New Zealand's foreign policy and Malaya/Malaysia 1955-65

Abstract

This thesis was prompted by the dearth of academic work on New Zealand’s foreign relations. Not one book has been written by a New Zealander on the country’s post-World War II foreign policy. An American, B.K. Gordon, haswritten the only major work which surveys the period until 1954. The last M.A. thesis on New Zealand's foreign po1icy in the Pacific was comp1eted same fifteen years ago and covers the post war period until the signing of ANZUS; the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs had published a small amount of material although it has a long way to go before it can rival the comprehensive studies of its Australian and British counterparts. The lack of recent independent research has steered this work primarily into the realm of contemporary history. The extensive process of marshalling facts has rendered current Political Science fetishes such as model-building and ‘games theory’ luxuries outside the scope of this thesis. However, within its scope is the analysis of trends. ln this task the politician or diplomat is easily compromised. Because of his involvement with the present he is in constant danger of becoming preoccupied with events; in merely reacting to stimuli he can fail to detect or create those broader patterns of' action which may be vital to the nation’s future.