Abstract
Two years ago. Koi Tū released an analysis of factors that could undermine a society’s cohesion (Gluckman et al., 2021).This analysis followed consultation with global experts across a breadth of domains, together with an international workshop which was undertaken just prior to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. That analysis was generic, and since that time we have experienced the pandemic’s worldwide effects. The pandemic and the policy and public responses to it, along with ongoing environmental, technological, economic and geostrategic stresses, have further tested the resilience of liberal democracies, producing growing concern around cohesiveness in many societies.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s democracy has been sustained by a relatively high degree of social cohesion. However, as in other liberal democracies, there is increasing concern about the risks from greater polarisation and division, reducing our ability to cooperate and make decisions for the good of society as a whole. The 2022 protests in Parliament’s grounds and the way important but sensitive values-laden debates have been reduced to verbal and hostile confrontations illustrate why such concern is rising.