Foreign Policy School golden jubilee focusing on NZ’s place in the world

“New Zealand and the World: Past, Present and Future” will be the theme of the 50th Otago Foreign Policy School, the annual weekend gathering regarded as the marquee event in the country’s international affairs calendar.

The School, which runs next month, features an impressive line-up of 30 national and overseas speakers who will discuss and debate pressing issues in New Zealand’s international affairs.

Among those presenting are prominent figures such as security analyst Dr Paul Buchanan, former senior New Zealand diplomats Colin Keating and Terence O’Brien, University of Auckland Professors Jane Kelsey and Ranginui Walker, and investigative journalist Jon Stephenson.

The Otago Foreign Policy School allows academics, students, policymakers, diplomats and members of the public to gather and engage in formal and informal dialogues on selected issues. This year’s School is held from the evening of Friday 26 June until Sunday 28 June at St Margaret’s College on the University’s Dunedin campus.

The 50th School’s co-directors are Professor Robert Patman and Dr Iati Iati of the University’s Department of Politics.

Professor Patman says the School’s 50th anniversary provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on the substantial readjustment our foreign policy has undergone during the past half century, and to debate how it is continuing, or should continue, to evolve.

“One of the most important challenges facing New Zealand foreign policy today is reconciling and balancing its growing involvement in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region with traditional links to the English-speaking world,” Professor Patman says.

In many ways, New Zealand’s improved ties with both China and the US highlight this trend, he says.

“Wellington will have to navigate carefully between the superpowers and avoid actions that seem to suggest that it is siding with one against the other. This could complicate New Zealand’s desire for close economic ties with China and close security ties with the US-led intelligence sharing arrangement known as ‘Five Eyes’.”

Professor Patman says the 50th School is expected to consider how, over time, factors such as security, economics and trade, multilateralism, globalisation and morality have shaped New Zealand’s foreign policy decision-making, and what international possibilities and challenges now face our country in the unfolding 21st century.

The advent of globalisation coincided with profound changes in New Zealand’s national identity and its role in the world, he says.

“These include the adoption of a non-nuclear security policy, liberalisation of the national economy, recognition of the special constitutional and cultural position of Maori people and new trade and diplomatic links with the Asia-Pacific region.”

Professor Patman paid tribute to former Department of University Extension lecturer, Arnold Entwisle, who played a key role in establishing the School in 1966.

“Arnold anticipated that a more independent New Zealand would need a dedicated forum where academics, policy-makers and the general public could come together to share and exchange ideas relevant to this country’s foreign policy.”

By focusing on both contemporary and emerging international developments, the Foreign Policy School has long fulfilled Mr Entwisle’s hope that it would contribute to the enlightenment of this nation, Professor Patman says.

The School begins on Friday evening at 5pm with a cocktail function and opening address, and finishes on Sunday around 4.40pm

ENDS

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