New Zealand troops have spent more time in Afghanistan then both World War One and World War Two Combined, despite this, mainstream media coverage of the war has been limited, and one-sided, government reports have relied on embedded journalism and the NZDF methods of public relations (PR), have been responsible for the upkeep of the military’s positive, peacekeeping, reconstructed, ‘kiwi’ image. While this was not untrue, it can not be considered truthful. The NZDF maintains strong connections to the US Military and has since been criticised for its involvement in mistreatment of prisoners and the NZ SAS leadership in the Band e Timur raid in 2002 (EWS). Media, ought to act as the fourth pillar of democracy, a watchdog on the inner workings
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Institutional analysis examines competing institutional interests and contextual forces and is therefore useful to consider. Chang has developed these ideas, proposing several mechanisms of analysis - in what ways do institutions influence the perception of their interests, in what ways do institutions influence the public’s views on political issues and how do these institutions reinforce the legitimacy of political action, in this case going to war in Afghanistan (556).The following report seeks to address these questions. Institutions constrain, and construct perceptions and motivations, generating a biased, not wholly truthful understanding of political discourse (557). Institutionalism empahsies the role of institutions in affecting human action, within and surrounding the state …show more content…
This was primarily due to the discreet agreement with the US military on the Bamiyan deploy - all detained personnel were handed over to Senior National Officer and then certain Afghan Authorities. Kevin Riordan NZDF, chief knew full well that prisoners that went to these authorities were being significantly mistreated (Hagar). The biggest problem with this process, aside from the lack of New Zealand public knowledge was the breach of international law, namely article three of the Geneva Conventions which expressly prohibits this behaviour (Stephenson, ). This is especially distressing when government documents, including the ‘Ministry of Defence Annual Report’ claimed that the New Zealand contribution to Afghanistan was an example of their willingness to “uphold the principles of international law and collective responsibility (Annual Report).
LTGEN Jones, in the NZDF media release, ‘Defence Force Mission in Afghanistan - A significant Contribution’ suggests the achievements in Bamyan are due to the security facilitated by the NZ PRT (). As part of maintaining New Zealand 's non-violent, yet internationally supportive image, the New Zealand government deployed troops in the most peaceful province(s) of Afghanistan. However, nations with high death tolls were unapproving of New Zealanders boasting about their achievements from the safety of Bamiyan (Hager,
Institutional analysis examines competing institutional interests and contextual forces and is therefore useful to consider. Chang has developed these ideas, proposing several mechanisms of analysis - in what ways do institutions influence the perception of their interests, in what ways do institutions influence the public’s views on political issues and how do these institutions reinforce the legitimacy of political action, in this case going to war in Afghanistan (556).The following report seeks to address these questions. Institutions constrain, and construct perceptions and motivations, generating a biased, not wholly truthful understanding of political discourse (557). Institutionalism empahsies the role of institutions in affecting human action, within and surrounding the state …show more content…
This was primarily due to the discreet agreement with the US military on the Bamiyan deploy - all detained personnel were handed over to Senior National Officer and then certain Afghan Authorities. Kevin Riordan NZDF, chief knew full well that prisoners that went to these authorities were being significantly mistreated (Hagar). The biggest problem with this process, aside from the lack of New Zealand public knowledge was the breach of international law, namely article three of the Geneva Conventions which expressly prohibits this behaviour (Stephenson, ). This is especially distressing when government documents, including the ‘Ministry of Defence Annual Report’ claimed that the New Zealand contribution to Afghanistan was an example of their willingness to “uphold the principles of international law and collective responsibility (Annual Report).
LTGEN Jones, in the NZDF media release, ‘Defence Force Mission in Afghanistan - A significant Contribution’ suggests the achievements in Bamyan are due to the security facilitated by the NZ PRT (). As part of maintaining New Zealand 's non-violent, yet internationally supportive image, the New Zealand government deployed troops in the most peaceful province(s) of Afghanistan. However, nations with high death tolls were unapproving of New Zealanders boasting about their achievements from the safety of Bamiyan (Hager,