Foreign policy vision enduring

Part of the audience at the 49th University of Otago Foreign Policy School at St Margaret's...
Part of the audience at the 49th University of Otago Foreign Policy School at St Margaret's College last year. Prof Robert Patman is fourth from right. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

New Zealand must continue to nurture the educational capacity and knowledge to interpret and anticipate international events, writes Prof Robert G. Patman.

Almost 50 years ago, Arnold Entwisle directed the first Foreign Policy School at the University of Otago and, in many ways, the vision that inspired that event remains as relevant today as it was then.

Mr Entwisle believed, as he said in an opening address to the first school in 1966, there was an urgent need for ''a do-it-yourself kit'' in the area of New Zealand foreign policy-making.

Mr Entwisle's assessment turned on two factors.

First, the world in the mid-1960s was rapidly changing.

He pointed out in 1966 that there were 134 independent states, 53 of which had been established during the two decades since 1945.

Second, and not unrelated, Mr Entwisle recognised New Zealand faced looming and quite distinctive international challenges.

Britain had signalled its intention in the early 1960s to join what was known as the European Common Market, and New Zealand had involved itself in America's escalating war in Vietnam.

While these developments stimulated a growing New Zealand interest in international affairs, Mr Entwisle worried that efforts to develop a more independent New Zealand foreign policy could be hampered by a lack of public knowledge in this area.

The central purpose of establishing the Foreign Policy School, therefore, was ''to provide [an] opportunity for informed consideration of New Zealand's foreign policy'' and international affairs in general.

The Foreign Policy School initiative was the culmination for Arnold Entwisle of a decade's lecturing in current international affairs to Adult Education groups in Dunedin and Central Otago.

In 1965, Mr Entwisle taught, among other things, a course called ''New Zealand and the World''.

As the name suggested, the course marked an intellectual shift and anticipated the emergence of a world view which would be centred in Wellington, rather than London.

It was this vision that propelled Mr Entwisle and other colleagues from the University of Otago, like Angus Ross, then head of history, to establish the first Foreign Policy School.

Arnold Entwisle directed the first 10 Foreign Policy Schools and insisted these schools were not conferences or conventions.

He emphasised these schools were all about expanding foreign policy knowledge in New Zealand, and should be bipartisan occasions that fostered links between academics, policy practitioners and interested members of the public.

Five decades on, it seems wholly appropriate for the organisers of this year's school to focus on New Zealand and the World: Past, Present and Future to mark the 50th anniversary of what has become one of the major events in the international relations calendar of this country.

In the period since the first Foreign Policy School, New Zealand has experienced a time of substantial international readjustment.

The advent of globalisation - a restless and overarching ''mega trend'' - has coincided with profound changes in New Zealand's national identity and its role in the world.

Those changes include a non-nuclear and regionally focused security policy, sweeping deregulation of the economy, recognition of the special constitutional and cultural position of Maori people, new trade and diplomatic links with Asia-Pacific and closer ties with the United States.

At the same time, New Zealand has experienced a sharp rise in income inequality, increased costs in the provision of housing and education, mounting concerns about environmental decline, and growing fears the country's sovereignty is being eroded by New Zealand's participation in multilateral trade deals and multinational intelligence-sharing arrangements.

The challenge of reconciling the tensions between these trends and making sure the positive aspects of globalisation prevail over its various downsides is a massive one for New Zealand and other countries in the 21st century.

Countering the darker sides of globalisation is not just a question of political will - New Zealand and other smaller states will surely have to play a more active role in a shrinking world - it will also require greater international knowledge.

If New Zealand wants to maintain a sound and independent foreign policy rather than simply act on the purposes, beliefs and judgements of others, it must continue to nurture, as Arnold Entwisle made clear 50 years ago, the educational capacity and knowledge to interpret and anticipate events in the international arena.

• Robert G. Patman is a professor of international relations at the University of Otago and co-director of the 50th Foreign Policy School.

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