This book is a study of New Zealand shaking off its quasi-colonial dependence on Britain. Has New Zealand moved beyond its colonial heritage? Is it now time to remove the Union Jack from the national flag and change to a Republic? Hall analyses the three decades after World War II when changes in Britain, mainly as a consequence of that war, forced New Zealand to seek new markets for its exports, which were predominantly primary produce; notably meat, wool and dairy products. A key symbol of these changes was Britain becoming a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 how did this engagement with Europe impact on trade with a Commonwealth country? Significantly, rather than politicians and diplomats, voices of New Zealand's primary producers (the 'backbone of the economy') are used to describe the country's decolonisation in trade.

The volume traces how relationships between Britain and one of its main dominions evolved from their quasi-colonial relationship and how the dominion coped with breaking away from over-dependence on Britain not just in economic terms but also in sentimental terms. Hall provides an interesting overview of the final stages of decolonisation.

Provides a history of the impact on New Zealand's primary producers of Britain's entry into the European Common Market Analyses New Zealand's economic and diplomatic history Takes a primary producer perspective on changes between 1945-75 rather than a purely political economy stance Of great interdisciplinary interest, including economics and agricultural historians, historical geographers, scholars of international trade and international relations

Autorentext
David Hall changed to study humanities in 2004 and obtained his PhD at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations. Previous appointments were Head of Space Plasma Physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, and Director of Science at the British National Space Centre. He is interested primarily in New ZealandBritish relations and has also tutored courses on North American and Modern European History.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Changing Relations.- Chapter 3: A Brutal Snapping of the AngloNew Zealand Nexus?.- Chapter 4: Meat and the British Market.- Chapter 5: Diversification of Meat Exports.- Chapter 6: Dairy and the British Market.- Chapter 7: Diversification of Dairy Exports.- Chapter 8: Wool marketing and Reform.- Chapter 9: Handling the Threat to Wool from Synthetics.- Chapter 10: Conclusion.