Presented by: Muhammad Usman Arif
CSS 2020, 18th Position in Pakistan (PAS group)
Read Right Institute
▪ Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an
ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism,
nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy
▪ Green parties—once seen as radical outsiders—have increasingly claimed a place
in mainstream politics, especially in Europe
▪ According to the Global Greens network, there are close to eighty full-fledged
green parties.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Green politics draws its ethical stance from a variety of sources, from the values
of indigenous peoples, to the ethics of Mahatma Gandhi, Baruch Spinoza and Jakob
von Uexküll.
▪ These people influenced green thought in their advocacy of long-term seventh
generation foresight, and on the personal responsibility of every individual to
make moral choices.
▪ Philosophical Basis: The philosophical roots of environmentalism can be traced
back to enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau in France and, later, the author
and naturalist Thoreau in America.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ "Green politics" first began as conservation and preservation movements, such as
the Sierra Club, founded in San Francisco in 1892.
▪ In 1970s, many political parties having their basis in environmental issues were
formed. E.g:
▪ A Dutch group called Kabouters,
▪ United Tasmania Group, founded in Australia in March 1972 to fight against deforestation
and the creation of a dam that would damage Lake Pedder;
▪ The German Greens,
▪ The term "Green" was coined by one of the founders of the German Green Party, Petra
Kelly,
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ According to Derek Wall, a prominent British green proponent, there are four
pillars that define green politics
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ In 1984, the Green Committees of
Correspondence in the United
States expanded the Four Pillars
into Ten Key Values
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Green economics focuses on the importance of the health of the biosphere to
human well-being.
▪ most Greens distrust conventional capitalism, as it tends to emphasize economic
growth while ignoring ecological health; the "full cost" of economic growth often
includes damage to the biosphere, which is unacceptable according to green
politics.
▪ According to green economics, the present generation should not borrow from
future generations, but rather attempt to achieve what Tim Jackson (British
ecological economist) calls "prosperity without growth".
▪ Therefore, adherents to green politics advocate economic policies designed to
safeguard the environment.
▪ Greens want governments to stop subsidizing companies that waste resources or
pollute the natural world, subsidies that Greens refer to as "dirty subsidies".
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Greens look to a green tax shift that are seen to encourage both producers and
consumers to make ecologically friendly choices.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Anti-globalist: According to many left-wing greens, economic globalization is
considered a threat to well-being, which will replace natural environments and
local cultures with a single trade economy, termed the global economic
monoculture.
▪ green liberals: support a regulated free market economy with additional
measures to advance sustainable development.
▪ Eco-socialists: who merge ecology and environmentalism with socialism and
Marxism and blame the capitalist system for environmental degradation, social
injustice, inequality and conflict
▪ Eco-capitalists: on the other hand, believe that the free market system, with some
modification, is capable of addressing ecological problems. This belief is
documented in the business experiences of eco-capitalists in the book, The Gort
Cloud that describes the gort cloud as the green community that supports ecofriendly businesses.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ green politics has emphasized local, grassroots-level political activity and
decision-making.
▪ Green politics also encourages political action on the individual level, such as
ethical consumerism, or buying things that are made according to
environmentally ethical standards.
▪ many greens believe that governments should
▪ Some Greens advocate new ways of organizing authority to increase local control,
including urban secession, bioregional democracy, and co-operative/local
stakeholder ownership.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Green ideology emphasizes participatory democracy and the principle of
"thinking globally, acting locally." As such, the ideal Green Party is thought to grow
from the bottom up, from neighborhood to municipal to (eco-)regional to national
levels. The goal is to rule by a consensus decision making process.
▪ Strong local coalitions are considered a prerequisite to higher-level electoral
breakthroughs.
▪ Historically, the growth of Green parties has been sparked by a single issue where
Greens can appeal to ordinary citizens' concerns
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ The first Planetary Meeting of Greens was held 30–31 May 1992, in Rio de Janeiro,
immediately preceding the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development held there.
▪ The first formal Global Greens Gathering took place in Canberra, in 2001, with
more than 800 Greens from 72 countries in attendance.
▪ Global Green meetings
▪ one took place on the fringe of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg. Green Parties attended from Australia, Taiwan, Korea, South Africa,
Mauritius, Uganda, Cameroon, Republic of Cyprus, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany,
Finland, Sweden, Norway, the US, Mexico and Chile.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Similarities:
▪ Persuaded to leave things the way they are-prefer adaptation and conservation
▪ Skeptical of the traditional emphasis on the human capacity to comprehend a 'complex,
interconnected world'
▪ Differences:
▪ Conservatism does not talk about limits to growth-free market
▪ Conservatives are cautious, while radical Greens 'emphasise radical social and economic
change, as well as the interminable plans of a new society'
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Similarities:
▪ Supports unified resolutions to environmental challenges
▪ As Hay (1988) points out, 'use of biological metaphors, stress on organic community and
the individual's need to merge with it, elevation of ritual, intuition and the mystical, and
distrust of the ration' are all elements that can be found in both Green writing and fascist
ideology (Garner, 2011, p. 55)
▪ Ex: Greens proposing strict restrictions of consumption
▪ Differences:
▪ Extreme nationalism
▪ Rule by terror
▪ Lack of individual freedom
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
Similarities:
▪ Inclusion of non-humans within the ethical community-entitled to moral consideration
Differences:
▪ Market freedom
▪ Limited government
▪ Liberal individualism
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Similarities
▪ Marxism and socialism offer the kind of state or community intervention and regulation
which most Greens think is necessary to deal with environmental problems.
▪ Differences:
▪ Marxism is inconsistent with Green thinking, since it is 'ultimately wedded to the same
expansionary ethos and anthropocentric framework as liberalism’
▪ Orientation towards growth
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ In the wake of our current environmental crisis we firmly believe it is Green Parties
who are best placed to address the social and ecological crises we face today.
▪ The distinction between the two goes back to the distinction that is drawn between
“environmentalism” and “ecologism”.
▪ The former relates to working within dominant paradigms to address the symptoms of
environmental damage.
▪ Ecologism, on the other hand, addresses the root causes of environmental destruction in today’s
economic and political system
▪ As Andrew Dobson put it in Green Political Theory, a single-issue environmental
campaign “treats symptoms”, while green politics proper “deals with causes.”
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Greece on fire. California is in drought. London tube stations flooded, New York
and Zhengzhou too. Floods killing thousands in Niger. Extreme heat in Algeria.
▪ Green politics at play:
▪ Look to Scotland where an ambitious climate deal has been secured, because of a
successful Scottish Green Party now on the cusp of going into government. Sweden ranks
atop the Climate Change Performance Index, and has had Greens in government for
years. And in New Zealand it is the Greens who have pushed Jacinda Ardern into more
ambitious targets. There is a clear correlation between climate action and successful
Greens.
▪ Green Says:
▪ In the wake of our current environmental crisis we firmly believe it is Green Parties who are best placed to
address the social and ecological crises we face today.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Some observers say the health of democratic systems around the world is on the
decline
▪ For CFR Senior Fellow Yascha Mounk, rising populism is fueled by declining living
standards and dysfunctional institutions. Meanwhile, some data suggests that the
economic and social turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic—and the perception of
bumbling responses in leading democracies—has further undermined public faith
in authorities.
▪ In Europe, mainstream parties have been losing support for years. Experts say a
succession of shocks—including the global economic crisis that began in 2008, a
spate of high-profile terrorist attacks, and a wave of migration from the Middle East
and North Africa beginning in 2015—stoked voters’ defections from centrist parties
to alternatives on the left and right.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
The burning issues of the world:
▪ the most pressing global issues of the day, from inequalities and increasing conflict to climate change
and biodiversity loss.
▪ Global North owes a huge debt to the Global South, who are facing some of the harshest climate and
ecological consequences
Green Solutions:
▪ Green transport policy includes measures to reduce private car use and increase funding for public
transport.
▪ This impacts on health policy, with a reduction in exhaust pollution that contributes to thousands of
deaths a year and less traffic noise that affects stress and sleep quality, as well as a safer road
environment leading to more people cycling and walking.
▪ This, in turn, means more people getting regular exercise, and so becoming less likely to be overweight
and depressed, leading to a reduction in numerous associated healthcare problems, which will mean
less stress on the NHS.
▪ A reduction in private car use also reduces carbon emissions, tackling the major concern of climate
change, and offering further positive spin-offs like helping to wean the world off fossil fuels.
▪ It's a typical Green win-win situation where changes to dramatically cut emissions also materially
benefit the quality of life for the majority of people.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ By 2021, with mainstream parties continuing to lose popularity and climate change
rising as a voter concern, green parties were in national governments in Austria,
Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
▪ Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Greens have had mixed results in UK
Commonwealth countries. In New Zealand, home to what many consider the
world’s first major green party, greens have won between 5 and 11 percent of the
national vote since 1999, and in 2017, they entered the government for the first
time. Australian greens have never had more than one seat in the lower house of
parliament, which chooses the prime minister. Canada’s greens first entered
Parliament in 2011 with one seat, which increased to three after the 2019 elections.
▪ In USA, As of 2020, greens held 117 state and local elected offices nationwide, and
they were early proponents of a Green New Deal, which became popular among
Democrats. The proposal is partially incorporated in President Joe Biden’s plans for
carbon-reducing infrastructure, agriculture, and energy policies.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Latin America. Greens have entered legislatures or controlled significant local
government positions in several countries. These include Mexico’s Ecologist Green
Party (PVE), which in the past decade has won as many as 47 seats (out of 500) in
the country’s lower house and 9 seats (out of 128) in the Senate.
▪ Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Green politics have achieved less of a foothold
elsewhere in the world. Africa has seen a range of environmental activism,
including the Green Belt Movement led by Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Wangari Maathai, but few electoral gains.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Energy policy. Despite long-standing opposition to nuclear power, some greens—
most notably in Finland—are reconsidering that stance in light of the urgent need
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
▪ Role of technology, globalization, and economic growth. Mirroring earlier debates
between activists and pragmatists, some greens maintain more radical critiques of
endless economic growth, consumerism based on energy-intensive trade and
supply chains, and technological approaches to climate change. They call for
“degrowth,” or a sharp reduction in both production and consumption down to
what they consider sustainable levels. Others instead call for “green growth,” and
are open to technological solutions such as carbon capture and geoengineering.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Commitment to nonviolence. Green parties emphasize disarmament and
nonviolent conflict resolution, if not total pacifism, a stance that has been tested by
their involvement in government policy. Germany’s greens have backed various
military interventions and their current platform strongly supports NATO.
▪ Role of the European Union. Most European green parties are pro-EU, but that
hasn’t always been the case, given the strains of localism and decentralization in
their philosophy. Sweden’s greens campaigned against the country’s entry into the
EU, and in 2008 the original Danish green party was expelled from the broader
European green confederation over its euroskepticism.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Right-wing environmentalism. There is a small but persistent right-wing brand of
green politics that pairs environmental protection with nationalism, skepticism
about government, and dissension from left-wing approaches to immigration,
secularism, and social liberalism. These groups have largely been ostracized by
mainstream green organizations, seen most recently with the Latvian Green Party.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Green new deals around the globe.
▪ Green new deal of UK
▪ What is the Green New Deal? - Green New Deal UK
▪ Radical new climate change commitments will set the UK on course to cut carbon emissions by 78%
by 2035, the UK government has announced.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
Green new deal of USA
▪ The goals of the Green New Deal involve:
• Emissions: cutting net greenhouse gas emissions to zero over ten years.
• Manufacturing: spurring “massive growth in clean manufacturing.”
• Power use: meeting all U.S. power demand “through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy
sources.”
• Agriculture: sharply reducing emissions and other pollution from agriculture.
• Infrastructure: upgrading infrastructure, including transportation and housing, and ensuring all
infrastructure bills considered by Congress address climate change.
• Jobs: guaranteeing a job with a “family-sustaining wage” for everyone.
• Welfare and social justice: providing everyone in the United States with high-quality health care,
affordable housing, economic security, clean water, clean air, and healthy food, while addressing
systemic social exclusion and injustice.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ Issues with green politics:
▪ Greenery suffers from the classic problems of technocratic policymaking
▪ Poorer people are likely to suffer more than richer ones from the green transition, not just because
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they have less disposable income but also because they are more likely to work in the dirty economy.
The impression of injustice is reinforced by the fact that many of the most vocal green activists have a
material interest in the green economy as bureaucrats, lobbyists and entrepreneurs.
A fuel-price rise in 2018 inspired France’s gilets jaunes; Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland and
Finland’s Finns Party have lambasted green hysteria.
struggling with the transition from coal- and gas-fired plants to renewables.
From 2030 the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in Britain. The electric cars that will
replace them are rapidly improving, but not yet as cheap or as convenient
For city-dwellers it is hard enough to find parking without having to look for a charging-point too, and
long journeys require planning.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)
▪ “sensible environmentalism” rather than the establishment kind that taxes “poor people to
give money to rich people and big corporations while China’s going to ignore it all”.
Presented by Muhammad Usman Arif (PAS Group)