A flawed Treaty partner: The New Zealand state, local government and the politics of recognition

Since the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975, the key mechanism of recognition for Māori in Aotearoa/New Zealand has been ‘Treaty settlements’. These settlements offer some (very limited) compensation for historical injustices, as well as limited recognition of tribes as political partners to the state (see, for example, Belgrave et al. 2005, Bargh 2007a, Mutu 2011, Wheen & Hayward 2012). However, local government entities, while important actors in the lives of iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes), are not Treaty partners and have an ambiguous role in the lives of post-settlement1 Māori communities.