Te Tiriti, Equality and the Future of New Zealand Democracy

In this major work, the leading Maori political scientist Dominic O’ Sullivan draws on theories of republicanism and the commonwealth to challenge understandings of Te Tiriti as a partnership between races, or between Maori people and the Crown. O’ Sullivan also critiques the idea that Te Tiriti created one people, assimilating Maori into colonial ways of governing. Instead, he proposes a new politics where Maori self-determination and liberal democracy, rangatiratanga and kawanatanga, complement one another to promote meaningful and culturally grounded political equality.

O’ Sullivan enables us to see a future for Aotearoa in which political authority and responsibility belong to everyone and should therefore work equally well for all; a country where Maori people, as much as anyone else, bring their tikanga to public life; and a society where the Crown is no longer the word we use to describe government.

For scholars, policymakers and political leaders, for Maori and Pakeha, for all of us imagining a respectful and inclusive future for our island democracy, this is essential reading.

Professor Dominic O’ Sullivan (Te Rarawa, Ngati Kahu) is a political scientist at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He is the author of eight books including Te Tiriti, Equality and the Future of New Zealand Democracy (Auckland University Press, 2026),  Indigeneity: A Politics of Potential (Policy Press, 2017) and Sharing the Sovereign: Indigenous Peoples, Recognition, Treaties and the State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

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