Green Parties And Political Change In Contemporary Europe

Published in 1997, This book offers an up-to-date guide to the Green parties of Western Europe as the optimism of the 1980s confronts the ‘Green fatigue’ of the 1990s. The approach is both thematic and comparative. Green politics in Europe is located in its historical and cultural context. There is a comparative analysis of the principal ideological questions , policy issues and strategic dilemmas that have confronted the European Greens. There are national profiles of Green politics throughout the European Union. The conclusion addresses the critical issue of political change in post industrial societies. It discusses the contribution of Green parties to the ‘New Politics’ and assesses their likely impact on post-modern politics

Published in 1997, This book offers an up-to-date guide to the Green parties of Western Europe as the optimism of the 1980s confronts the 'Green fatigue' of the 1990s. The approach is both thematic and comparative. Green politics in Europe is located in its historical and cultural context. There is a comparative analysis of the principal ideological questions , policy issues and strategic dilemmas that have confronted the European Greens. There are national profiles of Green politics throughout the European Union. The conclusion addresses the critical issue of political change in post industrial societies. It discusses the contribution of Green parties to the 'New Politics' and assesses their likely impact on post-modern politics

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons, grade: 1,3, University of Nottingham (School of Politics and International Relations), course: Politics and Society in Europe, a comparative approach, 16 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The emergence of Green parties towards the end of the 1970s was a significant turning point in the development of party systems in Western Europe. Most of them had been highly stable after World War II until the early 1970s. Therefore, in several countries, the Greens were the first to disrupt the stable party systems of the 1950s and 60s. But why Green parties? And why in the 1970s? And why were and are the Greens in some European countries more successful than in others? And why in a few did they almost completely fail? The aim of this essay is to find answers to the questions mentioned, exploring whether value change, party strategy or institutions are the best explanation for the development of Green parties across Europe. Therefore the essay is divided into two main parts. The first rather small one elaborates in which countries in Western Europe Green parties have played a more or less significant role in the past thirty years and in which countries they haven't. This is rather a descriptive approach answering the question of what is to be analysed in the second part. In this second more analytical part of the paper, the different approaches to explain the emergence of Green parties - value change, party stretegy or institutions - are explored searching for the most convincing one. [...]

This text on the emergence of green parties across Europe, focuses on the political nature of this movement, its roots and branches, the changing political order, and the problems associated with this change.

This book provides an introduction to the green party phenomenon in Western Europe that will enable the student of comparative politics to acquire detailed understanding of the green parties and to compare them meaningfully across countries.

When green parties emerged in the 1980s, not only did they question established ideas about nature and economic growth, they also challenged the 'iron law' of Roberto Michels that all parties inevitably follow a similar path towards informal concentration of power and oligarchy. Grass-roots democracy was both an ideological tenet and an organizational project for practically all green parties. These days the greens have lost their glamour and innocence. They have grown up and even joined governing coalitions in several countries. Did they leave grass-roots democracy by the roadside on the way to power? This book investigates to what extent green parties have remained true to their identity or have been transformed. Country specialists analyze the development of green parties in 14 countries across the world - not only Western Europe but also Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These analyses also offer clues on broader questions about party types and party change in contemporary democracies.

The emergence of green parties throughout Europe during the 1980s marked the arrival of a new form of political movement, challenging established models of party politics and putting new issues on the political agenda. Since their emergence, green parties in Europe have faced different destinies; in countries such as Germany, Belgium, Finland, France, and Italy, they have accumulated electoral successes, participated in governments, implemented policies and established themselves as part of the party system. In other countries, their political relevance remains very limited. After more than 30 years on the political scene, green parties have proven to be more than just a temporary phenomenon. They have lost their newness, faced success and failure, power and opposition, grassroots enthusiasm and internal conflicts. Green Parties in Europe includes individual case studies and a comparative perspective to bring together international specialists engaged in the study of green parties. It renews and expands our knowledge about the green party family in Europe.

The emergence of Green parties throughout Europe during the 1980s marked the arrival of a new form of political movement and a challenge to existing party models. This work presents an in-depth, thematic comparative approach to the analysis of recent Green party development and change, questioning whether the process of party evolution has resulted in the ideological dilution of Green ideals and objectives. With Green parties across Europe experiencing a significant upturn in support in recent years, if we are to gain a clearer picture of the impact Green parties should have in the 21st century we need to understand the issues and themes that have shaped their re-emergence as a more mature political challenge.