ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the contradictions between liberalism and culturalism using the case of biculturalism in New Zealand. New Zealand political biculturalism is built on the post-1980s commitment by successive governments to a 'partnership' between Maori and non-Maori peoples. Biculturalism is also compromised by growing inequalities within the Maori population despite the bicultural project's social justice and redistributive goals. These were objectives that initially secured considerable support from the liberal Left. In New Zealand those of the liberal Left who became biculturalists created their own ethnicity. Using the term 'pakeh', this group reinvented themselves as 'Pakeha', an ethnic group who positioned themselves in relation to Maori ethnicity. However the status/contract contradiction is not the only one that has produced irreconcilable differences between ethnic-based culturalism and liberalism. Culturalism, on the other hand, supports the weakening of liberal democracy by contributing to the class politics of localisation, politics that involve undermining universalism and strengthening ethno-nationalist movements.
