Indigeneity: A Politics of Potential: Australia, Fiji and New Zealand

This original book is the first comprehensive integration of political theory to explain indigenous politics. It assesses the ways in which indigenous and liberal political theories interact to consider the practical policy implications of the indigenous right to self-determination. Providing opportunities for indigenous peoples to pursue culturally framed understandings of liberal democratic citizenship, the author reveals indigeneity’s concern for political relationships, agendas and ideas beyond the ethnic minority claim to liberal recognition. The implications for national reconciliation, liberal democracy, citizenship and historical constraints on political authority are explored. He also shows that indigeneity’s local geo-political focus, underpinned by global theoretical developments in law and politics, makes indigeneity a movement of forward looking transformational politics. This innovative, theoretically sophisticated and vibrant work will influence policy and scholarly debates on the politics of indigeneity and indigenous rights and will be of broad international interest to a transcultural, transnational and global phenomenon.

About the Author

Dominic O’Sullivan is Associate Professor of Political Science at Charles Sturt University. He is a member of the Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu tribes of northern New Zealand and has more than 50 publications, including five previous books, most recently, Indigenous health: power, politics and citizenship (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing). Dominic O’Sullivan is Associate Professor of Political Science at Charles Sturt University. He is a member of the Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu tribes of northern New Zealand and has more than 50 publications, including five previous books, most recently, Indigenous health: power, politics and citizenship (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing).