Members and Activists: Green Parties Compared

Abstract

The panel seeks to attract empirical contributions to the study of green parties with particular reference to party members and activists. Preference will be given to papers with a cross-national comparative approach. We still know relatively little about the character of green parties across Europe. Comparative work has been mainly descriptive, and there has been relatively little cross-national comparison based on empirical data on voters, members and activists. Apart from exploring differences that are deeply rooted in historical-institutional conditions, cross-national analyses could also try to account for the impact of different development stages green parties have reached: some green parties remain on the margins of politics, others have reached the pinnacles of power in national government. Of particular interest is here the role of party members. While their role in most established parties is increasingly seen as marginal, Greens have traditionally granted their party members a particularly high profile. With the concept of 'grassroots democracy' as a central plank of the green project, it will be interesting to see how much of a role green party members and activists have in the professional green parties of the 21st century vying for a role in government. Do we still have essentially one type of green party with a distinctive 'green' identity, or does the divergence of green political fortunes produce a split into 'old' and 'new' greens with radically different views on policy and internal structure? Empirical studies of the social and political background, attitudes and values of green party members and activists should allow us to address these and other issues.

Title	Details
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