James is a Research Fellow with the Initiative and his main focus will be on higher education policy, including academic freedom.
James holds a BA in Classics from Oxford, an MA in Ancient History from the University of London, an MA in Political Science from Stanford, and a PhD in Classics from Stanford.
He is also the co-host (with Michael Johnston) of Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicated to free speech in a New Zealand context, and he can be found on Twitter at @Kleisthenes2.
Phone: 04 499 0790
As readers of The Australian will be aware, New Zealand has a new prime minister. The new man, Chris Hipkins, has seemingly signalled a move away from the identity politics beloved of Ardern. Read more
Going public with a complaint against your employer is always difficult. But enough is enough. Read more
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 31, 2022 Updated Jan 19, 2023 It was an exciting night in New Zealand politics. With bated breath I waited for Winston Peters, the perennial kingmaker in the country’s proportional representation system, to announce which of the two major parties would govern. Read more
A job you didn’t get that would never have been fulfilling. A breakup that turned out to be a dodged bullet. Read more
This week's podcast is a Free Kiwis episode. Drs Michael Johnston and James Kierstead discussed a range of issues with Dr Eric Crampton. Read more
So far, the feedback on my moustache has been mixed. My sister, on a Zoom call from Ottawa, compared me (somewhat oddly) to a capybara. Read more
As Monty Python reminded us, you never expect the Spanish Inquisition. So its appearance in a New Zealand Initiative Insights column might well seem a little unsettling. Read more
The debate over free speech at universities continues to rage across the English-speaking world, including in this country. But what does the data show? Read more
Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy. But it is a challenging principle, subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Read more
James Kierstead and Michael Johnston discuss the results of a second pilot for literacy and numeracy assessments, as well as an upcoming survey on the extent to which university students are willing to express their ideas. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
If there’s one objection that proponents of the free market are familiar with, it’s that capitalism is anti-social. From Adam Smith to Gordon Gekko – so the objection goes – liberal and neo-liberal economists have been doing little else but reciting a mantra of ‘Greed is good.’ It was with this argument in mind that I found some recent research on markets and pro-sociality so intriguing. Read more
Almost 30 years after leaving Quebec, and just short of ten years after moving to New Zealand, it’s not often that I get the chance to link the two. Recently, though, the government of my former home province passed an academic freedom bill that shows exactly what Wellington should be doing but isn’t – at least not yet. Read more
Are international students subsidising the education of domestic students in Australian universities – or is it the other way around? Why does Australia have quite so many international students anyway? Read more
Our Prime Minister is a real star on the world stage. Capable, articulate, and charismatic, it’s no surprise that her latest foreign trip has won her further plaudits. Read more
This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with James Kierstead. From The Open Society and Its Enemies, later essays, and private letters, they speak about the meaning behind Karl Popper’s ‘paradox of tolerance’: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. Read more