Contents

Historic liberalism in New Zealand

Part of a serieson
Liberalism
Schools Classical Conservative Cultural Democratic Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neo Ordo Radical Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Third Way
Principles Consent of the governed Due process Democracy Economic liberalism Economic globalization Equality Gender Legal Federalism Freedom Economic Market Trade Press Religion Speech Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Labor theory of property Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Limited government Market economy Natural monopoly Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Property Private Public Rights Civil and political Natural and legal To own property To bear arms Rule of law Secularism Secular humanism Separation of church and state Separation of powers Social contract Social justice Social services Welfare state State of nature
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Philosophers Milton Locke Spinoza Montesquieu Voltaire Rousseau Smith Kant Turgot Burke Priestley Paine Beccaria Condorcet Bentham Korais De Gouges Wollstonecraft Staël Say Humboldt Constant Ricardo Guizot List Bastiat Martineau Emerson Tocqueville Mill Spencer Arnold Acton Weber Hobhouse Croce Cassirer Mises Ortega Keynes Collingwood Čapek Hu Hayek Popper Aron Berlin Friedman Rawls Sen Nozick Kymlicka Badawi
Politicians Jefferson Kołłątaj Madison Artigas Bolívar Broglie Lamartine Macaulay Kossuth Deák Cobden Mazzini Juárez Lincoln Gladstone Cavour Sarmiento Mommsen Naoroji Itagaki Levski Kemal Deakin Milyukov Lloyd George Venizelos Ståhlberg Gokhale Rathenau Madero Einaudi King Roosevelt Pearson Ohlin Kennedy Jenkins Balcerowicz Verhofstadt Macron
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Hong Kong Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Liberism Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Cracovian Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in American academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Radical centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Land value tax Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Sexually liberal feminism Utilitarianism
Liberalism portal Politics portal
v t e

This article gives an overview of historic liberalism in New Zealand. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had representation in parliament.

In New Zealand, the term "liberalism" has been used by a large variety of groups and organisations, but usually refers to a support for individual liberties and limited government. The term is generally used only with a reference to a particular policy area, e.g. "market liberalism" or "social liberalism". In its extreme form it can be known as "libertarianism", although this term is used less in New Zealand than in some other countries. Some historians claim that liberalism was a dominant force in New Zealand until around 1936, citing the strong position of the Liberal Party. However, there is (and always was) debate as to whether the Liberal Party was actually liberal—according to some observers, it would be better described as "socialist", although this was a common accusation made against early 20th century liberals, around the world.^[1][2][3]

Today, there is no party which is universally recognised as "the party of liberalism", although there are parties which attempt to claim this title—ACT New Zealand, for example, has labelled itself as "the Liberal Party".^[4] However, both major parties in New Zealand, the Labour Party and the National Party, have incorporated aspects of liberalism into their current agenda, with the former embracing social liberalism and the latter economic liberalism.^[5][6]

• 1891: John Ballance, upon becoming Prime Minister, founds the Liberal Party.^[7][8] It is later led by Richard Seddon and Joseph Ward, among others, although some historians contend that none of the later leaders had the same ideological commitment to liberalism as Ballance and his allies.^[9][10]
• 1927: Remnants of the party absorb the United New Zealand Political Organisation, adopting the name "United Party". The new party is led by George Forbes.^[11]
• 1936: The party merges with the conservative Reform Party to form the National Party.^[12]

• 1934: Prominent "anti-socialist" political organiser Albert Davy founds the Democrat Party, with a strong focus on economic liberalism.^[13]
• 1935: The Democrats capture eight percent of the vote, but no seats.^[14][15]

• 1983: Bob Jones, a wealthy property tycoon, founds the New Zealand Party to promote both economic and social liberalism. Some consider the party to be mildly libertarian.^[16][17]
• 1984: The New Zealand Party captures twelve percent of the vote, but no seats.^[18]

• George Grey^[19]
• Julius Vogel^[20]
• Robert Stout^[21]
• John Ballance^[8]
• Richard Seddon^[22]
• Joseph Ward^[23]

• Historic conservatism in New Zealand
• History of New Zealand
• Politics of New Zealand
• List of political parties in New Zealand

• Cheyne, Christine (2009). Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. Oxford University Press.
• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years: A History of New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen Publishers. ISBN 0474001776.
• Hamer, David A. (1988). The New Zealand Liberals: The Years of Power, 1891–1912. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-014-3. OCLC 18420103.
• Johnson, Norman (2014). Mixed Economies Welfare. Routledge. p. 62.
• King, Michael (2003). The Penguin History of New Zealand (First ed.). Auckland: Penguin Books. ISBN 0143018671.
• Nagel, Jack (April 1993). "Populism, Heresthetics and Political Stability: Richard Seddon and the Art of Majority Rule". British Journal of Political Science. 23 (2): 139–174. doi:10.1017/S0007123400009716. JSTOR 194246. S2CID 154806794. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
• Sinclair, Keith; Dalziel, Raewyn (2000). A History of New Zealand: Revised Edition (Fifth revised ed.). Auckland: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140298758.