ask why retiring politicians should be allowed to take up lucrative business positions. We should ask why our own mass media is controlled by so few. We should ask, fundamentally, why the economic disparity that gives some the power to co-opt and corrupt exists. We should not have to choose between critiquing Chinese influence on NZ politics and critiquing the corporate stranglehold on American politics. They are one and the same question.”