The unwritten political constitution and its enemies

Abstract

New Zealand’s political constitution lacks a modern revolution, a new beginning, and a written constitution. This article, the result of a symposium of Australian and New Zealand constitutional specialists, explains the factors that are essential to the working of the New Zealand constitution and identifies some of the ways it may be threatened. Building on the work of the British political constitutionalists, it elaborates a New Zealand version of political constitutionalism which includes the contributions of culture and advisors. Using the example of contracts which purport to bind future Parliaments, it suggests that threats to the political constitution are manifest in apparently innocuous institutional reforms and the introduction of a new legalism the purpose of which is to effect culture change.