Why did New Zealand and Tasmania Spawn the world's first green parties

Bibliographic Data

ID4819271
AuthorsStephen L Rainbow (Institute of the Pacific United, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume1
Issue3
Pages321-346
Publication date1992-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-4016 • E-ISSN: 1743-8934
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09644019208414030
OpenAlexW2092749844
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited6

This article examines the two first green parties in the world, the United Tasmania Group in Tasmania, and the Values Party in New Zealand. Little research has been done into these pioneering green parties, yet their experiences lend an important comparative dimension to the field of green politics. The article suggests that the parties arose out of specific environmental issues, namely the defence of lakes against hydroelectric development. Hydroelectric development in both countries is related to a particular industrial vision of society which addressed the security agenda of the ‘old polities’, but aroused increasing opposition among those embracing the ‘new polities’. Given that the ‘new politics’ can be described as ‘anti‐industrial polities’, from a theoretical perspective the industrial structural model is lent credence by the experiences of the pioneering antipodean green parties. The United Tasmania Group and the Values Party arose in opposition to specific environmental issues which signified the continued destruction of the environment in pursuit of industrial progress. This suggests that the concrete issues and contents of green politics cannot be ignored in the analysis of the origins of modern green politics

Credence · Environmental ethics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Australian History and Society · Law · New Zealand Economic and Social Studies

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