In just one year, New Zealand has taken such a radical turn that it has become politically unrecognizable.
Between 2017 and 2023, from coming to power at just 37 years old until her surprising resignation, Jacinda Ardern had transformed the country into a social democratic mecca and a beacon of progressivism around the world, which her successor, the conservative Christopher Luxon, has needed only a year to dismantle.
Twelve months into the current right-wing coalition, New Zealand is politically unrecognisable, having swung back and forth at lightning speed, driven in large part by the same trends that have brought Trump back and European neo-fascism to the fore. The agenda that sets the pace is not environmentalism, equality and improved labour rights, but anti-immigration and anti- woke , law and order, culture war, tribalism and identity politics. Fantasy and symbolism instead of pragmatism and compromise. Less state. Much less.
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The parties that make up the right-wing New Zealand coalition are closely linked to the cabal of conservative think tanks called the Atlas Network, which has its networks stretched from Argentina to Australia and which includes the Heritage Foundation of Washington, the inspiration behind Donald Trump's Project 2025.
Maaaan. Well, they still have proportional representation and really low campaign spending limits there, which should really slow down the most extreme changes.