{"id":43493,"date":"2025-06-06T21:23:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=43493"},"modified":"2025-06-06T21:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:23:54","slug":"in-her-memoir-jacinda-ardern-shows-a-different-kind-of-power-is-possible-but-also-has-its-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/in-her-memoir-jacinda-ardern-shows-a-different-kind-of-power-is-possible-but-also-has-its-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"In her memoir, Jacinda Ardern shows a \u2018different kind of power\u2019 is possible \u2013 but also has its limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Her new book weaves an authentically retold personal story with high political drama. But Ardern misses an opportunity to reflect more deeply on her time in power<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Imagine getting a positive pregnancy test and then \u2013 just a few days later \u2013 learning you\u2019ll be prime minister. In hindsight, being willing and able to deal with the unexpected would become the hallmark of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern\u2019s political career.<\/span><\/p>\n

She had always stood out as a leader, but her tumultuous political journey followed none of the predictable pathways. Readers of her memoir will relive what this was like, from her feelings about motherhood through to meeting world leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

The title of her book promises more than just that, however. Many people\u00a0hope for a different kind of leader, but what personal qualities or strengths do such leaders need? More generally, can the personal qualities that contribute to great leadership be learned and applied by others?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer seems to be a qualified yes. Since leaving office, Ardern has become something of a global influencer. But as her career pivots towards celebrity appearances and international agencies, her memoir also serves as a leadership manifesto \u2013 especially for women, or aspirants of any gender, who suffer self-doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n

The limits of empathy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In her formative years, working as an assistant to Labour leader Helen Clark, Ardern relates how she let political opponents get under her skin. Was she \u201ctoo thin-skinned\u201d for politics? She soon learned \u201cyou could be sensitive and survive\u201d. Better still, she could use her sensitivity as a strength.<\/span><\/p>\n

But \u201cit is different for women in the public eye\u201d, she writes. Derogatory terms were used against her, such as the \u201cshow pony\u201d epithet coined by a senior woman journalist. There were\u00a0questions about whether she had \u201csubstance\u201d. These things could undermine people\u2019s belief in her competence \u2013 perhaps even her own self-belief.<\/span><\/p>\n

What she did about this is instructive. Lashing out at jibes and cartoon images would make her look \u201chumourless and too sensitive\u201d. The \u201ctrick\u201d was to respond in a way that would \u201ctake the story nowhere\u201d. She became adept at that, deflecting comments aimed at putting her down.<\/span><\/p>\n

This also meant being a feminist but not using feminism as her ideological platform. Other than admonishing a TV presenter that it was \u201cunacceptable\u201d for him to ask whether a sitting prime minister could take maternity leave, she generally let others do the outrage and avoided becoming an even bigger target for culture warriors.<\/span><\/p>\n

But A Different Kind of Power asks the question: different from what? Ardern\u2019s political career has been a challenge, if not a rebuke, to leaders who indulge in egotistical, competitive, always-be-winning behaviour. Need one even mention Donald Trump?<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Ardern offers kindness and empathy. The approach showed its true strength in the days following the\u00a0terrorist atrocity in Christchurch\u00a0in 2019. At a time when anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiments were growing, Ardern embraced the victims. \u201cThey are us\u201d, she declared. Emotions that could have generated a cycle of blame were guided by her towards sharing of grief and\u00a0aroha.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like any political virtue, though, empathy has limitations: it touches those whose suffering commands our attention, but it is partial. Effective social policy also requires an impartial administration and redistribution of resources. Leaders must ensure public goods are delivered equitably to those in need, which calls for rational planning.<\/span><\/p>\n

And sometimes a national emergency may call for actions that feel unfair or insensitive to some.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pandemic politics<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Covid-19 was that emergency. It created deep uncertainty for governments, and there was no \u201ckind\u201d pathway forward. The Ardern government did an exemplary job, saving many lives, and the Labour Party was rewarded at the 2020 election with an unprecedented 50% of the party vote. But Ardern\u2019s retelling of that time is surprisingly brief, especially given her pivotal role.<\/span><\/p>\n

She put herself daily at the centre of it all, patiently explaining the public health responses. During this battle with a virus, however, she couldn\u2019t inoculate against the political consequences and shifts in public opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the pandemic wore on, many New Zealanders whose businesses had been shut down, who had been isolated in their homes, who had difficulty returning home from abroad or who\u2019d been ostracised for not getting vaccinated, weren\u2019t feeling much empathy or kindness from their government. And they felt they were being silenced. This sentiment grew far beyond the\u00a0activists who had made themselves heard\u00a0on parliament grounds in early 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ardern refused to meet with those protestors. \u201cHow could I send a message that if you disagree with something, you can illegally occupy the grounds of parliament and then have your demands met?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But she (or a senior minister) could have heard their demands and explained why they couldn\u2019t be met. Her refusal to listen left the field open to veteran populist Winston Peters, who\u00a0exploited the opportunity, launching his campaign to return to parliament \u2013 in which he now sits and Ardern doesn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

While vaccine mandates were a key concern for protestors, it\u2019s disappointing that, to this day, Ardern blames the dissenters, as if they were \u201cnot us\u201d \u2013 kicked out of the \u201cteam of five million\u201d. She attributes the dissent solely to their \u201cmistrust\u201d. Refusing to listen \u2013 not just to protestors, but to deeper shifts in public opinion \u2013 would cost Labour dearly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Induced by the\u00a0pandemic fiscal stimulus, inflation peaked at 7.3% in June 2022. By that time, two switches had occurred: the National Party was ahead in polls and a majority were saying the country was heading in the wrong direction. In January 2023, then,\u00a0Ardern resigned\u00a0as prime minister. She believed, probably correctly, that it would be \u201cgood for my party and perhaps it would be good for the election\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The toll of leadership<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But she also reveals in her memoir that a\u00a0cancer scare influenced the decision\u00a0\u2013 a false alarm, but a sign perhaps that the job was taking its toll. Her leaving could \u201ctake the heat out of the politics\u201d, she reasoned. And anyway, she was tired, stressed and losing her patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

The leadership change to Chris Hipkins \u2013 and a\u00a0devastating cyclone\u00a0\u2013 boosted Labour\u2019s polling for a while. But their 1,443,545 party votes in 2020 fell to 767,540 in the October 2023 election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of voters had turned their backs on the Labour Party, and the Covid response wasn\u2019t solely to blame. There were also controversial or failed policies \u2013 such as restructuring water services, a proposed unemployment insurance scheme, and M\u0101ori co-governance initiatives \u2013 that were ruthlessly exploited by the political opposition. These were all initiated under Ardern, although unmentioned in her memoir.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her book is more about subjective self-doubt and empathy. She doesn\u2019t critically examine her own policies. Nor does she express empathy for those who felt disadvantaged or excluded by them \u2013 granting as always that emergency measures had been necessary. And, as she heads further into an international career, there\u2019s no expression of empathy for those who now need it most, be they children in Gaza or refugees in South Sudan.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s disappointing Ardern doesn\u2019t define key words: empathy, leadership or power, for example. There are different ways to understand them, and definitions carry assumptions. But she\u2019s not addressing academics or political analysts. Her audience is primarily American \u2013 a much larger and more lucrative market than her home country. With the Democrats struggling to find direction and leadership after last year\u2019s losses, Ardern \u2013 who poses no threat to anyone\u2019s political ambitions there \u2013 offers some inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some may fault it for avoiding those harder questions about her time at the top, but Ardern\u2019s memoir interweaves an authentically retold personal story with high political drama. It tells of one woman\u2019s struggle with morning sickness, childbirth, breastfeeding and motherhood, even while taking on extraordinary public responsibilities and media exposure. It\u2019s still amazing how she managed to do all that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grant Duncan<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Teaching Fellow in Politics and
\nInternational Relations,
\nUniversity of Auckland,
\nWaipapaTaumata Rau<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 6 June 2025<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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