European Green Movements

The European green movements are the individual diverse movements and struggles that emerged in the post-World War II period through explicitly politicizing aspects of the environment. These movements have taken markedly different forms in different places and times and have been organized around multiple grievances. One of the striking aspects of the green movements is their political heterogeneity, and many green activists have explicitly disrupted notions of left and right. Members of the German Green Party (Die Grünen) famously entered the Bundestag in 1983 with the slogan “Neither left nor right—but straight ahead.” The European green movement has made important interventions in the style of doing politics and what counts as politics. It comprises a diverse set of organizational and political forms including direct action, ...