Jacinda Ardern’s foreign policy at a time of global disruption

The Government of Jacinda Ardern inherited a New Zealand foreign policy characterised by both continuity and change. It also faced the challenge of managing New Zealand’s important relationship with China at a time of increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region and intensifying super-power rivalry. However, it was the compassionate but decisive response of Ardern to a white supremacist terrorist attack, which killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019, that more than anything established her reputation as a leader on the international stage during this period. Prime Minister Ardern then garnered global headlines for her administration’s bold COVID-19 response. Were there ever a time when Aotearoa New Zealand could help lead the world through the many challenges it faced—from geopolitical tensions, peace and greater prosperity through trade, countering the effects of poverty and poor health and education outcomes on indigenous populations, or tackling the mounting storms of climate change—then it appeared Ardern was ready to seize the moment.

The purpose of this book is to examine the foreign policy of Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand Government between 2020 and early 2023 when the Covid-19 pandemic intersected with an evolving and often tumultuous post-Cold War global environment. This context witnessed the erosion of an international rules-based order and the renewal of great power competition. In particular, the Indo-Pacific has become a contested strategic space, which impacted on New Zealand’s foreign policy interests.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together academics, policy makers and practitioners and provides essential reading for anyone interested in how relatively small states such as New Zealand can navigate significant foreign policy challenges in an increasingly complex and contested system of international relations. It discusses the distinctive foreign policy that drew on Aotearoa New Zealand’s indigenous values, and emphasised the importance of a good international reputation, strong diplomatic networks, and multilateral cooperation to maintain and grow its influence.

“This is the first scholarly book on what was a critical period in New Zealand’s foreign relations,” says co-editor Robert Patman. “It shows that the gulf between New Zealand’s self-image as a small state and the way the country was perceived externally significantly widened during the early years of Ardern’s leadership. In what was a nuanced policy response towards China, the Ardern leadership sought to avoid the narrow range of choices said to confront small states in such circumstances. Again, in the case of the Christchurch attacks, and In contrast to the robotic, scripted and often insincere responses of some political leaders to comparable tragedies overseas, images of Ardern reacting as a decent, empathetic human being at a time of national trauma helped to unify New Zealand and won her considerable global admiration. And without a doubt, the uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic created globally required Aotearoa New Zealand to define its foreign policy more clearly. Ardern very clearly articulated Aotearoa New Zealand’s position in the international system, an essential foundation for what is a very uncertain future. This book endeavours to tell the story of how that foreign policy position was decided.”

This interdisciplinary volume brings together academics, policy-makers and practitioners and provides essential reading for anyone interested in how relatively small states such as New Zealand can navigate significant foreign policy challenges in an increasingly complex and contested system of international relations. Key chapters include the first review of New Zealand’s COVID-19 public health response and its effect on foreign policy; the national security approach to COVID-19 and a range of views on New Zealand’s increasing trade dependency on China and how it navigates this politically-charged relationship.

New Zealand’s Foreign Policy under the Jacinda Ardern Government: Facing the Challenge of a Disrupted World retails for US$118 / £110 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/13646.

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About the Editors 

Robert G Patman is one of the University of Otago’s Inaugural Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chairs and a specialist in international relations in the Politics Programme. He is the Director of the Master of International Studies (MIntSt) programme. He has authored or edited 13 books with most recent being a co-edited volume titled From Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific: Diplomacy in a Contested Region (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). Robert is also an Honorary Professor of the New Zealand Defence Command and Staff College and makes regular contributions to the national as well as global media on international issues.

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Peter Grace is a Teaching Fellow in the Politics Programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is co-director of the annual Otago National Security School. His forthcoming book is The Intel Intellectuals: How Social Scientists Helped Create the Central Intelligence Agency, 1950–1953. Peter’s research interests include intelligence history, international relations theory, and public preparedness for national crises.

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Balazs Kiglics is a Teaching Fellow in the Languages and Cultures Programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His doctoral thesis explored the role of values in Japanese elite perceptions of contemporary Japan–China relations. He also coordinates the annual Otago Foreign Policy School and Otago National Security School. Balazs has co-edited the volumes New Zealand and the World: Past, Present and Future and From Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific: Diplomacy in a Contested Region. His research interests include Japanese and Chinese studies, international relations of the Indo-Pacific, and intercultural communication.

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Dennis Wesselbaum is an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Otago, the President of the New Zealand Association of Economists, Editor-in-Chief of New Zealand Economic Papers, and Associate Editor of Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. He earned a Diploma in (Theoretical) Economics from the University of Kiel and received his Doctorate (Doctor rerum politicarum) from the University of Hamburg. In between, he worked as a researcher for the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Dennis is a theoretical macroeconomist by training but has both theoretical and empirical interests across various fields. His research activity is split between macroeconomic topics and the interaction between climate, environment and society. His research is interdisciplinary in nature and covers macroeconomics (especially monetary and fiscal policy), economic development, labour, health and environmental impacts.

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