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

• Narelle Miragliotta ^[1] ; Stewart Jackson ^[2]
  1. [1] Monash University

     Monash University

     Australia

     
  2. [2] University of Sydney

     University of Sydney

     Australia

     
• Localización: Government and opposition: An international journal of comparative politics, ISSN 0017-257X, Nº. 4, 2015, págs. 549-577
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • 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.