American constitutionalism an impediment to the pursuit of fairness? Lessons from New Zealand political culture

Authors

  • Kerry L Hunter

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/pq.v5i3.4301

Keywords:

constitutional law, Accident Compensation Corporation, ACC, de Tocqueville, US constitution, Bill of Rights

Abstract

Returning to America from an intensive five week study of New Zealand political culture, one thing really stands out: the New Zealand interest in asking what is fair. This is not to say that I can objectively establish that New Zealand is more fair than America. True, many New Zealand practices do seem fairer to me. For example, it definitely seems like the caretaker government conventions are more fair than the American norm of presidents making appointments and starting initiatives after losing an election. And I really do like New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), which effectively eliminates ambulance chasing by lawyers.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Policy Quarterly volume 5 number 3 2009

Downloads

Published

2009-08-01

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 3 (2009): Policy Quarterly

Section

Articles

License

Permission: In the interest of promoting debate and wider dissemination, the IGPS encourages use of all or part of the articles appearing in PQ, where there is no element of commercial gain. Appropriate acknowledgement of both author and source should be made in all cases. The IGPS retains copyright. Please direct requests for permission to reprint articles from this publication to igps@vuw.ac.nz.