Stephen Levine

Professor

ONZM, BA CUNY, MA American, PhD Florida State

Profile

Stephen Levine is a Professor of Political Science at Victoria University of Wellington and was the founding Head of the university’s School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations. He is founder of Victoria University’s honours-level parliamentary internship programme and is overall coordinator for the Honours Programme in Political Science and International Relations. In 2009 he was recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List by being appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit 'for services to education and the Jewish community'.

Professor Levine has written extensively about New Zealand’s politics, elections and international relations. He has co-edited books about each of New Zealand’s elections under MMP – From Campaign to Coalition (1996); Left Turn (1999); New Zealand Votes (2002); and The Baubles of Office (2005) – and was Director of the New Zealand Political Change Project (1995-2003), funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, which examined the impact of MMP on New Zealand’s government and politics. Since the mid-1980s Professor Levine and his colleague Professor Nigel Roberts have been responsible for nationwide surveys of public opinion during New Zealand’s triennial parliamentary campaigns, with their findings appearing in journals and book chapters. Professor Levine has served several terms as editor of Political Science and in 2005 he was appointed founding co-editor of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s new social science journal, Kotuitui.

Current Research Projects

Professor Levine’s current research interests focus principally on constitutional and electoral systems issues viewed in comparative perspective. He has also been studying the implications of electoral system change for parliamentary institutions and for Members of Parliament.

As a comparative politics specialist, Professor Levine’s interests range across a variety of themes, countries and regions. Apart from his research into aspects of New Zealand politics, he has also published various studies of Pacific Islands politics and international relations, including annual reviews of developments in Pacific Island states for The Annual Register (founded by Sir Edmund Burke in 1758). Professor Levine also writes the annual review of politics in New Zealand, and in Southeast Asia – covering Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia – for that publication.

In 2005 Professor Levine’s research interests developed in a new direction with his convening of a ‘counterfactuals’ conference looking at ‘alternatives’ in New Zealand’s history and politics. The result, in December 2006, was an edited volume entitled New Zealand as it might have been. At present Professor Levine is organising a second volume of ‘what if’ scenarios focusing on New Zealand’s history and political development.

As noted, Professor Levine has been a co-editor of a series of books on New Zealand’s elections under MMP, publications that have arisen out of post-election conferences sponsored by Victoria University’s Political Science and International Relations programme (beginning in 1987). In 2005 he and Nigel Roberts organised the programme’s post-election conference (leading to publication of The Baubles of Office) and in 2008 Professors Levine and Roberts organised a further post-election conference in December at The Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. A further volume in this election series is expected to be published in 2009.

Professor Levine has also contributed perspectives on broader themes dealing with democracy, human rights and post-conflict reconciliation, in part as a result of his involvement with a project on ‘Asian values’ organised by an institute in Japan (beginning in 1999-2000). In March 2007 Professor Levine published a special theme issue on ‘Asian Values and Regional Community Building’ for an international journal, Politics and Policy, reflecting some aspects of his research in this area.

In 2006 Professor Levine and his colleague Dr Xiaoming Huang organised the programme’s first-ever overseas study course, bringing a group of undergraduate students to Beijing, China, for in-country lectures and study experiences focusing on China’s politics, government, legal system, and regional/international relations. In 2007, in turn, a group of students from Beijing’s China University of Politics and Law came to Victoria University to take part in a special programme on New Zealand’s politics, government, legal system, and regional/international relations, organised by Professor Levine and Dr Huang. In 2008 Professor Levine and Dr Huang organised a 2nd Victoria University study programme in Beijing, scheduled to be held during November-December.

Selection of Publications

In addition to publications mentioned above, some of Professor Levine’s other publications include the following (organised broadly by subject area):

New Zealand politics and international relations

Electoral and Constitutional Change in New Zealand: An MMP Source Book, Palmerston North: Dunmore, 1999 [co-editor].

From Muldoon to Lange: New Zealand Elections in the 1980s, Christchurch: McEnterprises, 2002 [co-author].

New Zealand Under MMP: A New Politics?, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1996 [co-author].

The New Zealand Politics Source Book: Third Edition, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1999 [co-editor].

Waging Peace: Towards 2000, Auckland: Foundation for Peace Studies, 1995 [co-author].

‘A Wider View: MMP Ten Years On’, in Levine, S. and N.S. Roberts (eds.), The Baubles of Office: The New Zealand General Election of 2005, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2007, pp. 445-475 [co-author].

 ‘Assessing Parliamentary Performance – Problems and Possibilities’, Revue Juridique Polynesienne, vol. 12, 2006, pp. 43-53.

 ‘Defence, Politics and the 2005 New Zealand General Election’, Australian Defence Force Journal, issue number 170, 2006, pp. 87-96 [reprinted in revised form in Levine, S. and N.S. Roberts (eds.), The Baubles of Office: The New Zealand General Election of 2005, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2007, pp. 328-339].

‘From Lobby Fodder to Leadership: New Zealand Parliamentarians and Select Committees’, Political Science, Vol. 56, No. 2, 2004, pp. 39-49 [co-author].

‘Not quite Camelot’, in Clark, M. (ed.), For the Record: Lange and the Fourth Labour Government, Wellington: Dunmore Press, 2005, pp. 208-17; 251-54 [co-author].

‘Parliamentary Democracy in New Zealand’, Parliamentary Affairs, vol. 57, no. 3, July 2004, pp. 646-665.
 
‘The Bolger years: troubles and transformations’, in M. Clark (ed.), The Bolger Years 1990-1997, Wellington: Dunmore, 2008, pp. 201-215, 219-222 [co-author].

‘The Concept of Autonomy and the Treaty of Waitangi’, in Gourdon, Pascal (ed.), The Concept of Autonomy in French Polynesia, Revue Juridique Polynesienne, numero hors serie, vol. 4, 2004, pp. 305-316 [with French abstract].

‘The General Election of 2005’, in R. Miller (ed.), New Zealand Government and Politics, 4th edn. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 338-352 [co-author].

‘The Individual Parliamentary Member and Institutional Change: The Changing Role of the New Zealand Member of Parliament’, The Journal of Legislative Studies, Vol. 5, No 4, Winter 2000 [reprinted in The Uneasy Relationships Between Parliamentary Members and Leaders, L.D. Longley and R.Y. Hazan (eds.), London: Frank Cass, 2000] [co-author].

‘The 1999 Election Results’, in Miller, R. (ed.), New Zealand Government and Politics, Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2001 [co-author].

‘The 1996 General Election’, in Miller, R. (ed.), New Zealand Politics in Transition, Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1997 [co-author].

‘The 2002 General Election’, in Miller, R. (ed.), New Zealand Government and Politics (Third Edition) [including New Zealand Politics in Transition as ‘first edition’], Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2003 [co-author].

‘The New Zealand Constitution: Context, Conventions and Contemporary Issues’, in Levine, S. (and Yves-Louis Sage) (eds.), Contemporary Challenges in the Pacific: Towards A New Consensus, Revue Juridique Polynesienne, numero hors serie, vol. 2, 2002, pp. 225-240 [with French abstract].

‘The New Zealand Election of 2002’, The Journal of New Zealand Studies in Japan, vol. 10, December 2003, pp. 12-32 [in English, with Japanese abstract]; and in Japanese translation, pp. 33-48 [with English abstract].

‘The New Zealand Electoral Referendum and General Election of 1993’, London: Butterworth-Heinemann, in Electoral Studies, (Vol.13, No.3), 1994 [co-author].

‘The Referendum Results: “The People Screamed” ’, in McRobie, A. (ed.), Talking it to the People?: The New Zealand Electoral Referendum Debate, Christchurch: Hazard Press, 1993, pp 57-67 [co-author].

‘Their Ways: A Comparative Assessment of New Zealand Prime Ministers and the News Media’, in Clark, M. (ed.), Muldoon Revisited, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 2004, pp. 243-268 [co-author].

‘Turning a Blind Eye’, Northwestern Journal of International Affairs, Vol. IV, Winter 2002, pp. 16-25.

‘Unwanted Heroes? Three Labour Leaders and Seven Campaigns’, in Clark, M. (ed.), Three Labour Leaders: Nordmeyer, Kirk, Rowling, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 2001 [co-author].

‘What if Nelson had been made the capital of New Zealand?’, in Levine, S. (ed.), New Zealand as it might have been, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006, pp. 59-73.

Pacific Islands politics and international relations

New Zealand – New Caledonia: Neighbours, Friends, Partners / La Nouvelle-Zélande et la Nouvelle-Calédonie: Voisins, amis et partenaires, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2008 [English / French publication] [co-editor].

Contemporary Challenges in the Pacific: Towards A New Consensus, Revue Juridique Polynesienne, numero hors serie, vol. 1, 2001 [co-editor].

Contemporary Challenges in the Pacific: Towards A New Consensus, Revue Juridique Polynesienne, numero hors serie, vol. 2, xi, 2002 [co-editor].

‘Constitutional Change in Tuvalu’, in Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 27, 1992.

Culture and Conflict in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Federated States of Micronesia’, in Brown, M.E. and S. Ganguly (eds.), Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and Pacific, (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997), pp. 457-508. 

‘Democracy and its discontents – Tonga, Fiji and the “arc of instability”’, Pacific News, no. 28, July-August 2007, pp. 4-8.

‘Preface’ and ‘New Zealand in Perspective – Identity and the Search for Security’, in Levine, S. (and F. Angleviel) (eds.), New Zealand – New Caledonia: Neighbours, Friends, Partners / La Nouvelle-Zélande et la Nouvelle-Calédonie: Voisins, amis et partenaires, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2008.

‘The Constitutional Structures and Electoral Systems of Pacific Island States’, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3, November 2005, pp. 397-416 [co-author].

‘Asian values’, human rights and national identity

Asian Values and Democratic Experience: Constitutional Perspectives, Kobe: Asia Pacific Research Center [Asia Pacific Papers No. 5], Kobe Gakuin University, 2004.

 ‘Asian Values’ and Human Rights – A New Zealand Perspective, Kobe: Asia Pacific Research Center [Asia Pacific Papers No. 2], Kobe Gakuin University, 2003.

‘Asian Values and the Asia Pacific Community: Shared Interests and Common Concerns’, in Levine, S. (ed.), Asian Values and Regional Community Building, special issue of Politics and Policy, vol. 35, no. 1, March 2007, pp. 102-135.

‘Introduction: Asian Values and Regional Community Building’, in Levine, S. (ed.), Asian Values and Regional Community Building, special issue of Politics and Policy, vol. 35, no. 1, March 2007, pp. 1-5.

‘ “Asian Values”, Regional Security and Human Rights – A New Zealand Perspective’, Kazakhstan and Contemporary World, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, pp. 125-152. [in Russian and in English]

Jewish community studies

A Standard for the People: The 150th Anniversary of the Wellington Hebrew Congregation 1843-1993, Christchurch: Hazard Press, 1995 [editor/contributor].

The New Zealand Jewish Community (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 1999).

‘Jews’ [chapter 28], in Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (eds.), Settlers and Migrant Peoples of New Zealand (Auckland, David Bateman, 2006), pp. 192-195.

‘The Constitutional Documents of New Zealand Jewry’, Jewish Political Studies Review, Vol. 12, No. 1-2, Spring 2000.

Other topics

 ‘Making Amends: The Ethics of National Apology’, Asian Values in the Globalizing World of the 21st Century: Annual Report 2005-2006 (Overview of the Project), Asia Pacific Research Center, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan, 2007, pp. 219-250.

‘The U.S. Presidential Election of 2004’, Chiang Mai University Political Science Department Journal, Volume 39, No. 1, 2004, pp. 197-213.

Current Teaching

POLS 207 – Modern American Politics

INTP/POLS 208 – Special Topic: Political Change in Southeast Asia

POLS 359 / INTP 359 – Research Paper

POLS 378 / INTP 378 – China Field Study

POLS 428 – Directed Individual Study: Parliamentary Internship

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