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This chapter is a discursive deconstruction of the New Zealand Flag Debate prior to the flag referenda which took place in New Zealand. The first referendum was held in November and December, 2015 and the second one was held in March, 2016. The study is used as a framework for glocalization as it analyzes and explains how flags can be perceived as semiotic signs for language and interpretation. Following a brief diachronic comparison to similar flag debates in Canada in 1963, South Africa in 1994, and continuing ones in Australia, the study engages in a theoretical discussion, attempting to ground it within the scope of semiotics and discourse analysis. The discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe (1985) is applied, utilizing the language of description to interpret the empirical data and challenge structuralist theory. The claims that meaning is produced through relational difference and the interplay of signs, that discourses gain identity by their relational difference to others and finally, that signs are fixed to a particular application only through dominant discourses, are used to frame this debate. Following the theoretical analysis, an analysis of John Key's speeches applying Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory is provided. The focus is on empty and floating signifiers used arbitrarily by the Prime Minister who was the main driver behind the flag change debate. Here, by way of conclusion, the practices and events implicating the production and reproduction of the discourse are investigated.

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-8468-3_7

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