Introduction to Active Citizenship - Required Reading Week 1

Vocabulary flashcards highlighting key concepts and terms from the lecture’s introduction to active citizenship, civil society, and change-making in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Active Citizenship

Public actions by individuals or groups aimed at improving community life through engagement, advocacy, and cooperation.

Liberal Democracy

A political system combining majority rule with protections for individual rights such as conscience, expression, and association.

Super Wicked Problem

An extremely complex, hard-to-solve issue—like climate change—where time is short and the problem-solvers also contribute to the problem.

Civil Society

The network of non-profit, non-governmental organisations through which stakeholders organise, coordinate, and compete to promote their interests.

Stakeholder

Any person or group with an interest in a particular place, policy, or issue and who may organise to influence outcomes.

Values

Deeply held beliefs that shape what outcomes and trade-offs people view as desirable in change-making efforts.

Civic Engagement

Participation in activities that express citizens’ concerns, influence public decision-making, or strengthen community life.

Consultation

A process where decision-makers seek public input; can range from genuine dialogue to mere notification.

Deliberative Methods

Discursive, participatory approaches that bring multiple knowledges together to craft solutions, rather than top-down directives.

Voice

The ability of citizens to be heard, recognised, and legitimised by others and by power-holders in democratic processes.

Publics

Multiple, overlapping audiences that communicators must consider rather than assuming a single homogenous ‘public.’

Change-Making

Any organised effort—conflictual or cooperative—intended to alter social, economic, political, or environmental conditions.

Praxis

The translation of political or theoretical ideas into practical action for change.

Social Movement

Collective, organised efforts outside formal institutions that use various tactics to press for social or political change.

Structural Power

Coercive economic or systemic leverage (e.g., strikes) capable of forcing substantive, long-term change.

Symbolic Power

Influence gained by using shame, publicity, or reputational pressure to alter behaviour without direct coercion.

Postmaterialist Politics

Issue activism focused on values such as identity or the environment rather than traditional economic redistribution.

Neoliberalism

An ideology favouring market solutions, individual responsibility, limited state intervention, and corporate-style public management.

Networked Individualism

A pattern where digitally connected individuals participate in loosely organised campaigns rather than stable groups.

Social Enterprise

A business that pursues both profit and positive social or environmental outcomes.

Voluntourism

Commercially packaged overseas volunteering marketed as a travel experience, often with questionable benefit to host communities.

Official Information Act (NZ)

Legislation that enables citizens to request government information, enhancing transparency and accountability.

Mana Whenua

Customary authority and connection of a Māori tribe (iwi/hapū) over ancestral land and resources.

Mana Māori

Māori authority, prestige, and influence that can be mobilised in political and community contests.

Ngā Raraunga e Rua

‘Two citizenships’—the dual civic identity of Māori as both tangata whenua and citizens within a Western state system.

Treaty Partnership

Shared governance principles arising from Te Tiriti o Waitangi, requiring power-holders to value and share authority with Māori.

Conservative Check

The role of cautionary voices that warn against rapid or excessive change to preserve valued elements of the status quo.

Supervised Consultation

Tokenistic engagement where authorities control the agenda and merely inform participants rather than share decision power.

Power Sharing

Arrangements whereby decision-makers cede meaningful influence to community stakeholders within engagement processes.

Ethical Risk

Potential harm—intended or not—that civic actions may cause to participants, opponents, or bystanders.

Evaluation

Systematic assessment of a project’s processes and outcomes to learn, improve, and demonstrate effectiveness.

Change Consultancy

Commercial services promising organisational transformation, often critiqued for oversimplifying deep institutional complexities.

Wicked Policy Problem

A public issue with no single solution, conflicting stakeholder values, and interconnected causes—requiring adaptive strategies.

Civil Disobedience

Deliberate, public violation of laws considered unjust, undertaken to highlight issues and prompt reform.

Stakeholder Engagement

Structured interaction with affected groups to gather input, build legitimacy, and improve policy or project outcomes.

Community Organising

Grass-roots mobilisation that builds collective power to address shared concerns through campaigns and advocacy.

Praxis Literature

Scholarly and practitioner writings that explore how theory is applied to achieve social or political change.

Super Wicked Climate Crisis

Application of the super wicked problem concept specifically to global climate change challenges.

Voice Legitimacy

Public acknowledgement that a group’s expressed concerns are valid even if policy outcomes do not favour them.