Green Parties in Transition: The End of Grass-roots Democracy? - Hardcover

Lucardie, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754674290 ISBN 13: 9780754674290

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

When green parties emerged in the 1980s, not only did they question established ideas about nature and economic growth, they also challenged the 'iron law' of Roberto Michels that all parties inevitably follow a similar path towards informal concentration of power and oligarchy. Grass-roots democracy was both an ideological tenet and an organizational project for practically all green parties. These days the greens have lost their glamour and innocence. They have grown up and even joined governing coalitions in several countries. Did they leave grass-roots democracy by the roadside on the way to power? This book investigates to what extent green parties have remained true to their identity or have been transformed. Country specialists analyze the development of green parties in 14 countries across the world - not only Western Europe but also Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These analyses also offer clues on broader questions about party types and party change in contemporary democracies.

About this title

Review:

'Greens have, in the space of three decades, emerged from the margins of politics to become legislators and sometimes participants in government. This book illuminates the various ways in which Green parties have organised to resolve the tensions between radical democratic principle and the exigencies of practical politics. It is a valuable and timely contribution to the literature.' Christopher Rootes, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK 'Not "just another book" about Green parties! Country chapters on change in these new parties of a few decades ago cohere around a common set of important questions. Together with the truly cross-national analysis of the concluding chapter, they give guidance to future work on Green and other "newer"parties undergoing change. Required reading for students of the Greens and those interested more generally in the topic of party change.' Robert Harmel, Texas A&M University, USA 'At a historical juncture in the development of global environmental politics this excellent collection takes stock of the state of Green Parties. Internationally renowned experts provide detailed analyses of the most successful Green Parties in Europe as well as more marginal family members in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. This book is a most valuable extension to Green Party scholarship.' Ingolfur Bluhdorn, University of Bath, UK 'This book should appeal not only to those interested in green parties but also to those with an interest in party types and organisation... The research design proposed by the authors in the introductory chapter brings coherence to the analysis of the case studies. This enables the reader to make comparisons within the cases. Another asset of the book is the division of the analysis of the parties into parties with governmental experience, with national parliamentary relevance, and with little or no national parliamentary presence.This gives readers the chance to compare between these groups even though making distinctions between the parties belonging to these groups is not always easy.' Political Studies Review

About the Author:

E. Gene Frankland, Ball State University, USA, Paul Lucardie, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands and Benoît Rihoux, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0754674290
• ISBN 13: 9780754674290
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 306
• Editor: Frankland E. Gene