When Green parties emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, their political project included a strong commitment to a new type of internal party organization, giving power to the ‘grass roots’. With Green ...parties having become well established in most West European party systems, has the vision of ‘grass-roots democracy’ survived the party foundation stage? What drives the ongoing or waning commitment to grass-roots democracy? Analysing party membership survey data from 15 parties collected in the early 2000s when many Green parties had for the first time become involved in national government, we find that it is the social movement oriented, pacifist, left-wing membership that is most committed to grass-roots democracy. It is the current involvement in social movements rather than past activity that is most important. Support for grass-roots democracy is also stronger in ‘Latin Europe’ and Greece but weaker in parties which have become established in parliament and government.
The widespread opposition to unprecedented austerity measures in Greece provides a unique opportunity to study the causes of mass protest. This article reports the results of a survey of the adult ...population in which two-thirds of the respondents supported protest and 29 per cent reported actual involvement in strikes and/or demonstrations during 2010. Relative deprivation is a significant predictor of potential protest, but does not play any role in terms of who takes part in strikes or demonstrations. Previous protest participation emerges as a key predictor of actual protest. This study seeks to place these results within a comparative context, contrasting Greece with other countries facing similar challenges, and discusses the implications for the future of austerity politics.
The apparent ubiquity of protest in recent years and the rise of Occupy movements across the world have fuelled claims that a new style of mobilisation is emerging which is markedly different from ...previous social movements. Analysing a series of original survey data, this article engages with this debate by providing a panoramic account of how the anti-austerity movement evolved in Greece, comparing the drivers of protest in three distinct protest waves. Contrary to expectations, the rise of the Greek version of the Indignados during 2011 did not decisively transform the anti-austerity movement that emerged in 2010, which mainly displayed characteristics typically associated with ‘old’ social movements. However, elements of the ‘new social movements’ approach featured more prominently in the third wave of protest, beginning in mid-2012 and culminating in January 2015 with victory for SYRIZA, the party which channelled the anti-austerity movement into the political scene. The model developed to study protest in non-electoral arenas also performs well to explain the success of SYRIZA in the electoral arena, highlighting the reciprocal but understudied relationship between mobilisation and electoral politics.
Green parties were particularly successful in the May 2019 elections to the European Parliament (EP). Fifty-five Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing the European Green Party (EGP) ...were elected, a major advance on the 37 elected in 2014 and surpassing the previous high of 47 in 2009. This success helped to boost The Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) parliamentary group to 75, from 50 in 2014. With the main centre-left and centre-right groups together failing to command a majority in the Parliament for the first time, the Greens have reason to expect that their influence will increase substantially. Many Green parties will also hope that success in the European elections will have a positive effect on their standing at national level.
On 24 September 2017, the German Greens achieved their second highest share of the vote (8.9%) in a federal election but emerged the smallest opposition party in the Bundestag (67 or 709 seats). ...After coalition negotiations with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Liberals (FDP) failed, the Greens continue in opposition. But, with a new, energetic leadership team elected in January 2018 and a continued strong presence in government at regional level, the place of the Greens in the Germany party system looked secure.
Recently, the issue of harassment and intimidation of women in politics in long-established democracies has become a source of concern. Current research emphasizes that while women may be more ...frequently attacked, not all incidents of abuse against women in politics are of a gendered nature. This finding prompts further questions such as are women more frequently targeted because they are women and does such targeting inhibit women from fully participating in political campaigning? Using data from the Representative Audit of Britain's survey of candidates contesting the 2019 General Election, this study shows that harassment has a negative electoral effect for women, even while controlling for the visibility of the candidate. This article argues that the harassment of women candidates in the UK is gendered, both in its motives and outcomes as it forces women to modify their campaign activities in ways that diminish their chances of gaining office. Our findings contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of violence towards women in politics and gendered political violence.
Little attention has been paid to the process of members leaving parties in order to support other parties. Party developments in the UK in the 2010s provide an opportunity to analyse the ...determinants of members giving up their current party and joining a rival. We examine this issue using an original panel survey of 2,679 members of the Green Party of England and Wales. Our results show that members who joined the Greens motivated by concern about social justice are more likely to leave and support Labour after Jeremy Corbyn’s election as party leader. Members who joined to protect the environment are less likely to leave. Niche parties can attract members predominantly motivated by issues traditionally represented by a mainstream party but these members are more likely to leave the party again following a position change by the mainstream party.
Can governments that introduce extreme austerity measures survive elections? Contrary to economic voting expectations, the PASOK government in Greece initially appeared to cope quite well, claiming ...victory in regional elections in 2010 despite widespread anti-austerity protests. In this article, we interpret this result with the help of a post-election survey, which also covered future voting intentions. The explanatory power of models based on theories of economic voting and blame attribution as well as the electoral impact of the government's representation of the crisis as an existential threat are assessed. Our analysis challenges the interpretation of the 2010 election as an indication of support for PASOK's austerity policies and reveals weaknesses in its support base, which help contextualise its downfall in the 2012 parliamentary elections. The article also underlines the importance of studying the impact of crisis discourses on voting choice, particularly since blame attribution receives little support in this case.
This article explores the role gender plays in the harassment, abuse and intimidation (HAI) of parliamentary candidates in the UK at election time. Using data from the Representative Audit of Britain ...surveys (2015–2019) this article takes an intersectional approach to investigate whether trends identified in 2017 suggesting that women candidates reported more incidences of HAI and were more likely to be concerned for their personal safety as a result than men, remain apparent in the subsequent election. Results suggest that HAI is getting worse for candidates in general, and the gender gap is widening. About three in every four women experienced some levels of fear while campaigning.
Previous empirical social science research on Covid-19 has mainly focused on predicting compliance with behavioural instructions in terms of demographics and socioeconomic determinants. In terms of ...political variables, trust in government and left-right political orientation has been a major focus of research. One aspect that so far appears to have been ignored is the attitudes of political elites and how they compare with the attitudes of those they represent. Based on a survey of local councillors and members of the public in England in the early phase of the lockdown, we can show that the UK government lockdown measures enjoyed overwhelming support among local elites as well as the general public. However, we can also find sources of lack of support and consensus even at this early stage: While younger and male members of the public, as well as members of the LGBT community, were less enthusiastic about the lockdown, opposition among the public is mainly based on "populist" attitudes that became prominent in the Brexit debate such as evaluations of immigration and scepticism about climate change. These sources of dissent could be expected to become more prominent as the pandemic unravels.
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