Craig, Richard (2022) Kindness as a Paradigm for Governance. Research Master thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

This Masters research thesis is a pragmatic critical inquiry that will investigate kindness and collectivism as social transformation initiatives identified within a governance paradigm, and introduced internationally in The New Zealand Statement to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2018) and further demonstrated in her speech at the Christchurch Remembrance Service (2019) by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The pragmatic critical inquiry into these initiatives will be contextualised and synthetically analysed against a theoretical framework assembled for this thesis comprising of the cultural and political theory of Hannah Arendt, Tom Clark, John Ralston Saul, and Iris Marion Young. Additional analysis will also consider Opinion and Op-ed from a selection of print media publications, examining a broader intersubjective response to both The New Zealand Statement and Ardern’s leadership actions in the wake of the Christchurch attack. The inquiry will look for connections that can be found, and meaning that can be revealed, as a result of a synthetic analysis of: the theoretical framework of cultural and political theory; Ardern’s speeches; and, the Opinion and Op-ed pieces. It will also consider if and how how this synthesis of materials may in turn augment the theoretical framework. At the heart of this inquiry is the question, is Ardern providing a template and paradigm for governance and social transformation?

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