1. The Politics of Protest [week 15] Green parties

4. SOURCE: guardian.co.uk

6. Green shoots (tee hee hee): three subcultures come together 1.Anti-establishment left-ism of 1960s 2.Alternative subcultures of 1970s generation 3.Distaste for environmental activist tactics

7. Participatory democracy – some green party characteristics Distaste for ‘majority votes’ Consensus politics Decentralisation Subsidiarity Reluctance to appoint leaders Gender equality Internal referenda

8. Elected representatives - Fixed term limits and ‘rotation’ - An effort to: - minimise aloof professionalism - give maximum number of members chance to learn the game of politics - improve communication between members and representatives

9. Problems with participatory democracy Two key problems with green parties: -1. only so many individuals willing to become representatives - 2. representatives forced to step down just as they were getting the hang of it

10. The drawbacks of structure and organisation issues 1.National decision-making bodies met only occasionally 2.National councils had few effective decision-making capabilities 3.Names of parties often gave away these trends

11. Some names of green parties Green Alliance (Ireland) Ecological Confederation (France) National Federation of Green Lists (Italy) Federation of Ecological and Alternative Organisations (Greece)

12. The drawbacks of structure and organisation issues (cont.) 4. Division between local organisations and national executives 5. The problem of incorporating ‘the next generation’

13. SOURCE: europa.eu

14. Notable Green Parties in Europe Germany – Alliance 90/The Greens Finland – The Green League Netherlands – The Greens and GreenLeft Ireland – The Green Party Poland – Greens 2004 Austria – The Greens/Green Alternative Hungary – Politics Can Be Different Sweden – Green Party Green Party of England and Wales The European Green Party

15. CONCLUSIONS 1.Background of social movements 2.Coalition politics 3.The European dimension 4.Many strands of protest 5.The ultimate unifying issue?