Abstract
Jacinda Ardern’s profile as a prime minister of many ‘firsts’ and the challenges confronting her government make her leadership of the sixth Labour government worthy of critical scrutiny. From the beginning of her campaign as Labour party leader, elated public reactions to Ardern’s appearances garnered the moniker ‘Jacindamania’. This attention intensified when she became one of only two women in modern history to give birth as an elected leader of a country. Her two terms as prime minister were characterised by national tragedy and crisis. Three devastating events put her leadership in the spotlight: the Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks and the Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption both in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic national lockdown in 2020. The pandemic cast a long shadow over Ardern’s tenure, but her self- described ‘transformative’ government faced other challenges with varied results from 2017 to 2023. This introduction sets Ardern’s leadership in context, noting the international attention she attracted and the challenging domestic landscape she governed. We highlight scholarship examining Ardern’s leadership, and outline her rise to power within the Labour party and her 5-year tenure as head of government. We reflect on the significance of the Ardern years, before previewing the special issue articles.