liberation

[political party social bases] 4: Labour Party

For nearly half a century the Labour Party was solidly a party of the working class. Established in 1916 as the political wing of the trade union movement, it aimed to increase ‘the visible, physical presence in Parliament of representatives of the working class’ (Gustafson, 1989: p.211). It now functions to give a presense in Parliament for politicians from the middle classes and to formulate and market policies that are attractive to voters from all classes and income groups. [Read more below]

[political party social bases] 3: Decline of class politics

For decades political scientists agreed that politics in New Zealand was nearly exclusively either concerned with economic issues or based around the left-right class divide. That class and a basic economic cleavage underpin the way New Zealand politics is carried out has become an almost unchallenged assumption for some. This blog post discusses how and why the left-right class cleavage is in decline in NZ parliamentary politics. [Read more below]

[political party social bases] 2: Measuring party support

The social bases of the party system have been measured in a number of ways in New Zealand. This post sets out the methodological basis of how this series of blog posts is measuring the social support bases of the political parties. [Read more below]

[political party social bases] 1: Introducing the series

The connection between New Zealand’s political parties and their social bases of support is often stressed by political scientists and commentators. This is because Labour has traditionally derived most of its support from lower socioeconomic voters in the cities, while wealthier voters in both urban and rural areas have formed National’s voter base. This new series of blog posts challenges the idea that such a relationship between parties and social structure still exists, and suggests that party competition is structured less-and-less by this traditional socioeconomic left-right cleavage. Increasingly, other social cleavages (based on characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and location) shape party politics – but even these are weak. The notion that Labour is a party of working people and National is the party of farming and business is thus disputed, and instead, it is shown that these parties, as well as the newly-established ones, increasingly find their support in all sections of society. This trend plays an important part in the decline of the institution of party in New Zealand and the erosion of ideology in particular. [Read more below]

[political finance] Listener: EFA is an ass, a dog, and a dead duck

The Electoral Finance Act (EFA) is an ass, a dog, and a dead duck. This is what the Listener says in its editorial this week, which calls for the repeal of this ‘unworkable’ and ‘absurd’ legislation. A number of good points are made. First, it looks increasingly possible that some electorate seats ‘and possibly even the election itself, will be determined not by voters but by the High Court’. The many judicial appeals made under the EFA ‘are unlikely to be resolved before the election, raising the possibility of election night results being overturned later’. Second, in such litigation ‘The small parties, with fewer resources to spend on lawyers, are at a distinct disadvantage’. Third, the Listener recalls an important statement made by the Royal Commission on the Electoral System which seems to have been ignored by political finance reformers – the Commission said it’d be ‘futile to attempt to regulate all expenditure which might, directly or indirectly, affect the electoral chances of any candidate. Measures to control political spending must be confined to what is practicable’. The Listener editorial concludes by correctly pointing out that ‘Fostering a healthy democracy was never the motivation for this piece of law-making. And nor will it be the outcome’.

[Third parties] 14: Conclusions

Nowadays political parties and third parties are inclined to see their relationships with each other as a hindrance to their operations. Such relationships reduce a party’s independence and are potentially seen negatively by the voting public. But because few deep relationships with third parties now exist, this means parties are less stable entities. They may enjoy increased autonomy, but correspondingly they sometimes lack the political coherence and ideological stability that they once possessed. Modern New Zealand political parties are thus less responsive to outside organisations but are more responsive to voters from across the social cleavages. This now contributes to an unstructured and confused political environment where voters often have trouble navigating the party system. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 13: The rise of anti-third party ideology

Part of the explanation for the disconnection between political parties and third parties such as interest groups or pressure groups can also be found in the rise of anti-interest group ideology in the 1980s and the subsequent marginalisation of groups representing various class interests. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 12: The decline of NZ societal organisations

New Zealand society is increasingly made up of atomised individuals who are disinclined to participate in public life and politics, and when they actually do participate, they do so more as individuals than as members of groups. Third parties from business groups, to trade unions, through to the Freemasons and the Countrywomen’s Institute – as well as environmental and socialist groups – have been in significant decline. This blog post details the decline of such societal organisations in NZ. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 11: Linkages to government departments

Nowadays many so-called third parties prefer not to associate themselves with a particular political party, but instead seek to develop relationships with government departments. And likewise, some political parties are developing closer relationships with particular government agencies. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 10: The growing influence of third parties

While the formal and informal relationships between particular third parties and specific political parties have been declining, paradoxically, the overall political influence of third parties appear to be greater under MMP than under FPP – due to the greater number of parties now involved in the policymaking process. [Read more below].

[Third parties] 9: Modern ties and party privatisation

Parallel to decline of the traditional relationships between New Zealand political parties and so-called ‘third parties’, the parties have actually been developing new relationships. It is apparent that many of the modern groups that are aligned to – or have relationships with – parties are actually elite-type organisations that do not represent significant social forces in society. These groups are established to provide a way around state political financing laws, provide intellectual resources, or simply supply legitimacy. They are an attempt to illustrate to voters that a particular party has links with civil society and therefore has support in the community. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 8: The decline of party linkages

Throughout the twentieth century it was commonplace for New Zealand’s political parties to be backed by various organised sections of New Zealand society (now often termed ‘third parties’). Parties parties were heavily anchored in societal organisations such as interest groups, community organisations and businesses. Towards the end of the century there was a blurring of this support, and these days societal organisations that might be expected to be on friendly terms with National can be found on good terms with Labour, and vice versa. But more than anything, such institutional-party relations have withered. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 7: New Zealand First’s links

In the tradition of the National Party from which it was spawned, New Zealand First has taken up the conservative stance against the concept of parties having close and formal relationships with organised societal groups. Winston Peters has instead claimed that his party stands for the ‘national interest’ over that of any particular interest group or 'third party'. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 6: Alliance and Progressive’s links

The rise and fall of the Alliance party (and the continuation of Jim Anderton’s solo party in Parliament) presents some interesting examples of the weak relationships that modern minor political parties have with third parties. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 5: United Future’s links

Despite having only a tiny party organisation, the United Future party has had some interesting third party linkages – mostly with ethnic minority and Christian organisations. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 4: The Greens’ links

As would be expected, the Green Party has relationships with a number of ‘third party’ environmental groups such as the Royal New Zealand Forest and Bird Society, and Greenpeace. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 3: Act’s links

Unlike many of the new political parties formed during the 1990s that have been internally-created parties – parties formed by parliamentarians rather than by forces external to Parliament – the Act New Zealand party arrived in part due to the urging of a number of third party organisations, and once in Parliament it has continued to cultivate relationships with civil society organisations [Read more below]

[Third parties] 2: National’s links

Norman Kirk famously described Federated Farmers as ‘the National Party in gumboots’, and Austin Mitchell pointed out that Federated Farmers and National Party branch meetings often appeared to be ‘the same people sitting in different rooms at different times’. However, National’s relationship with organised farming and business interests has definitely dwindled since then. Similarly, although traditionally the party was allied to many powerful institutions in New Zealand society, National’s deep connections with civil society has been replaced by an organisational professionalism. This post looks in detail at the National Party’s various third party linkages over its history. [Read more below]

[Third parties] 1: Labour’s links

The Electoral Finance Act and the recent debate about political finance in New Zealand has brought attention to the links that political parties are said to have to a number of ‘third parties’. This post looks in extensive detail at the Labour Party’s various societal third party linkages over its history. It shows that the Labour Party's organic links to civil society have eroded, and its legendary relationship with trade unions barely exists anymore in any meaningful sense [Read more below]

Blackball: a revolutionary tradition stolen by Labour

The Labour Party has successfully appropriated the revolutionary tradition of Blackball on the West Coast of New Zealand, and sadly they continue to subvert it for their anti-worker agenda. This political theft was dealt with by Chris Trotter in his column on Friday. Trotter correctly points out that all the ‘Cabinet Ministers and high-ranking trade union officials’ who turned up in Blackball for the recent centenary celebrations of the historic 1908 strike were there ‘to celebrate the myth of Blackball, not the reality’. And the reality is that the miners’ illegal strike had little in common with the reformist Labour Party that emerged a few years later – in fact, according to Trotter, the new moderate party represented the repudiation of the insurgency and militancy of Blackball [Read more below]