The greening of party politics in western Europe: Environmentalism, economics, and partisan orientations in four nations
This research is guided by two overarching questions. First, why do publics in West European nations support environmental organizations And second, what is the effect of environmental group support on economically based partisan orientations In order to address these questions, we analyze public opinion surveys (1982-1986) in Germany, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The findings suggest that European publics give considerable support to environmental organizations in these four nations. The two factors which are particularly strongly related to environmental group support are post material value priorities and the perception of national pollutions problems. Moreover, environmentalism is integrated into a well structured schema which guides the evaluation of environmentally related information. Considerable variations across national emerge in regard to the link between citizens' partisanship and environmental group support. In Germany and the Netherlands, environmentalism provides the basis for new partisan cleavage- Individuals who evaluate environmental groups favorably are much more likely to support New left or Old left parties. In contrast to these two nations, citizens' partisanship in France and Great Britain is dominated by economic policy positions; environmental group support is only weakly linked to individuals' partisan choice. These findings suggest that environmentalism will be an important influence on European public opinion and party systems in the foreseeable future.
- Research Organization:
- Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6908248
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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