The Crisis of Legitimacy: the New Zealand State and Social Contract Theory

Abstract

It is frequently claimed that New Zealand's political order is experiencing a crisis of legitimacy. However, while there is this agreement that a crisis exists, there is not one on the nature of the crisis or how to resolve it. This thesis enters the debate regarding the legitimacy of the New Zealand political system by analysing the crisis of legitimacy and defending arguments which will resolve the crisis. How the concept of legitimacy is defined is important because it affects how the crisis is understood and ultimately how it can be resolved. This thesis states that legitimacy is a normative standard grounded in the relationship between the values of the citizens and the principles which underlie and inform the form and functions of the political order. For a political order to be legitimate the values of the citizens must be congruous with the principles informing the form and function of the state. A study of the legitimacy of the New Zealand political system must therefore take this relationship as the integral element of analysis - it must focus on the level of principle and determine principles which all people can ‘willingly accept’. The crisis of legitimacy in New Zealand has emerged because of the incongruence between the values held by the citizens and the principles underlying the political institutions. The source of the division is the disagreement present within society in terms of its values and beliefs. There are three general categories which constitute the social divisions. One group defends the value of political participation – all individuals should be able to influence political processes. Another group defends the value of market participation - barriers to market entry and participation should be relaxed so that all individuals can satisfy their market interest. The final group asserts differential treatment for the indigenous population - political, social and economic institutions should be re-organised to accommodate the Treaty of Waitangi. To assist with the analysis of the crisis of legitimacy in New Zealand, the thesis applies the social contract theory to the New Zealand circumstances. Social contract theory is an appropriate framework for analysis because, first, social contract theory assumes the centrality of the relationship between citizen values and informative principles for establishing the legitimate basis for political orders. The theory determines principles for structuring government that all people can agree to. And, second, because the different variants of social contract theory found within the social contract tradition complement and reflect the nature of the debate found in New Zealand. The debate in New Zealand concerns the historical evolution of the state from its origins, the impact of the origins on the contemporary state, and the configuration of the contemporary state. The original social contract and moral contractualism will assist in explaining the complexity of these issues and will offer alternatives sets of principles which claim to legitimate New Zealand’s political order. Finally, social contract theory also proves to be a valuable framework of analysis for resolving the crisis. This thesis extracts the general reasoning structure found within the variants of moral contractualism and applies it to the contemporary circumstances in New Zealand. Through the application of the general reasoning structure of contemporary contractualism principles are derived that all should willingly agree to.