Green Party

GREEN PARTIES WERE formed as a result of growing concern in the 1970s for the ecological sustainability of the planet and quality of life. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, many countries formed green parties, and several preexisting parties renamed themselves as such (e.g., Ecology Party in Britain and the Values Party in New Zealand). The nuclear accident at Chernobyl (then part of the Soviet Union) in 1986 gave rise to increased environmental activism and helped many green parties gain election success in the late 1980s. However, during the 1990s, green parties in Europe experienced a significant decline. Part of the problem for the green parties is that they have attracted a wide range of ideological viewpoints, resulting in significant internal divisions that become particularly visible ...