New Zealand Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry, 1909-1972

Abstract

Politics is to do with the changing configurations of power and influence within a society. The study of politics in New Zealand has attracted a number of contributions dealing with the ways in which events, such as a general election, demonstrate the changing patterns of power and influence within and between parties. There have been few studies dealing with the numerous ways in which the institutions and organisations of New Zealand share in the activity of politics and respond to the demands for change. This study seeks to make a contribution to this latter area of knowledge and understanding. Society is not static. Even though an individual is able to establish himself in such a way as to minimise the effects of change and the forces for change he is living in an insular society. There are those who seek to minimise the effects of change in society just as there are those who seek to promote great changes in relationships of power and influence. This tension between, on the one hand, the desire for and belief in the stable state See Donald A. Schon, Beyond the Stable State, Temple Smith, London, 1971. See especially his introductory chapter on 'The loss of the Stable State.' with its accompanying philosophy of due process and order and, on the other hand, the demands and realities of the operating system is fundamental to the activity and analysis of the changing configuration of power and influence within a society, i.e. politics.