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New Zealand’s status as a cohesive and trusted nation is under strain from political, economic and environmental pressures, and is further exacerbated by technological disruptors.
As we approach a general election that will inevitably expose the country’s political fault lines, Koitu: The Center for an Informed Future has released a discussion paper on the cohesiveness of New Zealand society.
This depicts increased polarization resulting from a variety of stresses, including the needless stoking of tensions by purveyors of misinformation and disinformation.
These are testing times, says Coitu director Sir Peter Gluckman. He is a lead contributor to ‘Tackling the Challenges to Social Cohesion’ along with Deputy Director Dr Anne Bardsley.
In this environment, Aotearoa New Zealand needs to pay more attention to strengthening both institutional and social trust and staying aware of the factors that could weaken it, Sir Peter said. To tell.
“When social cohesion is undermined or threatened, individuals’ anxiety, anger and frustration increase. People’s trust in both the government and other citizens is eroded,” Sir Peter says.
“The way the government operates and communicates in this situation can make the situation better or worse.”
Although our society has traditionally been perceived as a cohesive and trusting one with a healthy democracy, many factors are contributing to unrest among some segments of society. Dr. Bardsley says this raises concerns.
“The list of possible causes is long and includes high income inequality, housing affordability, personal safety, the economy, and climate change,” she says.
“Over the past 20 years, New Zealand’s standing on many indicators of well-being has declined relative to other countries.
“Economic inequality is clearly widening, and as in other regions, gaps in confidence about the future are widening across age and ethnic groups.”
Sir Peter says the October 14 election focuses on New Zealand’s “shallow” democracy, saying Parliament is unicameral and unchecked and wants government members to be seen as team players. weak parliamentary committees, and say they are more committed to political causes than the opposition. broader policy discussions;
Loss of trust in government can be even worse at the local government level, spilling over to other institutions and society in general.
“Institutional trust and social trust are both necessary and interdependent concepts for democratic societies to be resilient and cohesive.
“How governments behave influences social trust. When social trust breaks down, institutional trust generally erodes, creating a breeding ground for authoritarian and populist leaders.”
Sir Peter and Dr Bardsley said the reluctance around the world to establish agreed standards, good governance and accountability has encouraged the misuse of social media and technologies such as artificial intelligence and deepfakes. It said misinformation and disinformation was being spread and trust was being eroded.
They argue that “weaponized narratives” spread by social platforms can cause divisions in communities like those seen in the 2022 Capitol protests.
Co-author Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley (a research fellow at Khoi Thu) predicts that the political instability in January 2022 and the decline in trust in core institutions such as the government and media will continue into 2023 and have a negative impact. He says the key issue will be whether or not to give. Participation in general elections.
“This will test the level of trust and engagement among some individuals and communities who may have been radicalized by the politics of disinformation in recent years,” he says.
Professor Spoonley says balancing social inclusion with the negative effects of social media is not easy.
“COVID-19 was an interesting test case for both disengagement and engagement. Public health measures were most effective when they included communities such as Māori and Pasifika as partners. Such inclusion , improve trust and social cohesion.The question is how to mitigate and ameliorate the negative effects of coronavirus.”Vitrience and disinformation on social media. That’s a big challenge. ”
Dr Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal (Koitu Strategic Advisor Māori) said that, like other communities, the social cohesion of iwi and Māori communities is affected by climate change, adverse weather conditions, cost of living, population pressures, social trust, etc. said that it is being challenged by the issue of authorities.
“However, over the past 20-30 years there have also been other factors at work within iwi/Māori communities that have contributed to a decline in social cohesion: old alliances, collaborations and ways of working together (such as the Crown movement and Māori); church) has declined.
“At the same time, the modern treaty claims process ignores traditional and important Māori values such as whānauungatanga (human relations) and manaakitanga (generosity), and allows claimants to retreat to protect their individual positions. “It’s encouraging tribal isolationism,” he says.
This discussion paper follows on from Koi Thu’s ‘Sustaining Aotearoa NZ’, released in 2021 as a Cohesive Society report, which lists a number of actions to improve New Zealand’s social cohesion and resilience. .
At the institutional level, this includes the search for political consensus to improve parliamentary processes and political debate.
The discussion paper’s authors also call for New Zealand to join the global debate about how to manage new disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence in a more proactive and inclusive way.
For more information:
Addressing challenges to social cohesion. Informedfutures.org/challenges-to-social-cohesion/
Provided by: Koi Tō: Center for Informed Futures