NZIIA event in Auckland New Zealand on 17 December 2024.

Industrial policy, including import substitution, has long been criticised by economists for excessive protectionism, which often led to inefficient and uncompetitive firms and stifled export growth. But pressures for protectionism in wealthy countries are growing, and developed countries themselves are now aggressively pursuing industrial policy as part of new economic statecraft. Will this new tilt to industrial policy work? By focusing on key international drivers and constraints, domestic state-society relations, and elite ideological commitments, this talk evaluates the prospects for the successful pursuit of industrial policy, and what it might mean for New Zealand and global trade.

Biography:

Vinod K. Aggarwal is Distinguished Professor and Alann P. Bedford Endowed Chair, Department of Political Science; Affiliated Professor, Haas School of Business; Director of the Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center (BASC); and Fellow in the Public Law and Policy Center, Berkeley Law School, all at the University of California, Berkeley. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Business and Politics, and has published 23 books and over 140 articles and book chapters. His latest book is Great Power Competition and Middle Power Strategies (2023) and his book The Oxford Handbook of Geoeconomics and Economic Statecraft is in press. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

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On 14 November 2024 NZIIA's National Office hosted an expert panel discussion on how geostrategic competition is affecting the Pacific region and how New Zealand, Pacific countries and regional institutions can respond to this. The discussion included suggestions on how Aotearoa New Zealand can better engage with the Pacific.

The event features a summary of the report’s findings from Guy Fiti Sinclair and a moderated discussion with some of the foremost experts in international politics in the Pacific:
Esala Nayasi, Deputy Secretary-General, Pacific Islands Forum
Dr. Guy Fiti Sinclair, Rapporteur and Associate Professor at Auckland Law School, The University of Auckland
Anna Powles, Associate Professor at Centre for Defence & Security Studies, Massey University
and Dr Iati Iati, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington
moderated by Caren Rangi, ONZM, FCA.

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Hosted by the Australian Institute of International Affairs and the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs on 5 December 2024.

It is difficult to think of two countries more closely aligned than Australia and New Zealand. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade describes the neighbours as 'natural allies with a strong trans-Tasman sense of family' and New Zealand's Ministry of Defence says that New Zealand has 'no better friend and no closer ally'.

But the perceived and practical closeness of Australia and New Zealand also means that their alliance is so taken-for-granted that it is seldom analysed. In the November special issue​ of the Australian Journal of International Affairs scholars from both sides of the Tasman address this gap by examining the current state of the alliance and identifying issues likely to test it in the future.

The event brought together Anna Powles and Joanne Wallis, the guest editors of the special issue, for a stocktake of the current state of the Australia-New Zealand alliance. They were joined by contributors Darren Lim and Jason Young, who will focus on the allies' differing relationships with China and consider what that means for the future of their relationship. The discussion was chaired by David Capie.

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