In the final fortnight’s run up to New Zealand's General Election, University of Otago's Dr Neil Vallelly will ask some serious questions about our political climate in the context of contemporary geopolitics.

Across the globe, anti-migrant populists and warmongers are having their day at the ballot box and the wider public sphere. But these political trends remain relatively fringe here, he says, despite many of the same drivers like high immigration, increasing inequality and deteriorating public services.

“Do we risk becoming plagued by the same divisive and derisive politics affecting other liberal democracies?  Or is New Zealand unique on the global stage and somehow shielded from political trends endangering democracy across the world?”

As part of MindJam, a celebration of thinking presented by Catalyst Trust and Otago University's Humanities Division in Arrowtown this Labour Weekend, Neil will place our current political environment within the context of global politics since the mid-1980s.  That’s when New Zealand embraced globalisation, especially economic reforms and migration policies.

"Globalisation is often misunderstood as simply the world becoming more interconnected, but it's also meant the fracturing and closure of the world, as we see by the rapid extension of border walls, militarization of border security and the use of economic sanctions since the early 1990s.”

Neil is a senior lecturer in sociology at Otago University, and his most recent book is Edges of Empire: The Politics of Immigration in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1980–2020 (Auckland University Press, 2025).

This event is part of MindJam, in Arrowtown’s Lake District Museum Gallery this coming Labour Weekend:  Friday Oct 23, 6:30 pm; Saturday, 11am and 1 pm; Sunday 11am and 1pm. Register here for this event. Attendance is free, but with koha going to Lakes District Museum's education programme.

Discussions will range from how to build a better world to the ‘new’ feminism, ‘teachnology’, AI relationships in literature and life, and the global context of NZ's general election. Check the schedule on our Catalyst Trust website, Humanitix or Facebook pages and join us for some MindJam magic.