Indigenous Rights and the Politics of Self-Determination: The Case of Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Opens with a review of national & international legal debates on the rights & status of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Maori, focusing on the emerging politics of indigenous self-determination. At issue is the Maori adoption of a postcolonial politics of self-determination in their sociopolitical relations with the dominant whites. Trends in national & supranational developments relative to indigenous rights provide a context for understanding the circumstances in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is concluded that the Maori are making some limited & tenuous progress in the pursuit of justice & restitution for their colonization while exposing the limits of democracy & the colonial underpinnings of nation-state formation. 90 References. J. Zendejas