Can environmentalism and nationalism be reconciled? The Plaid Cymru/Green Party alliance, 1991–95

Abstract

This article develops previous theoretical and empirical connections made between the discourses of nationalism and environmentalism. It commences with a literature review of previous work that has sought to draw attention to the potential compatibility, or otherwise, between the political forces of environmentalism and nationalism. Drawing on qualitative and original primary evidence, the rise and decline of the Plaid Cymru/Green Party alliance of 1991–95 is charted—an episode that says much about the uneasy relationship between nationalism and environmentalism. The election of Cynog Dafis as MP for Ceredigion and Pembroke North was a historic event both for Welsh nationalism and the Green Party. However, the subsequent, acrimonious break-up of the coalition suggests that relationships between environmentalism and nationalism shall remain a situationally contingent phenomenon.