Nuclear free : strategies used by the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement

Abstract

In 1987 New Zealand's nuclear free legislation turned the country towards a more independent foreign and defense policy. It was also a major achievement for the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement. This study examines the strategies taken by the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement in its pursuit of a nuclear free New Zealand. Ralph H. . Turner's work on strategy determinants informs the theoretical framework used for this study. Turner states three major strategies used by social movements in general - persuasion, bargaining and coercion. These are examined within the context of the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement. The study then examines the variables that will affect the choice of strategies taken by a movement, such as the target group, constituency, publics and the inter­ relationships between them. Finally, Turner's liniiting factors which will determine the choice of strategy, such as the values held by the movement constituency, the values and interests of publics, and the relationship between the movement constituency and the target group, form the structure of this analysis. A closer examination of the circumstances, in which the anti-nuclear movement performed, reveal that there was one helpful factor working for the movement. This was the absence of strong pro-nuclear groups in New Zealand. Any pressure to accept nuclear policies for defense largely came from outside, primarily from New Zealand's defense allies. Meanwhile, inside the country, pro-nuclear groups were weaker than in other overseas countries, such as Britain or the USA. Nevertheless, this fact does not diminish either the efforts, or the achievement, of the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement, but views it in its factual context.