Green Parties

Green and alternative movements first emerged in several Western European countries in the 1970s accompanied by a more general generational change toward postmaterialist values. They were mostly concerned with environmental issues, such as the antinuclear movement, but also with peace and women's issues. Since then, the electoral as well as the parliamentary performance of green parties has improved remarkably in many democratic societies (mostly, however, in European countries). Thus, green parties were not just a temporary phenomenon—as many political observers had suggested in the early 1980s—but have developed into a stable element of many party systems around the world. In 2001, the green parties created a “global network” that consists of 61 member parties:

Most green parties outside Europe developed later, in the mid- or late 1990s, and have remained relatively minor players in terms of electoral success. Consequently, comparative research and scholarly debates focus mainly on Western European green parties. The central scholarly contributions revolve around four topics: (1) the rise and development of the Greens in Europe (Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, 1989; Michael O'Neill, 1997; Dick Richardson & Chris Rootes, 1995), (2) their political profile (Kitschelt, 1989; Rihoux, 2001), (3) their electoral and parliamentary performance (Pascal Delwit & Jean M. de Waele, 1999), and (4) their participation in national governments (Ferdinand Müller-Rommel & Thomas Poguntke, 2002).

This entry documents the rise of green parties and describes their political profile, performance, and participation in national governments. Last, this entry discusses the impact of green parties, both as a voice for those whose views are not represented by established parties and as a way of bringing attention to issues these parties have not addressed.