PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS
used here in a broad sense to refer to a process whereby the environment
ascends the political agenda to become electorally salient and the subject
of party competition, so that parties increasingly embrace environmental
concerns, strengthen their policy programmes and attack their opponents
forthe inadequacy of their environmental record.◗ Germany
Many observers agree that during the 1980s Germany ‘moved from a posi-
tion of reluctant environmentalism’ (Weale 1992 :71)tobecome one ofPioneer states:Those countries, mostly in
Northern Europe, that have taken the lead in
developing progressive environmental
policies and setting high standards of
environmental protection.the ‘pioneers’ofEuropean environmental policy
(Andersen and Liefferink1997b). Under a succes-
sion of conservative CDU-led governments, German
political and economic elites gradually accepted
the core tenets of ecological modernisation (see
Chapter8)and legislated some of the most strin-
gent pollution control standards and progressive environmental policies in
Europe, while on the international stage Germany took the lead in pressing
fortougher action on a wide range of issues.^4 Although the German reputa-
tion as an environmental pioneer has subsequently lost some of its lustre,
all the established parties have accepted the central place of environmental
issues on the political agenda.
Die Grunen undoubtedly played a key role in this party politicisation ̈
of the environment (Markovits and Gorski 1993 :271–3; Jahn 1997 :176–8). It
is even claimed that ‘As a direct consequence of the Greens’ engagement,
theFederal Republic developed the strictest environmental protection laws
anywhere in the world’ (Joppke and Markovits 1994 : 235). Widespread public
concern about the environment in the early 1980s, stimulated by the acid
rain and nuclear power issues, enabled the Greens to exploit the failure of
the established parties to respond positively to environmental issues. The
state ofpolitical competition was critical in an electoral system in which
coalition government is the norm and small parties can exercise consid-
erable influence. The established parties initially regarded the Greens as
outsiders, but as the party grew stronger and the electoral strength of the
FDP (the traditional liberal coalition partner of the CDU and SPD) waned,
the established parties had to treat Die Gr ̈unen as a prospective coalition
partner. Consequently, all the major parties started to emphasise environ-
mental issues much more strongly and to strengthen the environmental
commitments in their manifestos (Weale et al. 2000 :251).
Party competition rendered the SPD particularly vulnerable to the elec-
toral challenge of Die Gr ̈unen whose entry into parliament in 1983 coincided
with the defeat of the SPD, followed by years of internal crisis that produced
atransformation in its attitude towards the environment. The SPD seemed
tobe the victim of a long-term dealignment of the electorate. It was losing
support both to the Right, particularly amongst its traditional working-class