Moments of Truth ― The New Zealand General Election of 2014

The 2014 general election was surely the most bizarre election campaign in New Zealand’s history. Moments of Truthtells the story of a campaign in which: NSA leaker Edward Snowden and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange join Kim Dotcom in New Zealand for a televised ‘moment of truth’ that threatens the future of Prime Minister John Key’s government. Nicky Hager’s bookDirty Politics puts the spotlight on blogger Cameron Slater and his messages to and from the Beehive. Cabinet Minister Judith Collins resigns mid-campaign. The National Party finds itself sued by an American rap star. Labour Party leader David Cunliffe apologizes for being a man. At the end of the day John Key remains the country’s prime minister – how, after all the tumult and confusion, did that happen? The contributors to Moments of Truth – an experienced group of political party leaders and campaign managers, media and political commentators, pollsters, consultants and academics – seek to provide some answers and insights into an election unlike any before it.Moments of Truth continues a series of authoritative election studies – includingThe Baubles of Office (2007), Key to Victory (2010) and Kicking the Tyres(2012) – essential for anyone interested in New Zealand’s government and politics. Featuring a DVD containing additional campaign footage, including the campaign openings, television and internet advertisements, billboards, televised debates, election documents, election-night statements and a montage of items relating to the ‘dirty politics’ controversy and the ‘moment of truth’ even.

Jon Johansson is a senior lecturer in political science and international relations at Victoria University of Wellington. In 2011 he contributed an introduction to a new edition of Professor Leslie Lipson’s classic study of New Zealand government and politics, The Politics of Equality: New Zealand’s Adventures in Democracy, first published in 1948, and was instrumental in bringing the book back into print. Dr Johansson’sThe Politics of Possibility: Leadership in Changing Times – a study of cycles of political leadership in New Zealand politics, including a focus on challenges and opportunities facing John Key and his government – was published in August 2009, and he is also the author of Two Titans: Muldoon, Lange and Leadership, which was published in 2005, an well as editor of a special issue on ‘political leadership in New Zealand’ forPolitical Science. He has contributed to four previous books in this series: ‘Leadership and the Campaign’, inNew Zealand Votes: The New Zealand General Election of 2002; ‘Brash, Owera and the Politics of Race’ inThe Baubles of Office: The New Zealand General Election of 2005; ‘2008: Leadership during transition’ inKey to Victory: The New Zealand General Election of 2008; and ‘Leadership and ambivalence: words, deeds and the 2011 election’ inKicking the Tyres: The New Zealand General Election and Electoral Referendum of 2011 (which he co-edited). In 2014 his bookUS Leadership in Political Time and Space: Pathfinders, Patriots, and Existential Heroeswas published by Palgrave Macmillan. Stephen Levine is a professor of political science at Victoria University of Wellington. He is founder of VUW’s parliamentary internship program and has written extensively about New Zealand’s politics, elections and international relations. He has co-edited (and contributed to) books about each of New Zealand’s elections under MMP –Moments of Truth is the seventh – and was director of the New Zealand Political Change Project (1995-2003), examining the impact of MMP on New Zealand’s government and politics. In 2009 he was recognized in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List for ‘services to education and the Jewish community’ and appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He served as co-editor of the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s theme issue, ‘Government and Nation’, launched by the Governor-General in June 2012 as part of New Zealand’s national online encyclopedia, Te Ara.