New Zealand's Role in Promoting a Nuclear-free Pacific

Abstract

The election of the Fourth Labour government in 1984, the imposition of a ban on nuclear powered/ armed ship visits to New Zealand and the passage of the New Zealand Nuclear-free Zone Act in 1987 represented the culmination of eleven years of campaigning by the New Zealand Peace Movement in collaboration with the New Zealand Labour Party, the Social Credit League and the Values Party. The unique structural features of this development are outlined and attention is paid to the evolution of anti-nuclear orthodoxy in New Zealand. There is an analysis of the extent to which New Zealand's experience is transferable to other countries and the necessary preconditions for the 'Kiwi disease' to spread elsewhere International political reactions to the ship ban are outlined and a brief evaluation made of its significance for disarmament, arms control and confidence building.