Green Parties Research Paper

1. Emergence

The emergence of green parties needs to be understood in the context of a broader shift from industrial to ‘postindustrial’ politics. For younger, better-educated citizens in particular, the prosperity and rise in living standards enjoyed in the postwar era formed the backdrop for a change from materialist to ‘postmaterialist’ values, or from ‘old politics’ to ‘new politics’ (see Inglehart 1977, Poguntke 1993). As the basic material needs (food, shelter, etc.) of a far higher share of the population were being satisfied, political attention shifted from materialist concerns to ‘quality of life’ issues, such as enhanced political participation, gender and racial equality, and, perhaps above all, environmental protection.

Growing environmental concern among the public was heightened by the continued degradation of the environment and increased media attention of environmental issues. Toxic chemical spills in major rivers, air pollution alerts in cities, and oil slicks in pristine coastal waters further increased public anxiety, especially in Europe and the USA. Meanwhile, the accelerated construction of nuclear plants in the wake of the energy crisis, as well as the increased deployment of nuclear weapons, awakened or reinforced fears about the safety of nuclear power, the problems of disposing nuclear waste, and fears of nuclear annihilation.

To many citizens in advanced democracies, none of these concerns was adequately addressed by existing parliamentary structures. A proliferation of extra parliamentary, nonpartisan citizens’ movements emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to protest issues of peace, ecology, and women’s rights. These new social movements served as the antecedents for a new type of ‘green’ party, ideologically focused on new politics issues and an alternative paradigm of politics. Vowing to be different from mainstream parties in beliefs and practice, these new parties embraced a ‘green’ ideology which profoundly challenged conventional politics.

2. Green Party Ideology

The core green values forming this ideology encompass a wholesale critique of advanced industrial society and advocate instead a ‘sustainable society’ (Dobson 1995) based on decentralization and reduced consumption of resources and material goods. For greens, the postindustrial ‘good life,’ revolving around economic growth and globalization, sophisticated technology, expanding services, and material goods needs to be replaced by a simpler lifestyle offering a cleaner planet, less resource depletion, social equality, a nature-centered spirituality, and local action to solve global problems.

Green parties are characterized not only by their values and beliefs, but by the way they express and pursue these beliefs. Above all, greens emphasize ‘grassroots democracy’: a decentralized, direct democracy within a radically participatory society. Policy decisions should be made at the lowest possible level and matched with varying local requirements. Diversity is not only tolerated, but celebrated. The organizational structure of most green parties thus tends to be decentralized and nonhierarchical, offering a wide range participatory channels to members, gender equality, and significant autonomy to local branches (Muller-Rommel 1998).

Green party values and practices do not represent a coherent or consistent ideology. Demands for grassroots direct democracy do not always mesh with the need for a sustainable society and the imposition of regulations such a society may require. Structures imposed to deter party hierarchy (e.g., midterm rotation of posts, refusal to appoint party leaders) have proved unworkable. Nor are greens a coherent or monolithic set of thinkers or actors. In particular, several ideological and strategic divisions characterize green parties.

3. Typology Of Green Parties

The primary ideological distinction separating green parties is between ‘purist’ and ‘rainbow leftist’ parties (Muller-Rommel 1993). Some refer to this divide as ‘green-green’ vs. ‘red-green’ parties. Green-green parties, such as De Groenen in The Netherlands, adopt radical environmental policies, reject leftist ideology as too proindustrial, and seek to create a clear distance between their views and views of mainstream parties, left or right. Red-green, or ‘rainbow’ parties, include the German Greens and the Dutch Green-Left. These parties link ecological issues with leftist concerns of social equality and a critique of capitalism. The predominance of the latter parties has led some writers (Kitschelt 1989) to view green parties merely as an extension of a broader New Left ideology, in which environmental themes are adopted as one theme of many. This view neglects the existence of purist parties or purist elements within green parties. More importantly, it neglects the central role of green ideology and practice which defines green parties and separates them from their leftist counterparts. Green parties are best understood not merely as New Left parties, but as manifestations of an ‘ecological cleavage’ (Franklin and Rudig 1995). Despite their differences in emphasis, all green parties have broadly similar core ecological concerns and demands which serve as a pivotal part of their agenda and political identity.

Another broad distinction between green parties is their strategic orientation: the extent to which they embrace parliamentary, mainstream tactics, or favor instead more radical unconventional means to achieve their aims. All green parties pride themselves on alternative strategies, but the intensity of ‘radicality’ differs across parties. Generally, ‘purer’ parties eschew traditional forms of political activity such as party alliances, coalitions, or deals with mainstream parties. The small Dutch De Groenen party fits this bill. Other parties do not. For example, the French Greens (Les Verts) while originally adopting a ‘purist’ or ‘greengreen’ ideology, were willing to engage in traditional forms of political activity such as participation in presidential elections. The strategic divide applies not only between but also within parties, as illustrated by the tension between German Realos (pragmatists) and Fundis (fundamentalists). These cleavages are damaging but not debilitating. Despite the obvious difficulties in pulling together different strands and types of green parties, the Green Group in the European Parliament has managed to exercise significant policy influence on issues such as auto emissions and biotechnology controls (see Bomberg 1998).

4. Electoral Fortunes

The varied electoral fortunes of green parties can be explained as a product of the wider political and economic climates, as well as more specific opportunity structures in which these parties operate. Examining the macroeconomic environment in which parties develop is a good starting point for explaining green party success. It is widely recognized that green parties fare better in ‘postmaterialist’ countries with higher levels of economic development and lower unemployment. Contrast green party emergence and development in the industrialized north with green parties’ struggle to emerge and survive elsewhere. But these features are less able to explain differences among developed industrialized states (e.g., why do green parties fare better in Ireland than in the USA?). More specific opportunity structures better account for such variation.

Electoral laws are often cited (especially by green parties themselves) as a major factor in determining electoral success. Certainly proportional representation (PR) has facilitated the development of new parties in several countries (e.g., Belgium and The Netherlands) while the first past the post electoral system as operates in the USA or British national elections has made it difficult for any small party to succeed unless they are regionally concentrated. But unsuccessful green parties also exist in countries with PR systems (Denmark, Greece) and other factors may be more important in explaining green success. A federal structure offers parties the opportunity first to articulate their demand at subnational level where they can gain experience, publicity, and often funds before launching a nationwide campaign (Muller-Rommel 1998). Green parties have been more successful in federal states (Germany, Belgium Austria, Switzerland, Australia) than in unitary states, and the weak US Greens may be the exception that proves the rule.

To understand change in green party fortunes, other explanations are needed. Evolving party systems help explain the swings in green party support, which often has floundered when major established parties (British Labour Party, US Democrats, Australian Labor Party) or other smaller protest or radical parties (such as the PPR in The Netherlands) either share or poach the ideas of greens and adopt green policies in deed or at least in word. Similarly, green parties face competition from other green actors—environmental interest groups or protest movements—who absorb green demands without themselves seeking government office. To illustrate the point, environmental awareness in the UK and USA is not noticeably lower than in countries with strong green parties, but this support is reflected in swelling membership of environmental interest groups rather than green parties (Rootes 1995).

These various explanations may be supplemented by an examination of political culture (compare France’s embrace of radical culture and parties with the UK’s tradition of political mediation and compromise) and episodic factors (environmental disasters, rise of new controversies such as genetically modified foods). Finally, a focus on agency and structure is required. Whatever the structural constraints in which they must perform, green parties shape their own fortunes by their (in)ability to develop and articulate a coherent party platform, run a professional electoral campaign, and avoid internal combustion through infighting and personality squabbles.

Taken together these contending explanations provide a plausible if nuanced explanation of green party development and change. Certainly green parties have developed and changed dramatically since their emergence in the 1970s. By the early twenty-first century, green parties were represented in 15 national parliaments (mainly in Western Europe but also in the East), as well as in supranational organizations and hundreds of subnational and local assemblies. Moreover, by the late 1990s greens held ministerial positions in several major European countries. Most successful by far have been the German Greens (die Grunen) who first entered federal parliament in 1983, formed a governing national coalition with Social Democrats in 1998 and took on federal ministerial posts, including that of German foreign minister (Joschka Fischer). In late 1999 German Green Michaele Schreyer was the first green to be appointed as a member of the European Commission, the European Union’s powerful executive.

5. Conclusion

The greens’ success has clear policy implications, especially on issues of nuclear power, ecological tax reform, and citizenship rights (see Collier and Golub 1997). But success also has implications for green parties themselves. Greens have always faced a unique ‘strategic conundrum’ (Bomberg 1998) arising from their unique beliefs and movement roots. Put simply, how can they reconcile their radical alternative politics with participation in mainstream or ‘grey’ parliamentary and government structures? Throughout the 1990s most green parties shed their radical cloth in an attempt to capture votes, even at the expense of green party unity and purity. Most were rewarded with electoral success well beyond what had been imaginable in the 1980s. The price to pay has been tortured internal debates about strategy, and new questions about green party identity and purpose. Today the key questions facing green parties revolve around not whether to embrace power, but what to do with it. More specifically, green parties face three new challenges in the new millennium: first, how to carve out a policy niche as established parties and governments become wiser to green demands, and as green concerns themselves appear more mainstream. Second, how to take green ideas beyond the confines of rich industrialized states into Eastern Europe and the developing world where green parties remain marginal and environmental problems acute. Third how to ensure that the broader role of green parties—as consciousness raisers, agitators, conscience of parliament and politics—is not sacrificed on the altar of electoral success.

Green parties have come a long way since their emergence and development in the 1970s and 1980s. They have become established players able to shape party competition, government formation, and government policy. But this very ‘establishment’ carries risks for a party whose core values and identities depend mightily on their ability to challenge the conventional order, to agitate and to annoy. For most green parties, the greatest fear is not electoral decline so much as the prospect of becoming a party with parliamentary platform, ministerial voice, but nothing new to say.

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