The State in New Zealand 1840-1984 Michael Bassett

Description

The State in New Zealand 1840-1984: Socialism Without Doctrines?
By Michael Bassett

Paperback, First Edition 1998, 445 Pages, Published by The Auckland University Press Auckland. Very good condition,

‘In this innovative study Michael Bassett, historian and former politician, explores how and why the state became such an active and interventionist player in New Zealand life, developing, subsidising and regulating the economy and protecting citizens from the cradle to the grave. He looks in detail at the many schemes in which a paternalistic government became involved, especially the extensive social programmes taken for granted by the people but from the 1960’s increasingly difficult to sustain economically. By 1984, he concludes, this process of intervention had to be halted. Drawing on departmental archives often not previously consulted by historians, this book covers in a new way, and with clarity and style, a subject of great contemporary interest’