Introduction
The green parties are formally organized political parties that are based on the principals of the green politics. Such parties are associated with the principles of social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence and the environmentalism. They strongly believe that the issues stated above are interrelated as a founder for the world peace. They typically embrace the principles of social democratic economic policies and forming coalitions with the leftists. The green parties emerged in the middle of the 90th century. This paper shall critically and coherently discuss what led to the emergence of the green parties in Germany. The paper shall also discuss the reasons why the green parties have persisted in Germany.
How green parties became political parties was determined by the structures of the different political systems by political circumstances. It is prudent to note that the research concerning the origin of the German green party highlights a variety of rather different groups and movements that played a role in the process that led to the formation of the green parties.
The green party was founded in the year 1980 in the German city of Karlsruhe. The party was considered as being an alternative to the established bourgeois parties. It was regarded as a party that would pioneer a new society. The green parties came because of the revolt that took place in the year 1968 against the malaise of the educational system, the Vietnam War and for the above all the oppressive atmosphere that existed during that time. As a result of revolt, different people formed their respective parties.
However, the greens main factor was the struggle against the capitalist class who oppressed the low class. They wanted to fight the prejudice of the upper class. They complained that the upper class was an apathetic mass, which was susceptible to backward ideologies and which was fully integrated into the system by consumerism. The greens wanted to completely change the society, to make it a better place where each and every individual has an equal opportunity. They changed the society through practicing environmental protection, pacifism rejuvenation of democracy that had been brought by bourgeois.
Another important development of the green parties can be attributed to the political context of the year 1970s. Of great significance were phenomena such as the detention policy of the governing social-liberal coalition government, their policy of democracy and social reforms. Of particular importance was their failure to reform the abortion law and the berufsverbote law that actually deterred the people associated with radical political groupings from getting government employment positions before the formation of the green party, Germany was hit by economic recession as a result of the global energy crisis. It was the first worst event in the history of Germany a few years after it had experience economic miracle.
The first Bundestag was elected in the year 1949. He resembled the last Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in its composition. However, the system led to the formation of a two and a half party system which was made up of two large parties. These parties are the CDU/CSU (The Christian democrats and the Christian socialists. Another party was SPD (social democrats). In 1950s, smaller parties were absorbed by the bigger parties while the radical right and the left parties such as SRP and KPD were outlawed by the Supreme Court in the year 1953-1956.
The dominance of the two major parties in Germany led to the formation of a first grand coalition in the year 1966. The formation of the grand coalition government and its effort to pass the Notstandsverfassung legislation which could grant it extra powers to crack down on political groups it considered extremist led to the rapid growth of the parliamentary opposition which was supported by trade unions, student movements and the new left sympathetic liberals. The passing of the Notstandsverfassung saw the extra parliamentary opposition dissolved in 1968. However, the election victories by the social democrats in the year 1969 and 1972 led to reformation of the Notstandsverfassung legislation. Their victories marked the emergence of other new extra-parliamentary movements. For instance, movements such as the citizen’s initiatives, women’s’ movement and the alternative movement came into play
Even though the federal republic had been reduced to a two-and-a-half party system, it is important to note that the German political system, its federal structure and its generous party founding system provided conducive environment for the emergence of new party which was capable of mobilizing more than 5% of the electorate. Only the Greens party managed to reach the threshold and extended the party system before German unification.
The green party rise then rose after all the events listed above, research show that it’s rise was caused at least partly by the marginalization of the internal critics of the nuclear policy especially Herbert Gruhi in the CDU and Erhard Eppler in SPD. Gruhi quit the CDU in 1978 after having been threatened with expulsion by Lower Saxony’s CDU state chairman Wilfred Hasselmann. Hasselmann stated that GDP growth was the supreme goal of the CDU and that environmental concerns should not with their priority.
The Greens were environmentalist; they emphasized the need for environmental protection since they believe that protection of the environment was a prerequisite to sustainable development and could also lead to societal well being. After the energy crisis, the SPD led by Helmut Schmidt decided to continue with the social-liberal reformist program only where it did not involve extra costs and put all its energy into protecting and creating employment.
The persistence of the green parties in Germany can be attributed to its change in the socio-economic composition of its electorate. Research shows that in the year 1980 the party frequently won support especially from those with 20% income. However, today about 20% of its core voters are those with very high income.
Reliance on the SPD has greatly helped to fuel the party success. It is prudent to note that despite the maturation of the greens party, they have continuously relied on the SPD especially when it comes to wielding actual political powers. This is because, the SPD have fared greatly well in elections in the past years.
The persistent of the greens can also be attributed to their crucial role in the anti nuclear power movement this gave them a great support and recognition across the country and enabled them to get more followers. This made people to shift their perception about the party as little more than a group of young radicals unfit for leadership to an image of far-left left party today. The greens have moved towards the center of German society and politics. They have become one of the successful parties in Germany because they have been mainstreamed. That is, they have moved to the middle of the political spectrum and created an impression of being reasonable and normal.
The green party emphasized the need to develop modern methods of production. The Greens Main concern was to develop modern methods of production. The main reason for the modern production was to overcome the obvious social problems by returning to the older forms of production. This made the green party to gather significant followers. The green party struggled to turn away from the national and international division of labor to consumer-oriented production for the local and the regional economic markets. Their entourage into state parliament by the year 1980, they were elected for the first time in the year 1983. This further boosted their support and persistence as a party.
The development and the persistence of the party are solely determined by its social being as opposed to the utopian ideas that the founding members hold. Their coalition with SPD has seen them persist to exist in the world of politics in Germany. In the coalition, they have been able to implement the most extensive programs of social cuts in the history of the federal government.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the green Party in Germany plaid a major role in the development process since it advocated for sustainable development. They advocated for social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence and the environmentalism. The greens main agenda was to completely change the society, to make it a better place where each and every individual has an equal opportunity. They changed the society through practicing environmental protection, pacifism, rejuvenation of democracy that had been brought by bourgeois. It is also important to note that the ills that had been brought by the capitalist society could only be fought by a younger generation such as the Greens. The Greens played a major role in the alleviation of the poor from the bondage of capitalism. They tirelessly fought against capitalism.
