Hitching a Ride on the Tiger's Back: Globalisation and Spatial Imaginaries in New Zealand

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Abstract
In this paper I develop a genealogy of globalisation in New Zealand informed by the neo-Foucauldian literature on governmentality. My claim is that globalisation involves a shift-in the object of economic governance away from the national economy and towards the circuits of global capital. This shift is associated with a change in spatial imaginaries. Through an analysis of three key arenas—social policy, foreign direct investment, and immigration—I show that policies and programmes, designed to fulfil these new political ambitions, aim to articulate individuals, sectors, and regions into the economic flows and networks of the Pacific Rim. In this regard, globalisation can be usefully understood as a political strategy that promotes a new understanding of the means and ends of economic governance.