Elections this year in the European Union, France and the United States look likely to be part of an international swing towards the populist right.
In response, New Zealand needs to speak more loudly about economic, political and human rights issues, the University of Otago international affairs specialist says.
"New Zealand needs to get out of the habit of keeping its head down," Prof Patman said.
"We’ve seen a lot of this in the past six months, and it hasn’t worked particularly well."
European Union (EU) elections last month gave more influence to the far right; in France, political parties are scrambling to prevent the far right winning this weekend’s second round of parliamentary voting; and in the United States, populist Republican candidate Donald Trump is gunning for a return to the White House in November.
"You’ll see a much greater emphasis on state sovereignty, despite the fact many of the problems all countries face . . . are too big to be solved unilaterally."
This would be to the detriment of New Zealand, which depends on globalization and international agreements.
"We should be quite robust on steps taken by foreign leaders that harm our interests.
"It’s important New Zealand carefully but robustly speaks out on issues that matter to us, be they human rights or economic cooperation and trade."
Speaking on Global Insight, Prof Patman also outlined why the populist right is rebounding, its significance for hotspots such as Gaza and Ukraine, and why New Zealand and other small-to-medium powers currently have more influence. He also detailed the likely implications of a Labour landslide in United Kingdom elections for that country and its relations with the EU.
