Green parties: the rise of a new politics?

Abstract

Key issues ◗ What is the ‘new politics’? ◗ How can the emergence of green parties be explained? ◗ Who are the green voters? ◗ Why do people vote green? ◗ What factors explain variations in the electoral success of green parties? Green parties have become a familiar feature of the political landscape, particularly in Europe. The first green parties were formed in Tasmania and New Zealand in 1972, and the Swiss elected the first green to a national assembly in 1979. By the late 1990s, green parties were sufficiently established to have joined national coalition governments in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany and Italy, to have deputies in several other national parliaments, and to be represented in sub-national chambers in many countries. In 2004, thirty-four Green MEPs from eleven countries were elected to the European Parliament. Several individual Green politicians have held high office, notably Joschka Fischer as German Foreign Minister and Michele Schreyer as the first Green European Commissioner between 1999 and 2004. The Greens have clearly arrived, and their message seems to have sufficient coherence and resonance to exert an electoral appeal that transcends national borders. How do we account for the rise of green parties? Do they simply reflect a specific public concern about the state of the environment, or are they part of a general shift towards a postmaterialist ‘new politics’? To whom does the green message appeal? Why have green parties performed better in some countries than in others? Can green parties extend their appeal beyond a handful of rich industrialised nations?