Ideology and the ANZUS dispute: the legacy of the New Left and the consequences for New Zealand’s security policy

Abstract

This study of the ANZUS dispute examines the influence of the New Left’s ideology on NZ’s security discourse, and how the development of this ideology contributed to the rift between NZ and the US over the question of visits by US nuclear-powered or nuclear weapons-capable warships. In a break from past scholarship on the ANZUS dispute, this thesis examines the nature and history of the NZ peace movement, and it argues that New Left ideology became the main driving force of the peace movement after the 1960s. The NZ peace movement’s resulting desire to disengage NZ from military co-operation with the US was aided by the fact that, by 1984, the NZ Labour Party was also heavily influenced by the same ideology. Although the NZ public was supportive of ANZUS and collective security, its anti-nuclearism enabled the above organisations to impose a nuclear ship ban which resulted in an end to US military co-operation with NZ. This thesis uses a wide range of peace movement sources and other secondary sources to reveal the motivations lying behind the NZ ship ban, and to assess the consequences of the ban.