Indigenous peoples embedded in neoliberal governance: Has the Māori Party achieved its social policy goals in New Zealand?

Abstract

The re-election of conservative governments in many countries in the 2010s suggests that neoliberalism has become normalised and neoliberal values represent ‘a common sense of the times’ (Peck & Tickell 2002: 381). Yet, indigenous protest movements and political agency exemplify the kind of ongoing ‘resistances, refusals, and blockages’ that Clarke (2004: 44) believes hinder the smooth running of global neoliberalisation. Despite considerable policy coherence under neoliberal governance, the nuanced, dynamic concept of neoliberalisation highlights that differing forms of neoliberalism exist across temporal phases and geographical spaces (Peck & Tickell 2002). As other chapters in this volume illustrate, neoliberalism has inhibited indigenous wellbeing and rights and provided important opportunities for indigenous peoples in varied ways across the world.