Māori politics is the politics of the Māori people, who were the original inhabitants of New Zealand and who are now the country's largest minority. Before the arrival of Pākehā (Europeans) in New Zealand, Māori society was based largely around tribal units, and chiefs () provided political leadership. With the British settlers of the 19th century came a new British-style government. From the outset, Māori sought representation within this government, seeing it as a vital way to promote their people's rights and improve living standards. Modern Māori politics can be seen as a subset of New Zealand politics in general, but has a number of distinguishing features, including advocacy for indigenous rights and Māori sovereignty. Many Māori politicians are members of major, historically European-dominated political parties, but several Māori parties have been formed. Pre-colonial Māori governance Before the arrival of Pākehā (European settlers) in New Zealand, Māori society was based largely around communal units. A common misconception is that pre-colonial Māori governance was structured into the "rigid and static structural models" (p. 19) proposed by early ethnologists, such as Elsdon Best (1934): Twentieth century research "modified this model of tribal organisation, emphasising the role of the hapū ... as the largest effective corporate group which defended a territory or worked together in peaceful enterprises" (p. 19). Therefore, it is now understood that hapū were responsible for administering resources, land, and important community buildings, and were also responsible for warfare (particularly maintaining the waka). The iwi typically functioned more as a federation than as an administrative structure. Political leadership or governance in Māori society has traditionally come from two different groups of people – the Ariki and the Rangatira. The Ariki are "persons of the highest rank and seniority" (p. 58). Ariki did not operate in simple hierarchical organisations; despite what later "government officers were inclined to believe", Ariki have never been "the apex of a structured hierarchy of institutionalised tribal authority" (p. 264). Many positions overlap with Ariki holding multiple roles, including "head of an iwi, the rangatira of a hapu and the kaumatua of a whanau" (p. 197). The Rangatira are the hereditary Māori leaders of hapū, often described by Europeans as chieftains. They are typified by their "humility, leadership, diplomacy, generosity, integrity and honesty" (p. 4). Māori and colonial politics A constitution for New Zealand between Māori and the British Crown was signed in 1835 with the drawing