The German Green Party: From a Broad Social Movement to a Volkspartei

Abstract

The history of the German Green Party is one of profound and frequent change. It is also a story of remarkable achievement. Compared to its sister parties in other European countries and beyond, the German Green Party has been the most successful in terms of both elections and government participation. The Greens have been able to pass important pieces of legislation, thus shaping and driving Germany’s relatively progressive environmental, energy and climate policies. Looking back at their history, it is clear just how far the Greens have come. Despite facing profound challenges such as the loss of their political mandate in the first post-unification federal election in 1990, the Greens evolved from a heterogeneous political group into a goal-oriented, professional party capable of forming governments with different political partners at both the regional and federal level.1