ABSTRACT
In the space of the decade beginning in 1984 and culminating in the resumption of top-level ties between New Zealand and the United States in 1995, New Zealand experienced one of the most significant transitions in its comparatively short history as a fully independent state (the small dominion became fully responsible for its foreign policy only after Britain’s 1931 Statute of Westminster). Yet beneath all the apparent movement—most notably in the highly publicized dispute with its American ally over the issue of visits by potentially nuclear-armed naval vessels—New Zealand’s security debate continues to revolve around a number of concerns that, to the wider world, seem contradictory, yet to most New Zealanders remain perfectly comprehensible.
