Whether Jacinda Ardern was baking a cake, getting turned away from a full cafe or taking her baby to work, her every move as New Zealand’s prime minister seemed to prompt breathless global coverage. “Jacinda rules,” declared a headline on the front of the New York Times opinion section. Stephen Colbert visited her at home. Meghan and Harry clamoured to work with her.
But since Ardern quit in January – citing burnout after more than five turbulent years as leader – the international attention that often sought to make New Zealand a model for western liberal democracy has started to wane. What remains as the circus leaves town is perhaps a more realistic picture of a small country facing the same problems that have long confronted it – but without a need to explain them in terms the rest of the world can understand.
