title: The political field and public relations : Competing discourses in New Zealand’s first MMP election

authors: Roper, Juliet

abstract: This thesis uses Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis to analyse the campaign discourse of each of the five main political parties that contested the New Zealand general election in 1996. The parties were: The National Party, the New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand First, Act and The Alliance. The election itself was of historic importance because it was the first to be held in New Zealand under an electoral system of proportional representation.

The theoretical framework of the thesis combines Bourdieu’s theory of the political field and Bobbio’s concept of the universe of political discourse. This framework facilitates an analysis of political campaign discourse within the context of a struggle for representative and symbolic power in the political field. Critical discourse analysis focuses on the campaign texts as a product of the social and discourse practices of the political professionals vying for that power. It underscores the ideological functions of language, as well as the role of communication professionals, in (re)constructing political discourse. The thesis also raises concerns about the professionalisation of discourse construction in the context of the public sphere.

Because of the introduction of proportional representation, competition within the political field was intensified. This fact, combined with an evident dissatisfaction with politics and politicians by voters in New Zealand civil society, resulted in a wider range of stances, based primarily upon ideological differences, being adopted than under the previous first-past-the-post system. Political parties were not, therefore, able to cluster in the neutral centre of the political field in line with international trends of campaign modernisation and the associated formation of catch-all parties.

Increased competition in the political field resulted in greater importance being placed on party identification and differentiation, as each party sought to discursively position itself as representative of a range of issues of concern in civil society. The ways in which the parties not only discursively positioned themselves in the political field but repositioned their opponents have practical significance for the fields of public relations, organisation communication and marketing. 

A post script to the thesis looks at the use made of World Wide Web sites by New Zealand political parties in 1996. It discusses their potential for the revitalisation of the public sphere. It also surmises that public relations practitioners and political marketers, when they realise the potential, will transform the sites in order to provide entertainment formats which target voters as consumers of political discourse.

text: The political field and public relations : Competing discourses in New Zealand’s first MMP election This thesis uses Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis to analyse the campaign discourse of each of the five main political parties that contested the New Zealand general election in 1996. The parties were: The National Party, the New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand First, Act and The Alliance. The election itself was of historic importance because it was the first to be held in New Zealand under an electoral system of proportional representation.

The theoretical framework of the thesis combines Bourdieu’s theory of the political field and Bobbio’s concept of the universe of political discourse. This framework facilitates an analysis of political campaign discourse within the context of a struggle for representative and symbolic power in the political field. Critical discourse analysis focuses on the campaign texts as a product of the social and discourse practices of the political professionals vying for that power. It underscores the ideological functions of language, as well as the role of communication professionals, in (re)constructing political discourse. The thesis also raises concerns about the professionalisation of discourse construction in the context of the public sphere.

Because of the introduction of proportional representation, competition within the political field was intensified. This fact, combined with an evident dissatisfaction with politics and politicians by voters in New Zealand civil society, resulted in a wider range of stances, based primarily upon ideological differences, being adopted than under the previous first-past-the-post system. Political parties were not, therefore, able to cluster in the neutral centre of the political field in line with international trends of campaign modernisation and the associated formation of catch-all parties.

Increased competition in the political field resulted in greater importance being placed on party identification and differentiation, as each party sought to discursively position itself as representative of a range of issues of concern in civil society. The ways in which the parties not only discursively positioned themselves in the political field but repositioned their opponents have practical significance for the fields of public relations, organisation communication and marketing. 

A post script to the thesis looks at the use made of World Wide Web sites by New Zealand political parties in 1996. It discusses their potential for the revitalisation of the public sphere. It also surmises that public relations practitioners and political marketers, when they realise the potential, will transform the sites in order to provide entertainment formats which target voters as consumers of political discourse.

year: 2000

title: Quantifying relationships between land-use gradients and structural and functional indicators of stream ecological integrity

authors: Clapcott, Joanne E.

subjects: boosted regression

abstract: 1. Modification of natural landscapes and land-use intensification are global phenomena that can result in a range of differing pressures on lotic ecosystems. We analysed national-scale databases to quantify the relationship between three land uses (indigenous vegetation, urbanisation and agriculture) and indicators of stream ecological integrity. Boosted regression tree modelling was used to test the response of 14 indicators belonging to four groups – water quality (at 578 sites), benthic invertebrates (at 2666 sites), fish (at 6858 sites) and ecosystem processes (at 156 sites). Our aims were to characterise the ecological response curves of selected functional and structural metrics in relation to three land uses, examine the environmental moderators of these relationships and quantify the relative utility of metrics as indicators of stream ecological integrity.
2. The strongest indicators of land-use effects were nitrate + nitrite, delta-15 nitrogen value (δ15N) of primary consumers and the Macroinvertebrate Community Index (a biotic index of organic pollution), while the weakest overall indicators were gross primary productivity, benthic invertebrate richness and fish richness. All indicators declined in response to removal of indigenous vegetation and urbanisation, while variable responses to agricultural intensity were observed for some indicators.
3. The response curves for several indicators suggested distinct thresholds in response to urbanisation and agriculture, specifically at 10% impervious cover and at 0.1 g m−3 nitrogen concentration, respectively.
4. Water quality and ecosystem process indicators were influenced by a combination of temperature, slope and flow variables, whereas for macroinvertebrate indicators, catchment rainfall, segment slope and temperature were significant environmental predictor variables. Downstream variables (e.g. distance to the coast) were significant in explaining residual variation in fish indicators, not surprisingly given the preponderance of diadromous fish species in New Zealand waterways. The inclusion of continuous environmental variables used to develop a stream typology improved model performance more than the inclusion of stream type alone.
5. Our results reaffirm the importance of accounting for underlying spatial variation in the environment when quantifying relationships between land use and the ecological integrity of streams. Of distinctive interest, however, were the contrasting and complementary responses of different indicators of stream integrity to land use, suggesting that multiple indicators are required to identify land-use impact thresholds, develop environmental standards and assign ecological scores for reporting purposes.

text: Quantifying relationships between land-use gradients and structural and functional indicators of stream ecological integrity 1. Modification of natural landscapes and land-use intensification are global phenomena that can result in a range of differing pressures on lotic ecosystems. We analysed national-scale databases to quantify the relationship between three land uses (indigenous vegetation, urbanisation and agriculture) and indicators of stream ecological integrity. Boosted regression tree modelling was used to test the response of 14 indicators belonging to four groups – water quality (at 578 sites), benthic invertebrates (at 2666 sites), fish (at 6858 sites) and ecosystem processes (at 156 sites). Our aims were to characterise the ecological response curves of selected functional and structural metrics in relation to three land uses, examine the environmental moderators of these relationships and quantify the relative utility of metrics as indicators of stream ecological integrity.
2. The strongest indicators of land-use effects were nitrate + nitrite, delta-15 nitrogen value (δ15N) of primary consumers and the Macroinvertebrate Community Index (a biotic index of organic pollution), while the weakest overall indicators were gross primary productivity, benthic invertebrate richness and fish richness. All indicators declined in response to removal of indigenous vegetation and urbanisation, while variable responses to agricultural intensity were observed for some indicators.
3. The response curves for several indicators suggested distinct thresholds in response to urbanisation and agriculture, specifically at 10% impervious cover and at 0.1 g m−3 nitrogen concentration, respectively.
4. Water quality and ecosystem process indicators were influenced by a combination of temperature, slope and flow variables, whereas for macroinvertebrate indicators, catchment rainfall, segment slope and temperature were significant environmental predictor variables. Downstream variables (e.g. distance to the coast) were significant in explaining residual variation in fish indicators, not surprisingly given the preponderance of diadromous fish species in New Zealand waterways. The inclusion of continuous environmental variables used to develop a stream typology improved model performance more than the inclusion of stream type alone.
5. Our results reaffirm the importance of accounting for underlying spatial variation in the environment when quantifying relationships between land use and the ecological integrity of streams. Of distinctive interest, however, were the contrasting and complementary responses of different indicators of stream integrity to land use, suggesting that multiple indicators are required to identify land-use impact thresholds, develop environmental standards and assign ecological scores for reporting purposes.

year: 2012

title: Manaaki whenua. Manaaki tangata: Care for the land, care for the people: Leading critical school reform with mana whenua and whānau Māori

authors: Ford, Therese

subjects: Critical school reform

abstract: Education disparities between Māori and Pākehā students in Aotearoa, have their origins in colonial education policies and practices which considerably advantaged Pākehā students and compromised the ability of Māori students to engage with learning and succeed.  Despite the promises of equality inherent in the Treaty of Waitangi,  this historical foundation has, for over 150 years, perpetuated intergenerational cycles of education failure for Māori resulting in high levels of endemic social and economic disadvantage in many Māori communities.
This thesis examines the leadership praxis of two Pākehā principals, to understand how, with more respectful connections with Māori communities, they were able to address education disparities and facilitate success for Māori students as Māori. Culturally responsive research methodologies guided two, in-depth case studies which employed mixed methods.
Two collaborative stories, with the voices of mana whenua and whānau Māori, identified the importance of school leaders developing critical levels of consciousness, through authentic, bidirectional relationships with Māori communities.  These relationships enabled the principals to understand the authentic local, pre-colonial iwi histories of the land. This in turn fostered connections between the schools and local Māori communities that enabled them to collaboratively respond to the implications of colonisation.  
The thesis challenges the monocultural, monolingual, unidirectional policies and practices that characterise the current model of colonial education.  It presents instead a decolonising model of critical school reform and a framework for implementation and evaluation.  It contends that honouring the Treaty of Waitangi requires an equity focused response with power sharing relationships, critically led by principals alongside Māori communities.

text: Manaaki whenua. Manaaki tangata: Care for the land, care for the people: Leading critical school reform with mana whenua and whānau Māori Education disparities between Māori and Pākehā students in Aotearoa, have their origins in colonial education policies and practices which considerably advantaged Pākehā students and compromised the ability of Māori students to engage with learning and succeed.  Despite the promises of equality inherent in the Treaty of Waitangi,  this historical foundation has, for over 150 years, perpetuated intergenerational cycles of education failure for Māori resulting in high levels of endemic social and economic disadvantage in many Māori communities.
This thesis examines the leadership praxis of two Pākehā principals, to understand how, with more respectful connections with Māori communities, they were able to address education disparities and facilitate success for Māori students as Māori. Culturally responsive research methodologies guided two, in-depth case studies which employed mixed methods.
Two collaborative stories, with the voices of mana whenua and whānau Māori, identified the importance of school leaders developing critical levels of consciousness, through authentic, bidirectional relationships with Māori communities.  These relationships enabled the principals to understand the authentic local, pre-colonial iwi histories of the land. This in turn fostered connections between the schools and local Māori communities that enabled them to collaboratively respond to the implications of colonisation.  
The thesis challenges the monocultural, monolingual, unidirectional policies and practices that characterise the current model of colonial education.  It presents instead a decolonising model of critical school reform and a framework for implementation and evaluation.  It contends that honouring the Treaty of Waitangi requires an equity focused response with power sharing relationships, critically led by principals alongside Māori communities.

year: 2020