May 22, 2008

Podcast: Debunking the Myth of New Zealand's Success Story

Jane Kelsey is a professor of law at the University of Auckland and a prominent critic of globalisation.

She has written a number of books and many articles on the restructuring of the New Zealand state and the Treaty of Waitangi since 1984. Her most recent book examines the process, substance and effects of the New Zealand experiment in structural adjustment, and options for the future.

In this 69 minute, 1997 lecture, Dr Kelsey spoke at the University of Alberta. She took the audience on a revealing tour of the changes brought about by thirteen years of new right government in New Zealand.

A society once marked by a balance of market forces and a realistic level of government intervention and social support has been converted to a bastion of free enterprise, with its citizens afloat in the global marketplace.

A decade on Kelsey's hypothesis would appear confirmed; these policies have returned New Zealand to a state of colonial dependency, although the imperial centre is now the multi-national corporation rather than the British empire.

Download the 16.8 MB mp3 File

No comments: