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Otago Foreign Policy School to celebrate golden jubilee

The foreign policy school will focus attention on New Zealand's strategic future for its 50th session.

Nathan Smith
Thu, 11 Jun 2015

Almost 50 years ago, the University of Otago invited experts from around New Zealand and the world to discuss how to make foreign policy.

Since then, the Otago Foreign Policy School has covered topics ranging from arms control to national security and from the Middle East to the rise of the Chinese superpower.

Meeting every year in Dunedin, the school has invited speakers including Professor Martin van Creveld from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sir Rupert Smith (General, British Army) both of whom are world-renowned military and strategic experts.

Mr Richard Allen the former US National Security Adviser (1981-82) to US President Ronald Reagan also attended in 2003. Mr Allen was succeeded in that role by Zbigniew Brzezinski and is currently a fellow at Otago University’s St Margaret's College.

Professor David Shambaugh from George Washington University and Dr Todd Capson of the Global Oceans Health Program have also spoken at the school. Dr Shambaugh is one of the world’s leading China experts.

The National Business Review’s own editor-at-large Nevil Gibson attended the first session of the Otago Foreign Policy School in 1966 and has presented on multiple occasions to the school.

This year’s session is entitled New Zealand and the World: Past, Present and Future.

A changing world
In the past five decades, New Zealand – a sparsely populated and geographically isolated society - has faced a period of substantial international readjustment. The advent of globalisation has coincided with profound changes in New Zealand’s national identity and its role in the world.

Those changes include a non-nuclear and regionally focused security policy, sweeping deregulation of the economy, recognition of the special constitutional and cultural position of Māori people, new trade and diplomatic links with Asia-Pacific and closer ties with the United States and China.

At the same time, New Zealand has experienced a sharp rise in income inequality, increased costs in the provision of housing and education, mounting concerns about environmental decline, and growing fears the country’s sovereignty is being eroded by New Zealand’s participation in multilateral trade deals and multinational intelligence-sharing arrangements.

Speakers covering these topics are diverse and include Associate Professor Robert Scollay from University of Auckland, Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Mr Ong Keng Yong, Professor Jacqui True from Monash University, Professor Patrick Kollner from German Institute of Global and Area Studies and Dr Anna Powles from Massey University.

The 50th Otago Foreign Policy School will be held 26 – 28 June at Otago University.

nsmith@nbr.co.nz

Nathan Smith
Thu, 11 Jun 2015
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Otago Foreign Policy School to celebrate golden jubilee
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