POLITICS 107G New Zealand Politics

An introduction to understanding who governs New Zealand and in whose interests. Topics include national identity, institutions of government, leadership, voting and elections, the place of Māori within the political system, parties and political participation. The course draws on current research in NZ politics and provides knowledge that can be applied to a variety of careers, including law, business and public service.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Gain a grounding in the histories, actors, and institutions involved in government and politics in New Zealand. 
2. Demonstrate an understanding of New Zealand voters, the NZ party system, and the other forces, such as the electoral system, which shape NZ politics. 
3. Develop a body of knowledge and set of skills that you can take into your professional career (in law, commerce, engineering, the public service, etc.).
4. Strengthen your ability to make critical judgments about current social and political issues. These judgments may help to inform your decisions as voters, as participants in the policy-making and policy-implementation processes, and in everyday life.
5. Refine your communication skills. These include skills in meme-making for a defined audience (Assignment 1) and in academic writing (Assignment 2). 

'The lectures and the slides were amazing, the summaries on the lecture slides were a great bonus to the class as it is quite a bit of content to go through in 50 mins or so. The lecturer is very passionate about the course which is an added bonus to a stage one Gen Ed paper.'

'The additional readings and resources were really helpful to deepen my understanding of what had been taught in lectures and discussed in tutorials.'

'It was great to have politicians chat with us via zoom like Nikki Kaye, Chole Swarbrick, Brooke van Velden and John Tamihere. It was really cool to see them and to hear their perspectives.'

'The tutorials were informative and reinforced the weekly lessons. And there was a good range of assessments. The essay outline definitely helped with the planning process for the final essay. Having guest speakers who were experts in their field was really good.'

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