Tuesday 14th February, 6-7pm
14 February 2023 - 21 March 2023
6 weeks, 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
CWEA, Christchurch
“ … here in New Zealand, as in most other British – speaking countries, we have learned to use the political machine – we have learned to look upon the political method as the method of liberty, as a constitutional right fought for through long centuries and at last won by the people ...” Harry Holland - First leader NZ Labour Party 1918
Did you know that there were no organised parties prior to 1890 or that there were several labour parties prior to the NZ Labour party, or that proportional representation was used in local body elections in Christchurch prior to World War 2 four times.
Although, parliamentary democracy in Aotearoa has been a recent development, there have been considerable changes in both the electoral process and the parliamentary parties from “then” (19th century) until “now” (21st century). This course will look at the development of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s political parties and the country’s electoral process from the 19th century onward.
In doing so it will look at how different groups and ideologies influenced the creation of parties and how the parties were both influenced by and influenced those forces.
