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Article: Facing the world the New Zealand way: Terence O'Brien discusses some of the considerations underlying New Zealand's foreign and defence policy.
- Article from:
- New Zealand International Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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New Zealand external policy is grounded in a small country tradition. As a country without hard power, New Zealand tends in practice to favour a balance of interests as distinct from a balance of power as an operating principle for international affairs. In an era when great power confrontation has subsided, New Zealand strives to maintain accordingly an essential mix of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. It currently describes bilateral ties with Australia, the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and the Pacific Island countries as 'bedrock relationships'. At the same time it reaffirms that the New Zealand stake in effective multilateralism and the rule of ...