Las clases de parto y las principales dificultades en el nacimiento

The state in Aotearoa-New Zealand, as mentioned earlier, can be referred to as a colonial state. Definitions of the state should take into account more than the legislation pertaining to its authority since it operates in large part within prevailing ideologies of its power holders. In a legal sense, the colonial state finally disappeared after the passing of the 1 986 New Zealand Constitution Act, sponsored in the House by Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer.

Until that time, remnants of the 1 852 Constitution Act remained on the books w ith the potential to be activated, at least in theory (in practice, Britain had long since abandoned any claim to interfere in New Zealand's policies). Once the first Settler Government took power, Aotearoa-New Zealand shifted from i ts earlier position as a

Crown colony to being a Self Governing colony.· The Crown delegated its

responsibilities, includi ng those pertaining to recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi, to a Settler Government elected by settler populations.

In 1 903 the status changed again as New Zealand became a Dominion, a status that

remained until 1 946 when fin al ly, some years after Canada and Australia had adopted the S tatute of Westmi nster, New Zealand fol lowed suit. B ritain was no longer avail able to intervene in policy, and New Zealanders were no longer B ritish subjects. Even so, however, the Privy Council remains an avenue of appeal used by New Zealanders in a search for j ustice when the nature of a small polity appears to preclude such fairness. Overall, the trend has been away from B ritain and towards ultimate independence. At this point in time, both Australia and New Zealand have raised the possibility of moving from being monarchic states to becoming republics.

The state in Aotearoa- New Zealand can be defined as the set of political institutions at national, regional and local levels and the functions that those institutions perform (Durie,A.E., 1 993 :23). It is also a structure of institutionalised power comprising the legislative, executive and j udicial institutions of government, an organ isation of political and legal power. In my view, the state, in the legislation that it passes and the policies that it implements, reflects at any one ti me, particular ideological positions. The fact that the state in Aotearoa-New Zealand may be defined as a capitalist state, a democratic state, a welfare state all at the same time, means that ideological positions can be masked or appear to have been overtaken or reformed but without clear state ac-countability to Maori. Marxist arguments are helpful here in intelTogating the role of the state.

Marxist writers attribute a relationship between class and state, claiming that there is a ruling class which owns and controls the means of production, infiltrating, as it were, the key representative positions of the state, leading Miliband ( 1 969: 1 28-9) to conclude that "the state apparatus is a crucially important and committed element in the maintenance and defence of the structure of power and priv ilege inherent in advanced capitalism".

Against this view , Poulantzas considers a more important issue to be the relationship between the capitalist state and capitalist production ( 1 973:33 1 -40). To Offe ( 1 984) the state has an interest of its own beyond the clai ms of Miliband and Poulanzas , for it is in the state' s self interest to foster the accumulation of capital from taxation and finance which allows it to sustain its functions. This interest is not the result of a class all iance or the power of vested interests but the need to maintain a balance between the dependence upon the accumulation process for the benefit of the state, the counter interests of private accumulation and the perception of the state as neutral. Hence, the state must maintain electoral support (legitimation) while supporting capital accumulation.

Of course Marxist arguments are interrogating the influence of capitalism in the state, attributing the maintenance of existing structures of power to an overt alliance between the state and captains of industry in the interests of both. Wealth appears to

beget political infl uence and pol itical institutions appear to have major obligations to support capitalist concerns.

Although the ideological potential for capitalism may be able to be attributed in part to a J udeo-Christian work ethic, it metamorphised into much more than that in a colonialism built upon slavery and pillage combined w ith the Christian message. To the proponents of colonialism European nations displayed a progressi veness, a level of civilisation not found outside the Christian faith (Blaut, 1 993:6 1 ). Colonial expansionism is portrayed as an epic adventure, brave adventurers seeking to expand the boundaries of Christendom, to civilise savages or bring health, wealth and eternal life to the non-European w here ever they were, at great risk to the bearers of these good tidings.

Once on foreign soil, adventurers became missionaries or settlers or pioneers or governors or teachers engaged in subverting the rights of the indigenous for national glory, Christian duty, or personal gain . In part, the saga has a basis in fact, good did come out of the works of some, but at the same time, the assertion of biological arguments about the superiority of those of European stock, formed the basis of classical racism. In B laut's view, the rise of science also meant the rise of racist scientists, but he concludes that: "racism emerged from pre scientific roots and surv ived as long as it was useful, science or no science" (ibid:62).

Part of the role of a colonial state, it would appear, was to maintain an underlying belief i n the superiority of European people through entrenching the val ues, attitudes and practices derived from European cultures in the mechanisms of the state. Blaut describes Max Weber, the father of modem bureaucracy, as a moderate racist, dispelling alternative rationalities as irrational while sustaining the view of European rationality as superior. For Maori, with a tenuous hold on parliamentary representation through the four Maori seats, participation in deciding the affairs of the state was always dependent upon non­ Maori support but it fel l to those in the four Maori seats to find a place i n those affairs of state for Maori concerns to be raised, if not addressed.

Tino Rangatiratanga as a theory of state drawn from Maori rationalities, has sustained Maori hope for active partnership in the affairs of state, at least since the 1 860

Kohimarama Conference, when those Maori who had been somewhat reticent about the Treaty, began to see it as an exercise in Tino Rangatiratanga. The issue remains one of

translation into practice. Maori are seeking confirmation of their Treaty based

constitutional position and this was evident in the presentations of all the Maori speakers at the Constitutional conference held at Parliament early in 2000. Confirmation of the constitutional position would incorporate the pri nciple of self-determination and the right to development. It takes account of the increasing calls from Maori for such recognition, a unity of voice evident most clearly from 1 984 and the Hui Taumata held in Well ington to discuss Maori economic development. Instead of taking a narrow focus, the discussions ranged around all of the factors affecting Maori wellbeing. Social and economic development was subsumed into the one phrase, Tino Rangatiratanga.

The Treaty of Waitangi was seen as crucial to the exercise by Maori of a greater degree of control over policies and services for Maori. Although the Crown had not been explicit about the relevance of the Treaty to' social policies, the Royal Commission on Social Pol icy ( 1 986-88), would take the Treaty basis further by emphasising that the Treaty was not only about physical resources such as land and fisheries, but was also about people and their social wellbeing. Government departments gradually developed Treaty approaches to social policy, though there was often l ittle consistency and much depended on the interpretation of Treaty principles, especial ly those recommended by the Royal Commission - partnership, protection, participation.

Tino Rangatiratanga has broad acceptance as reflecting the constitutional rights of Maori for a number of reasons. It is largely about Maori control over Maori matters. First in relation to the concepts expressed in the 1 83 5 Declaration of Independence and guaranteed to Maori in Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi . Quite apart from the exercise of authority over the development and control over resources which are owned by Maori, tino rangatiratanga has been about the exercise of obligations and responsibil ities as well. Where there is agreement to the exercise of authority, it comes with responsibilities and obligations. Tino rangatiratanga is also about preparation for the future, the ability to determine policies, to assume responsibility for affairs, and to plan for future generations.

The Welfare State

The origins and growth of the Welfare State occulTed as Oliver ( 1 977: I ) suggested:

... in a broad international context made up of three elements : first the social problems created by industrial societies; second the measures available in such societies for their alleviation; and third, the ethos that enabled problems and resources to be brought together.

The Labour Party, newly elected in 1 935, took office in a time of despair and social dislocation brought about by the slump, the great economic depression that beset westernised nations around the world with years of stagnation and unemployment. Under Labour, the Keynesian view was adopted, one that pro moted Government intervention as a necessary strategy for ful l employment in a capital ist economy.

The Government set about expanding the role of the state to address the suffering felt across the country during the depression. Colonial s and more recent immigrants had not come to New Zealand from the other s ide of the world to replicate the poverty they had left behind and the socialism of the Labour Government served to allay those spectres of the past. Soc ialism and the rise of the Welfare State was more than intervention to address issues of unemployment and need, it also validated beliefs of a new world order, of egalitarianism, one i n which 'Jack was as good as his master' . W ithout intervention, the dream would b e shattered. B i l l Oliver cites Hanson ( 1 975) who describes the keynote of the Labour Government package as benefits that were "non-contributory, universal, comprehensive and adequate" and provided by the state as a citizens right, not as an act of charity (Hanson, 1 975 :49, cited in Oliver,

1 977: 1 9).

State housing and education together with health made up the triangle of the Labour Governments socialist influence. The social securi ty benefit was one of the cornerstones of the new government alongside better welfare such as health and

housing, and universal education. In the new egalitari.an democracy, all citizens were

to have access to a free compulsory education. Post World War IT shifts by Maori to

town, made Miiori families and enclaves of Maori fami l ies more visible to the masses

and not all their new neighbours welcomed the change. In this environment, the next generations of urban Maori learners would go to school.