Green Parties in Federal Systems: Resistant or Compliant to Centralizing Pressures?

Abstract

Green parties promote decentralization as a functional organizing principle but also a normative goal. This has been most vividly realized through the creation of comparatively devolved party structures. In federations, this can assume a territorial dimension and may lead to the adoption of confederal or federal models of party organization. Surprisingly little work has been undertaken on these arrangements when they have been implemented by green parties. This article explores whether the normative commitment by green parties to decentralized party arrangements is sufficient to preserve the integrity of dispersed party structures. This is done by examining the Australian Greens. We find that there has been gradual growth of the party’s national stratum, even in spite of formal provisions which guarantee the autonomy of the state organizations. It is argued that one of the main agents driving this outcome has been the Greens’ expanding federal parliamentary wing.

Parliamentary Representation: A Cross-national Study of Candidates’ Views

“…We organise expectations in relation to Green parties as they have a long tradition of advocating decentralisation as a policy and organisational principle. They share preference for party structures that are bottom-up, disperse power, and empower individual members (Miragliotta and Jackson 2015). This would imply that Green parties, and their candidates, are more inclined to value the independence of MPs and believe they should act as trustees than candidates belonging to other parties.…”

“…The impact of party family is less predictable in the second stage as all parties have equal incentives to exert some control over the behaviour of their parliamentary party. Although Green party candidates tend to have more independence, there is no evidence that they form particularly close relationships with their constituents (Miragliotta and Jackson 2015). On the other hand, there is some evidence to suggest that right-leaning parties, such as Conservatives or Christian democrats, prefer a constituency focus (Dudzińska et al 2014;von Schoultz and Wass 2016).…”

Lost in the Process? The impact of devolution on abortion law in the United Kingdom

“…In shifting towards a multi-levelled political system the UK has followed a trend occurring across most OECD states, one that has seen increasing regional autonomy and a rise in territorially based minority nationalisms (Keating and McGarry, 2001). Such shifts introduce new arenas of electoral competition across different sub-state regional/national polities, necessitating institutional and strategic adaption by state-wide parties as they address different electorates and confront specific threats from territorial-based regionalist/nationalist parties (Deschouwer, 2003: 216–217; Fabre, 2008, 2010; Miragiotta and Jackson, 2015; Swenden and Maddens, 2009: 550). As both states and parties have undertaken processes of decentralisation, academics and activists have sought to understand how these changes in institutional context both open and contain opportunities for political campaigners to affect policy across increasingly multi-levelled polities.…”