This history is an account of Southeast Asia-New Zealand relations as they have emerged since the end of World War II. Drawing together the most prominent scholars of New Zealand’s relations with Southeast Asia, this study examines the overall military, multilateral, and commercial relationships and those that assess individual bilateral relationships and diplomatic controversies. Southeast Asia remains a regions of considerable importance for New Zealand, and has remained so through the course of decolonization, internal instability, external security, Cold War tensions, peacekeeping efforts, rapidly expanding economic growth (and crisis), and, increasingly, transitional security challenges such as terrorism.

Independence and Foreign Policy is the first interpretive study of New Zealand foreign policy to cover the period 1935-91. Based on years of detailed research, it draws extensively on relevant sources both inside and outside government. It is also an original and imaginative work which consistently takes a broad view, exploring the idea of independence in New Zealand's foreign policy, the kinds of independence most commonly pursued, and their implications in practice. The first half of the book focuses on World War II; the second provides illuminating insights into recent issues in New Zealand foreign policy such as the Vietnam War, relations with South Africa, and the anti-nuclear movement. Independence and Foreign Policy has become a standard reference in its field.

Since 1943, during war, humanitarian and natural disasters, and flashpoints of global tension, one government department has been charged with the critical role of representing New Zealand's interests overseas. In doing so, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (and its predecessors) has needed to respond to ever-evolving political and military allegiances, trade globalization, economic threats, natural disasters, and military conflict on behalf of a small nation that seeks to engage on the global stage while maintaining the principles that underpin its political institutions. For more than 75 years the ministry has been served by some remarkable people, dedicated to an organization that has reflected New Zealand's developing sense of nationhood and place in world. This history of the foreign service, edited by one of New Zealand's foremost historians, captures the high stakes, skill, and intelligence involved in the development of a unique organization.

The aim of this book is to provide the reader with an overview of New Zealand's international relations. It is a country that has often shown an international presence that is out of proportion to the modest spectrum of national economic, military and diplomatic capabilities at its disposal.In this volume, the editors have called upon a range of specialists representing a range of views drawn from the worlds of academia, policy-making, and civil society. It is an attempt to present a rounded picture of New Zealand's place in the world, one that does not rely exclusively on any particular perspective. The book does not claim to be exhaustive. But it does seek to present a more wide-ranging treatment of New Zealand's foreign relations than has generally been the case in the past.Five broad themes help shape and organize the contributions to the text:

The emergence of Asia-Pacific regionalism, as witnessed by the increasing influence of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the annual ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference, highlights one of the major trends in late twentieth-century geopolitics and international relations. Asia-Pacific Diplomacy traces the evolution of the Pacific economic cooperation movement by examining the diplomatic contributions of three international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) -- the scholarly Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD), the business-oriented Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), and the multipartite (academic, business, and government) Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). Lawrence Woods also provides a historical perspective by assessing the work of the Institute of Pacific Relations, forerunner of the INGOs. This book makes an important contribution to the study of international political and economic institutions. It argues that as the regional cooperation movement expands at the governmental level. an understanding of the nongovernmental roots of that movement is required if the diplomatic contributions of the INGOs are to be retained.

The issues involved in this book are complex and go to the heart of how alliances, the basic units of the current structure of international security, should function.

Originally published in 1972, this book examines the scope and possibilities for small states in the conduct of their foreign policies. In the introduction the editor discusses the problem of defining the term ‘small state’ and outlines the restraints they face and the type of international roles they play. The subsequent chapters analyse the foreign policies of Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Zambia, Israel, Cyprus, Cuba, Singapore and New Zealand. In each study the author examines the factors which shape that country’s foreign policy objectives, the organizational structures employed to formulate and implement foreign policy, the type and level of international involvement and the methods used to deal with the political, economic and security issues which make up and stem from the external policies. The book will be of interest to specialists and students of government, foreign policy analysis and other branches of international relations