Question

How does state co-optation of indigenous situation help us understand over-representation of Maori in New Zealand?

correction: Prisons in New Zealand

Answer 1

One of the key responses to Indigenous critiques of imposed justice systems has been the Indigenous Strategy. Indigenous can best be described as a process through which attempts are made to increase the number of indigenous peoples directly contributing to the running of the criminal justice system (as opposed to their significant contribution as ‘clients’ of the system via their rates of offending, victimization and imprisonment). A sub-set of the Indigenous strategy is the co-option of components of indigenous culture, but this will be dealt with separately below as a distinct category of itself.

In the New Zealand context, the Police and Corrections services have both had periodic recruitment drives aimed at increasing the number of Maori working in these areas. Similarly,the Department for Courts has developed the position of Court Liaison Officer, who’s function it is to provide advice and support for Maori and their families having to deal with Court appearances (whether they are there to answer charges, or as witnesses or victims).

The Indigenous approach is often backed by the parallel strategy of co-option. The co-option strategy involves a process of pre-selecting and utilizing elements of indigenous cultures in policy and intervention design in order to i) make the system more culturally appropriate, and ii) make generic program and services more likely to ‘work’ for indigenous (meaning the reduction of offending, re-offending and victimization). The process of selecting and co-opting the symbols and cultural practices of Maori by the New Zealand state is an important element in contemporary Government’s response to the problems arising from Maori over-representation and Maori political activism. The process is also an integral part of government processes in other neo -colonial jurisdictions (see McNamara, 1995 and Palys, 1993 for discussion of similar processes in Canada). Pearson (1988) writes that co-option is a common strategy employed by modern neo-colonial states when faced with an indigenous challenge to its legitimacy. Applying the work of Mann, Pearson argues that while modern capitalist states such as New Zealand have strong political and social infrastructures they are, in contrast, despotically weak. This means that modern liberal democracies rely heavily on the strategies of co-option, ideological persuasion and the devolution of limited authority to minorities (such as Maori) to maintain hegemony 8 (ideological and political control), as opposed to using coercive measures.

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