October Seminars
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Phone: 027 715 3677
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#2621 A New Cold War: not like the old one
Speaker Roberto Rabel
Date Saturday 3rd October 2026 10am-1pm
Venue Waikanae Presbyterian Church Hall, 43 Ngaio Road, Waikanae
Emeritus Professor Roberto Rabel is a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies Victoria University of Wellington. From 2006 to 2016, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (International). Since retiring from that role, he has taught intermittently in International Relations at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and at the University of Warsaw in Poland. Professor Rabel holds a BA Honours degree in History and International Politics from VUW and a PhD in History from Duke University, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1986 to 2006, Professor Rabel held teaching and management roles at the University of Otago. He has authored or edited over 50 books and articles, including an official history, New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and Diplomacy (2005). He was National Vice-President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs from 2009 to 2021. He holds a Gold Cross of Merit and a “Bene Merito” award for services to Poland abroad from the Polish Government as well as an award “For the Advancement of Vietnam’s Education Cause” from the Vietnamese Government.
Rising geo-political competition between the United States and China in recent years has led to suggestions that a new Cold War is unfolding, with unavoidable repercussions for other states and the world order. Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 reinforced this view, leading former US President Joe Biden to talk about a worldwide struggle between democracy and autocracy. In this seminar, Roberto will consider if the history of the Cold War in the 20th century justifies applying this analogy to current times. He will focus especially on three key questions about the potential impact of this issue in international relations today: Has a kind of new Cold War really arisen and, if so, why? How does a possible Cold War 2.0 resemble and (more importantly) differ from the old one? and Having prevailed in the 20th century Cold War, what lessons can democracies draw from that experience?
#2622 ‘Son of Satan’ or ‘Prophet of peace’? Christianity and the NZ Wars
Speaker Mark Derby
Date Saturday 10th October 2026 10am-1pm
Venue Waikanae Presbyterian Church Hall, 43 Ngaio Road, Waikanae
Mark is an historical researcher and writer with 35 years’ professional experience. His work has been published in several countries and translated into te reo Māori, Spanish and French. Published books include: Warrior Prophet– Hakaraia Māhika and the Tauranga Wars, Massey University Press, 2026, (winner, NZSA Writer’s Award) Frontline Surgeon – New Zealand medical pioneer Douglas Jolly, University of Nebraska Press / Massey University Press, 2024 Rock College – an unofficial history of Mount Eden Prison, Massey University Press, 2020 (winner, non-fiction section, NZ Heritage Literary Awards) Te Tiriti o Waitangi, bilingual illustrated flipbook w/ Toby Morris and Ross Calman, trans. Piripi Walker, Lift Education, 2019 (Storylines Notable Book, 2020) Petals and Bullets – Dorothy Morris: New Zealand nurse in the Spanish Civil War, Sussex Academic Press / Potton and Burton Publishing, 2015 White-Collar Radical – Dan Long and the rise of the white-collar unions, Potton and Burton Publishing, 2013 The Prophet and the Policeman – the story of Rua Kenana and John Cullen, Craig Potton Publishing, 2009 Kiwi Compañeros – New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War, Canterbury University Press, 2009.
Te Kooti, Te Ua Haumene, Wiremu Tamihana, the Māori King Tāwhiao, Hakaraia Māhika represent a startling number of the Māori military and spiritual leaders who came to oppose the Crown during the New Zealand Wars and who had earlier been baptised as Christians. Some later renounced their Christian beliefs, others adapted them, and some continued to espouse and practise Christianity while regarded as enemies of the New Zealand state. Mark’s seminar will examine the possible reasons for the widespread, although not universal, failure of the project to convert Māori to Christianity in the 19th century.
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