Massey Documents by Type
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Item Democracy and belief in conspiracy theories in New Zealand(Australian Political Studies Association, 2022) Marques MD; Hill SR; Clarke EJR; Williams M; Ling M; Kerr J; Douglas K; Cichocka A; Sibley CThe COVID-19 pandemic supercharged the spread of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories worldwide. Using a national probability sample of adults from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study during 2020 (17–99 years old; M = 48.59, SD = 13.86; 63% women, 37% men; N = 41,487), we examined the associations between agreement with general conspiracy beliefs and political indicators of intention to vote and satisfaction with government, alongside political factors including trust in politicians, political efficacy, identity centrality, and political ideology. Left-wing political ideology, trust in politicians, and political efficacy accounted for most of the explained variance in satisfaction with the government. General conspiracy belief was also a unique contributor to lower satisfaction with the government. We also found a curvilinear relationship between political ideology with heightened belief in conspiracies at both ideological extremes and the centre. Findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of conspiracy belief on democratic engagement.
Item Improving and sustaining quality of child health care through IMCI training and supervision: experience from rural Bangladesh(Oxford University Press, 13/09/2013) Hoque DME; al. E; Akter T; al. EItem Security beyond the border: exploring Australia and New Zealand trans-Tasman relations in a globalised world(Informa UK Limited trading as Taylor & Francis Group, 2021-11) Ferrill J; Nicklin G; Legrand T; McComas HThis article addresses contemporary security challenges related to borders within Oceania, focusing on trans-Tasman relations. We address border security between Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia as a matter of an ascendant relationship, based on coordination and cooperation. By interrogating shared and divergent attributes between the nations, we are able to provide an overview of approaches towards regional threats. Behind these approaches are socio-political contexts, including drivers and authorities for cooperation as well as cultural and political identities. Importantly, the evolution of shared practices between the nations and a future scan of security in the region lead to important geopolitical considerations.Item Multiplying possibilities: A postdevelopment approach to hygiene and sanitation in Northwest China(2015-12) Dombroski KFPostdevelopment thinkers and writers have critiqued development discourse for its role in perpetuating inequality. In water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) literature and interventions, the discourse used perpetuates inequality through classing anything other than private toilets as ‘without sanitation’. This implies that the people who use forms of hygiene and sanitation relying on collective toilets and alternative strategies are somehow unhygienic. Yet residents of Xining (Qinghai Province, China) rely on hygiene assemblages that do not always include private toilets, but nonetheless still work to guard health for families with young children. In this paper, I develop a postdevelopment approach to hygiene and sanitation based on starting with the place-based hygiene realities already working to guard health in some way, then working to multiply possibilities for future discursive and material hygiene realities. In this approach, contemporary and future realities may look quite different from those based on private toilets.Item Surviving well: From diverse economies to community economies in Asia-Pacific(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2022-04) Dombroski K; Duojie C; McKinnon KItem Item Enemy or ally? Senior officials' perceptions of ministerial advisers before and after MMP(Victoria University of Wellington, 2006) Eichbaum C; Shaw RHThere is now a well-established literature on the various second-order effects of the adoption of proportional representation in New Zealand. One feature of the contemporary executive landscape, however, remains substantially under-researched. This article reports on research regarding ministerial advisers in New Zealand Cabinet ministers' offices. More specifically, it compares senior public servants' current attitudes towards ministerial advisers with pre-MMP speculation regarding the possible future influence of such advisers. The article concludes that while there are concerns about the possible long-term influence of political advisers, for the majority of senior officials working relationships with ministerial advisers are positive and productive.Item Ministers, minders and the core executive: Why ministers appoint political advisers in Westminster contexts(Oxford University Press, 2014-07) Shaw RH; Eichbaum CPolitical advisers are now an established feature of the executive branch of government in the community of Westminster nations. However, there have been few attempts to establish why ministers appoint political staff, and even fewer that are empirically grounded in politicians' own experiences and reflections. The purposes of this article are to (i) establish ministers' motives for appointing political advisers, (ii) to theorise those motives through the lens of core executive studies and (iii) to assess the degree to which findings in one empirical setting enjoy wider applicability. Drawing on data from New Zealand, we find evidence that recourse to political advisers is one response to the multiple demands made of ministers in the context of contemporary governance; while that imperative has wider application, we also find that ministers' requirements are structured by personal and institutional variables which are contextually specific.Item ’Meaning just what I choose it mean – neither more nor less’: The search for governance in Political Science(SAGE Publications, 2013-12) Shaw RHIn recent years, governance has become perhaps the dominant heuristic through which the structuring and exercise of political power is made sense of in political science and its subfields. Only rarely, however, do scholars pause to interrogate either the meaning of the term or the epistemological purposes for which it is deployed. In that context, this article reflects on the state of political science research on governance in Aotearoa New Zealand. It reviews the international literature on governance and proposes a framework for categorising the relevant New Zealand scholarship. The characteristics of that literature are assessed, and the article concludes with a critical appraisal of the possibilities and potential pitfalls for research on governance in Aotearoa New Zealand.Item Australasian Public Awareness and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Motivational Correlates(1/02/2022) Marques MD; Ling M; Williams MN; Kerr JR; McLennan JBelief in conspiracies is not restricted to the fringe dwellers of society. International research suggests that such beliefs are quite common and that conspiracy theories may serve three basic psychological motives (i.e., epistemic, existential, and relational) for individuals. Yet, little is known about conspiracy theory awareness or belief in Australasia. We report the first large systematic investigation of system-justifying motives using two nationally representative samples of Australians (n = 1011) and New Zealanders (n = 754). Our findings show that almost all are aware of local and international conspiracies, the majority endorse one or more, and that all three psychological motives consistently relate to conspiracy belief, but not to awareness. In a series of hierarchical multiple regressions, we find that relational (i.e., increased anomie and disillusionment with the government) and existential motives (i.e., less trust in others and increased religiosity) are uniquely and relatively more important than epistemic needs (i.e., decreased analytic thinking) as predictors of increased local and international conspiracy belief. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding conspiracy theories as an ideological belief system that may function to serve underlying psychological motives.
