GREEN PARTIES: THEIR ROLES AND FUTURES
The global environmental movement has, to a great extent, matured in the world's developed economies, although many of the objectives of the environmental movement remain unfulfilled. An outgrowth of the global environmental movement, Green political parties, remains a relatively recent phenomenon. This research examines the Green parties in five developed economies with a view toward identifying the roles of these political organizations, as well as their future prospects. The countries whose Green parties are examined are Belgium, France, Germany,, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The ecology parties in Belgium learned that the realities of interest group politics in a parliamentary democracy militates against the tendency of new social movements to introduce dramatic changes in a political system.1 To make any headway at within a system of parliamentary democracy, the Belgian green parties have had to sacrifice some ideology to gain effectiveness, Thus, the functioning of these parties (Agalev in Flanders and Ecolo in Wallonia) has been characterized to some extent by compromise. This tendency to compromise was illustrated by the decision of Ecolo to drop demands for steep ecotaxes that would be applied to all single-use consumer goods.2 The Ecolo Party has not dropped the goal of taxing single-use consumer goods, but has adopted a new strategy calling for a gradual imposition of such ecotaxes. The gradual imposition of such taxes is being asked in return for support by Ecolo of a movement to revise the federal structure of Belgium. The chemical industry in Belgium strongly opposes ecotaxes.
Neither Ecolo nor Agalev (or even a combination of the two parties) is ever likely to form a government in Belgium. The green parties, however, will continue to grow in prominence and influence.
Environmentalism in France is widely perceived to be controlled by the French L...