Economy, Politics and Geography of New Zealand - Article Example

Name: Tutor: Task: Date: New Zealand New Zealand is an island located in the south-western Pacific Ocean. The country is located approximately 1500 kilometers from Australia. The country’s topography has contributed very much on volcanic eruptions, due to it sharp peak mountain and the fact that it is surrounded by waters. The geographical location of New Zealand has profoundly influenced the cultural characteristics that its people have adapted. The country is surrounded by oceans and seas. This has resulted in the adaptation of coastal cultures ranging from the arts to the dressing. It is also evident that their religion is largely Islam which is a coastal influence. Also, due to the fact that they are surrounded by oceans, New Zealand people are known to practice the trade. This is hugely related to the fact that they ship all the trading products via the sea. New Zealand consist two main islands and a couple of smaller which are located at the centre of water hemisphere. Some of the islands in New Zealand are such as; Chatham Island, Orville Island, the Great Barrier Island and Stewart island. Generally, the geographical surrounding of New Zealand has significantly influenced the culture of its people. Culture refers to the pattern that is practiced by individuals over and over again. It is transferred from generation to generations, and it eventually becomes their way of life. Culture is manifested through a people’s language, customs, literature, religion, art and costumes. However, its history reveals the role they played in their struggle for independence during colonization in the 15th century. Immigration, genocide and rivalry between powerful nations is the impacts that describe the history of this island. New Zealand is characterized by a fusion of cultures that resulted after the interaction of the practices between people from the Far East and those from the Middle East. This is mainly influenced by the fact that the country is located centrally along the trading routes. Their cultures also comprises of both some indigenous cultural practices and Western cultural practices (Pacione 64). The majority of New Zealand’s population consists of European descents, who are Maori, non Maori Polynesians and Asians. New Zealand citizens speak English, although sign language is very common and is made an official language. In terms of religion, New Zealand has a variety of religions arising from the fusion of people from the Far East and those from the Middle East. Their religion comprises of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. However, the most practiced religion is the Islam (Peters 53). This has affected their cultural beliefs such that those that practice Islam do not rear pigs. This cultural practice is influenced by their Islamic beliefs. Socially, New Zealand has had social stratifications for many years. Stratified chiefdoms and kingdoms were spread all over the islands. The ruling class gained wealth, and their children were educated in the best schools. However, not all the communities were stratified. Some had egalitarian political system whereby they ensured that there was some freedom from the clan system enhancing individuality. Australia’s economy is recorded as one of the strongest and fast-growing economy in the world. In the last two decades, the economy has recorded a fall in unemployment and economic growth. With the economy engaging in vigorous policy and structural reforms the economy has turned out to be resilient, flexible and well integrated with worldwide markets. In the recent years, the economy has been able to overcome both internal and external milestones such as a housing boom, major drought and the economic and financial crisis that had hardly hit the Asian community. New Zealand being the core back of Australia, has hugely contributed to the economic stability. The country is endowed with resources and with a diverse primary sector based economy. The main exports are wool, meat, coal, iron ore, gold, alumina, transport and machinery equipment and wheat. These exports have continued to spur the economic growth since 1788. The gross domestic product has continuously grown with it approximating to $ 1 trillion in the year 2007. According to Pacione (56), unemployment rate on the other hand, has declined from a high of approximately 11 per cent in the year 1995 to less than 5 per cent in the year 2008. The service sector leads with an employment rate of seventy five per cent followed by the industrial sector with 21.1 per cent and finally agriculture with 3.6 per cent (International Monetary Fund 39). A political capital refers to an individual, group or country that attracts admiration and respect from the public for good Governance and the level of stability. Peoples’ opinions and good image are shaped by way the citizen’s perception of their country. Government should ensure that citizens are well taken of in terms of social welfare. Another important factor to consider is the country’s state of international relationship, with the relationship with its neighbors. New Zealand is one of a kind of this kind of political system. For a country to qualify as a political capital, it should have stability in its political operations that offer peace and encourages investment and growth. This stability strengthens democracy. According to Lynn (112), a political capital should also control its resources effectively in a way that all the citizen’s benefit, and promoting equality amongst all its spheres. New Zealand has always had a good relation with its neighbors and therefore, promotes peace. Almost all Arab and Muslim countries are feared for political instability because of their culture. Violence, coups and wars are paramount in most of them leading to poor development, both socially and economically. The Middle East being on the oil strip, most nations in the Middle East are involved in oil generation, trade and production of oil related products, without major diversification. This hinders economic development (Peters 47). They are also predominantly authoritarian in their way of leadership and prohibit certain western lifestyles like dressing, which in turn prevents tourism and settlements from other parts of the world. However, New Zealand has disapproved this by showing their political stability, over the years. Project all over the world have a high tendency of not maturing to their expected final stages if proper project management techniques and principles are not applied. There exists a chunk of evidence of projects that have failed throughout the globe and the trend is particularly high in developing nations. This is mainly because the required skills have not been developed successful in those work forces responsible for spearheading project management. Other emerging economies, for instance, New Zealand economies have transformed Australia’s economies to market oriented. Their economies have registered a constant growth due to their urgent need to strengthen and improve all aspects of project management. The economies have accelerated their strategies in modernization, industrialization and globalization together with the launch of projects that put into consideration aspects of complexity and diversity in different industries. As a result, project management as a discipline has been experiencing a tremendous growth in the past years in emerging economies. The rapid evolution has been registered in those economies that have acted with speed to adapt the tools of project management but the move has been of less fortune to economies that have acted slowly (Serena 96). There are other factors that hinder the success of projects in developing nations, some of which include social and political systems, lack of support in terms of finances and resources and the cultural block. These challenges, however, could be reduced if the developing economies put in place to ensure that proper project implementation is done. The measure can include the transfer of experts with skills in project management from industrialized nations. For instance, a country like new Zealand which has registered good economic growth for the last around ten years and with their good economic policies, have at all times embraced the need to have proper implementation of projects and the use of project implementation techniques from more developed nations in the world. With the membership of economies in the existing international organization their knowledge in project management will be ignited and become indispensable (Pacione 75). New Zealand is a country in the south-western of Pacific Ocean that has received attention on the world map because of its tourism popularity. Despite the oil focus, New Zealand has managed to diversify its economic focus to mass communication, fishing, shipping, tourism, finance, and gold trade This major point of economic diversification put Dubai a head from other cities and countries in the Middle East. Most of them still focus in oil trade. Although it is authoritarian, it has some elements of liberalism that allows free dressing, hence becoming a desirable tourist’s destination in the Middle East and the world. New Zealand has opened its markets and is currently a leading target for products like bags, perfumes, shoes, and clothes. People from all over the world go to New Zealand looking for employment or business opportunities. Most Muslim countries have strict rules on religions, but these are lessened in New Zealand (Peter 46). The advancement of technology has made it possible to carry out various activities in the world over with a lot of ease. The development of the satellite makes it easy for information to be obtained and distributed all over the world in a span of seconds. As much as this advancement has been praised by many, there are also a lot of risks involved in this advancement. New Zealand has been on the front line in adapting new technological technique so as to better their infrastructure, and boost their economy. Pacione claims that the information found in the internet is prone to a lot of dangers that concern accessibility (38). The world today is characterized by the Importance that is information. As such, many countries in a bid to get a competitive age over their competitors or enemy has invested so much in spying. This has led to a lot of risk involved even as the government collects information and stores them in their data base claiming is for the good of the nation. Today, with just a click of the button, information can be moved from one location to the other in the face of the earth. It is these data base that has made many citizens in the United States to feel insecure with there information in the governments hands. Just as everyone would agree Information is power and how such information is used will determine ones destiny. The current information age dictates that information is handled with utmost caution given that its implications could result to consequences that could make or break a given society. The United States being the single super power is one such country that needs to handle its information with the tightest security possible to avoid the proliferation of terrorist. From the above analysis, it is evident that New Zealand is a country rich with culture. Its cultural characteristics are greatly influenced by its surroundings and that’s has led to its success.   Works cited International Monetary Fund. New Zealand: financial system stability assessment. International Monetary Fund, 2004. Lynn, Richard & Vanhanen, Tatu. IQ and the wealth of nations. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Pacione, Michael. Urban geography: a global perspective. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Routledge, 2005. Peters, Pam. Collins, Peter & Smith, Adam. Comparative studies in Australian and New Zealand. Michigan: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2009. Serena, Melody. Reintroduction biology of Australian and New Zealand fauna. Minnesota: Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1995. Read More