Going Green in Asia? Green parties in a non-western setting

ABSTRACT

Green parties, first established in the early 1970s, have now become established political actors in most western European countries, and indeed most western nations. In other parts of the globe, however, they have generally been far less successful, not the least in the Asia Pacific region. In part this can be seen as an outcome of unfavourable electoral conditions in many countries in the region, but can also be linked to western notions of Green politics embedded in post-materialism, as well as country-specific issues of clientalism, electoral violence or electoral manipulation. While Green parties in both Australia and New Zealand are well established participants in parliaments and government, by contrast the number and level of success of Green parties in Asia is both small and weak. This article will explore the range of the possible explanations for the non-success of Green parties in this rapidly democratizing region, and consider potential rationales for party failure.

KEYWORDS:

• Green Parties
• Party Organization
• Asia Pacific
• Electoral Studies
• Electoral Failure
• Democracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The six values are: Social Justice, Sustainability, Non-violence, Participatory Democracy, Respect for Diversity, and Ecological Wisdom (APGF, nd).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Greens International Development Committee [Pacific Parties Research Project/2016].

Notes on contributors

Stewart Jackson

Stewart Jackson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He researches green parties and movements, and is currently engaged in studying the youth climate movement in Australia.