Ka mua, ka muri (looking backwards into the future): investigating government’s solutions to addressing uneven regional development in New Zealand/Aotearoa

ABSTRACT This article examines New Zealand’s historical, geographical, political, and economic-driven regional disparities and evaluates successive government policies aiming to address these inequities. By utilising the Māori proverb ‘ka mua ka muri’ for discourse analysis, we chronologically categorise regional development policies into three periods: pre-neoliberal reform, post-reform until 2017, and recent government investments in regions. Our study highlights recurring policy failures due to factors such as short-term political vision, and an emphasis on competitive over comparative advantages in resource allocation. To rectify past shortcomings, we propose a dual framework grounded in Universalism and Particularism, suggesting a national spatial strategy paired with tailored regional development policies.