Green Parties and Democracies Flashcards
1
Q
Scarcity and Limits argument of the 1970s
A
- Idea that environmental limits (resource availability; food growing capacities; population growth; pollution; impact of economic activities) will create scarcity that will be the end of the golden age of individualism, liberty, and democracy
- i.e. scarcity will bring the need for severe political control, economic restraint, enforced discipline and the gradual emergence of a bureaucratic police state
2
Q
Paehlke
A
- Arges against the idea that authoritarian and administrative approaches and the ideas that these are the best way to deal with environmental challenges
- Believes we need more rather than less democracy and that educating the population about how to live in difficult times is key
- The decision-making process should be open access with some kind of system for resolving distribution issues and conflicts of interests, expertise are important but not sufficient
- can’t get rid of the unpredictable element of human choice
- Must apply democratic innovation t the international system
3
Q
Ways in which democracy could be applied at the international level
A
- Democracy at grass roots level then send delegates to UN, bypassing the national level
- International referendums
4
Q
Sustainability and the limits of liberalism
A
- Key argument: There are ‘ways of protecting the environment as an object of liberal concern and by improving the democratic element in liberal thought and by revising the so-called Lockean proviso to justify private property
- i.e. need to extend liberal concern to new subjects such as animals, nature and future generations
- Green liberalists propose environmental care based on duties, mutual obligations, and liberal justice
5
Q
Wissenburg and Barry
A
- Liberalism about individual choice and caring for the environment usually seen as interfering with this
- argues that philosophical liberalism is already an ecologically-conscious and environmentally friendly theory so to speak, ‘by-nature’ - it is just that most of its past interpreters failed to recognize liberalism’s green potential or had no reason to do so
- need to rebalance it
- They recommend this is achieved by adopting the theory of distributive justice to the green agenda by including those that have been unjustly excluded from community justice such as parts of nature and future generations
- Obligation to direct descendants and that an impartial decision maker would opt for an environmentally sustainable society, regardless of whom they represent
- restraint principle
6
Q
The Restraint Principle
A
- Rights must be recognized and defended and therefore are conditional and contestable meaning arguments are required to determine justice
- Distinction between ‘use and abuse’ and ‘symbiotic and parasitic relationships
- Conditional rights to (in a physical sense) scare goods [should] be distributed in such a way that they remain, within the limits of necessity, available for redistribution.
7
Q
Green Parties
A
- Homogenous
- Characterised by strong environmental, libertarian and left-wing policy positions, although there is a small group of Green Parties that are centrist on the left/right ideological dimension, this is due to the social movements from which they emerged
- All have similar party names including a variation of green or ecologist
- trnsnational links, origins, social bases, party policy and ideology
- Strongest influence is in countries with proportional representation
- Not solely limited to environmental issues as this would limit their constituency
8
Q
What are the four pillars of Green Parties?
A
- ecological sustainability
- grassroots democracy
- social justice
- non-violence
9
Q
What is the limit above which no green party in the world in polling today? What does this mean?
A
- 20%
- They are not considered major opposition parties
10
Q
Gareth Hughes quote regarding Green Parties
A
-It is not a choice it is just how environmental issues are conceptualized in a green party
11
Q
Carter
A
- Argues that is the environment becomes the subject of party competition we can achieve more environmentally friendly policy measures and better environmental outcomes
- Studies of countries with Green Parties and or parties with environmental policies show them converging more on Kyoto Targets than those without
- Argues that major parties have hovered between dismissive and accommodative strategies with regards to green parties, however, recently there have been cases of adversarial strategies
- Mainstream parties have found it difficult or chose not to integrate environmental concerns into their platforms, but this is perhaps changing, for example in NZ all parties have some kind of policy on most environmental issues
- Uses the 2010 Chapel Hill Expert Survey and the Manifesto Project
12
Q
Trump and the Environment: Rolling back regulations on Coal
A
- > “terrible, job-killing rule” “Wasteful regulations”
- > Argument that previous administrations have hindered America and that we should limit government to allow the market and society to do its thing
- economic competitiveness argument
13
Q
Trump and the Environment: Slams Paris Accord
A
- “Like Hell its non-binding”
- Economic reasoning as it is costing America more than others which is not fair
- More of a reaffirmation than a debate
14
Q
Trump and the Environment: Use of the money that goes to the UN for environmental issues in within the US
A
- “I’ve actually been called an environmentalist”
- “To be a rich nation we must also be a safe nation”
- Very nationalist argument -> realism
- Environmental protection as a luxury for the elite
15
Q
The Green Party of Ireland
A
- Has joint a right-wing coalition government
- Limited and sporadic success
- Unlike most Green Paries strongly associated with a Christian Chruch
