The Popularity of Green Parties

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The Popularity of Green Parties

Today in Europe, the abundance of environmental issues in the

forefront of popular debate is at an all time high, and rightly so,

more stress is being placed on resolving these issues before it is too

late. Now more than ever, the people of Europe are standing up and

taking responsibility for their problems and looking for ways to solve

them before the damage done becomes irreversible. It would be logical

therefore to presume that due to this increasing importance of

environmental issues in Europe that the Green Parties in Europe should

prosper greatly. However in reality the success of the Green Parties

in Europe has been severely hindered. Although it can be said that the

Green Parties have experienced greater success in Europe as a result

of the increasing importance of environmental issues, the extent to

which they have been successful cannot be said to be at a proportional

level to the severity of the situation. At a time when it could have

been assumed that the Green Parties in Europe would be major players

in national politics, one can still observe a large vote-gap between

the Green Parties, and the major established political parties.

Throughout this essay, I will analyse the main reasons for the

relative lack of success of the Green Parties in Europe, I will be

looking at three of the most influential states in particular, France,

Germany and Italy, and exploring the many reasons why the Green

Parties do not have the levels of representation that it would at

first glance seem that the deserve. I will be examining the relative

political and electoral structures of the three states, the effect...

... middle of paper ...

...tional, and thus minor

parties find that they are under-represented. Public opinion also

plays a vital role in determining the success of the Greens. Currently

in Europe there is environmental concern, but this concern is not yet

turning itself into a constant problem which needs a solution.

There are also various problems that the Green Party encounters. The

established parties adopting their environmental policies means that

the Green Party becomes superfluous to the needs of the country, as

there is an established party, who is more likely to be able to

influence the entire system.

However it would be incorrect to say that the Green Party has not

experienced any success as a result of the increasing importance of

environmental issues, its performance at the 2004 European parliament

election proves otherwise.

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