Changing Tides The Green Party in 21st Century Germany

The left-right binary as a concept is often too narrow and confined to serve as an explanation for complex political developments and changes. There are too many variables and incremental differences between parties to place them on a spectrum solely based on a one-dimensional left-right understanding. Introducing a more detailed measurement is going to be challenging, to act as a substitute for the reductionist concept of left and right, as it is well rooted in the political discourse. In the case of the Green party in Germany, with the help of sophisticated variables such as the economy, migration politics and security, it is possible to delineate the party during a fixed time span. The analysis of the election programs from the last three national elections in Germany show that the Greens have not seized right-wing values but have toned down their commitment to left ones. There are clear indicators across all three assess variables that demonstrate a move away from the party’s...Show moreThe left-right binary as a concept is often too narrow and confined to serve as an explanation for complex political developments and changes. There are too many variables and incremental differences between parties to place them on a spectrum solely based on a one-dimensional left-right understanding. Introducing a more detailed measurement is going to be challenging, to act as a substitute for the reductionist concept of left and right, as it is well rooted in the political discourse. In the case of the Green party in Germany, with the help of sophisticated variables such as the economy, migration politics and security, it is possible to delineate the party during a fixed time span. The analysis of the election programs from the last three national elections in Germany show that the Greens have not seized right-wing values but have toned down their commitment to left ones. There are clear indicators across all three assess variables that demonstrate a move away from the party’s traditionally socialist stance towards a less nuanced position of the center. Thus, an abandoning process can be detected and analyzed, which infers closer ties to center voters. To learn more about this development of the party, it is necessary to analyze more documents by the Greens like further election programs but also speeches and other statements as well as material about the party by political scientists or the party representatives’ behavior in the Bundestag. However, these endeavors go far beyond the scope of this thesis. Regarding the origins of the discovered shift, it is unclear, if it has occurred due to the initial entrance of the AfD or other major events that influenced the political sphere in Germany like the tragic terror attacks, or if the shift originated from an intrinsic motivation. The change in leadership, from a mixed constellation to solely “Realos” at the helm may indicate a long-term development of the party with a greater emphasis on pragmatism and flexibility than fundamental values. In the aftermath of the breakdown of the “Jamaika” talks, the Greens’ reputation and standing has not deteriorated as much as the FDP’s. Therefore, the trajectory of the Greens is difficult to predict (Spiegel Online 2017). The results of the aforementioned elections for the Green party are non-linear. In 2009 the Greens gained 10.7 percent of all the votes, followed by a drop in the next election with 8.4 percent on a domestic level. In the 2017 election they managed to recover and received 8.9 percent of the total votes (Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg 2017). When comparing the results with the SPD who went from 23 percent in the 2009 election to 25.7 percent in 2013 to 20.5 percent in 2017, the Greens managed to stabilize their party and avoid a further drop (Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg 2017). While comparing the results the observation that the Greens have benefitted from their shift in policies is partially correct. How the party is going to fare when populist parties such as the AfD continue to amass support and influence is a question that does not have to be limited to the Greens but can be asked of all major parties. German politics are experiencing turbulences and it remains to be seen when a more serene course is chosen. Consequently, public speeches delivered with such emotion and conviction, as the aforementioned speech by Cem Özdemir, may not remain an exception.Show less

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Changing Tides The Green Party in 21st Century Germany