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Immigration and Electoral Politics in New Zealand

8 Nov | Wellington

In this eSocSci Migration Research network seminar, Dr. Kate McMillan will focus on the impacts immigration is having on New Zealand’s electoral landscape, and how New Zealand’s electoral system and rules are, in turn, shaping the politics of immigration in 21st country New Zealand.

Immigration and asylum issues animated electoral politics around the world in 2016 and 2017. In line with this trend, immigration also emerged as a key election issue in New Zealand in 2017, with almost all political parties promising to reduce inward flows of people. But, with over 25% of New Zealand’s population now born overseas, immigration’s impact on electoral politics extends beyond party policies; it affects voter turnout and partisanship, minority candidate selection and representation, and, perhaps most importantly, how New Zealanders conceive of who is and who is not a member of the New Zealand political community.

In this talk Dr McMillan will ask three questions about how immigration is reshaping electoral politics in this country. First, how has immigration changed the electoral demography of New Zealand? Second, how has immigration affected the way in which New Zealand political parties balance outreach to immigrant communities with appeals to their non-immigrant constituencies? Third, how is immigration impacting on the kinds of stories we tell ourselves about who ‘we’ are as we go to the polls in the 21st century?

SPEAKER

Kate McMillan

Dr.

ORGANISATION

eSocSci

VENUE/DATE

Victoria University of Wellington

11:00am Wed 8 November, 2017 - 12:00pm Wed 8 November, 2017