The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between certain descriptive and prescriptive elements in Modernisation theory, and selected phases in Maori development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This analysis also extends to consideration of the significance of intentional development, as defined by Michael Cowen and Robert Shenton (Cowen & Shenton, 1996), as the emerging basis for such development.The particular focus within the theoretical framework is on the characteristics and implications of social transformation that are said to accompany rapid economic development - particularly for non-Western peoples living within an emerging Western economic environment. As a corollary of this, consideration is given to the evident conversion from such transitions being unplanned consequences of the forces of economic development, to the increasingly conscious, planned bases for the processes of modernisation being applied to Maori development.This thesis concludes that there has been a discernable intensification in the forces of modernisation impacting on Maori, and that this has been complemented by more deliberate efforts - at a governmental level - to advance this process. One consequence of this trend has been that the alternative models for Maori development have been virtually excluded, even from consideration by successive Governments, and that a singular theoretical model has become the near-universal standard for governmental discourse about this area of indigenous development in New Zealand.