THE GERMAN GREEN PARTY

...they've challenged the prevailing authoritarian thrust of German politics that subordinates individual and social rights to a "public interest" supposedly embodied in the state...

...The SPD, as it comes close to this position, may be ready to make important compromises with the Greens...

...They've discredited elitist theories about the ignorant and apathetic "masses...

...Among these were the ex-CDU delegate Gruhl, the New Left activist Rudi Dutschke, the former East German dissident Rudolf Bahro...

...The leftists, coming from the tradition of Marxism-Leninism, include such ex-members of Communist groups as Rainer Trampert and Thomas Ebermann...

...The movement, to its credit, promotes open public discussion of the hitherto taboo issues of defense, foreign policy, and alliance...

...Its ideal community is small-scale, autonomous, and technologically primitive...

...The Greens' program includes much that is consistent with this view...

...Both these fundamentalist groups are opposed to arrangements with the SPD, but the ecological fundamentalists are explicitly antimodern while the socialistic fundamentalists are explicitly authoritarian...

...It is also, however, an extremely unstable opposition...

...In the meantime, the Greens are engaged in a wide-ranging debate about a closely related concern: democracy...

...This is because the Greens who would potentially be interested in this idea come from the antiauthoritarian, socialist, extraparliamentary movement and tend to be allergic to raising the national issue in any form...

...When the Greens entered party politics, however, the question of how to relate parliamentary issues to those of direct democracy could no longer be avoided...

...Underlying these disagreements is a basic difference about modernity— modern society itself...

...None of the Greens favor a militaristic nationalism, yet those who want to disarm unilaterally and "Finlandize" their country represent a form of national identity that is in some ways frighteningly continuous with the past...

...The second seeks to establish alternative centers of sovereign power in Europe, based on a new level of West European coordination...

...The clearest exemplar of this tendency is Bahro, whose stress on the "species interest" of humankind, visions of countercultural religious communities, and simple-minded third-worldist rhetoric have recently taken on alarming authoritarian implications...

...they draw attention to the rigidity of political institutions and to the need for greater participation...

...All of this surely requires a complex, pluralist, and democratic modern society—not the anarchistic utopia the fundamentalists dream of...

...Yet if they won't do so, others will—with potentially drastic consequences...

...Yet it is also clear that there is nothing inherently democratic in this modernist ecological consciousness...

...If the Greens can affirm the values of both democracy and modernity, they will continue to play a significant role in this transformation...

...But the Greens' relation to the workers' movement —the unions and the SPD—has yet to be clarified...

...The very existence of the Greens reveals what is at stake in the struggle over ecology: it is the very mode of control over science, knowledge, and investments that is to be developed...

...The ecology and peace movements have insisted on public debate of issues that were formerly the province of technocrats...

...Above all, it depends upon the extension of institutionalized spaces for free public assembly and discourse...

...The Greens have already accomplished a great deal in bringing about a more democratic society...

...Unfortunately the alternative democratic conception of national identity, uniting a concern for peace, sovereignty, and freedom, has not yet been coherently developed within the movement...

...Such control could involve a reinterpreted "ethic of responsibility" that includes the democratization of decision-making regarding the use of resources...

...Two FINAL QUESTIONS: Will the Greens survive...

...Even more indeterminate in terms of political implications is their sociological makeup...

...These groups disagree, not merely on parliamentary procedure, but about each of the movement's key values...

...This new flexibility, however, is a result of recent pressures put on the Social Democrats by the peace movement—also of the SPD's fall from power...

...It has already had important democratizing effects...

...What Prospects for the Greens...

...As a means, demonstrations have their place...

...yet only in October '80 did they first sponsor a demonstration against nuclear weapons, and not until 1981 did peace become their main concern...

...a variety of forms of representation have their place on regional and federal levels...

...Scientific as. sessment of interventions in the environment would inform public discussion of alternatives...

...For these Germans dream, while choosing particularism rather than universalism, that Germany might exempt itself from Europe's problems...

...Yet here, too, sections of the movement are dominated by antimodern, romantic, and quasi-religious conceptions of community, and only a minority has begun to reflect on how a modern and democratic cultural identity might be formed...

...Finally, any social movement that relies on demonstrations must face the question of whether this kind of mobilization is to be considered an end or a means...

...At the least, it is a promising attempt to deal with the problem of structural unemployment...

...by 1977 there were 50,000, with over 2 million members—more than those of all the other political parties combined...

...Democracy AN IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT of West Germany's citizen movements since the '60s has been the revival of public discussion on the meaning of democracy, and the contesting of quasiofficial definitions...

...That of the ecological fundamentalists is hostile to complexity, economic growth, industrialism, and the state...

...Direct democratic models have their value on local and/or functional levels...

...It is also possible that a reformed SPD will absorb the Green electorate, leading to a disappearance of the Green party...

...Yet it remains uncertain whether the Greens will be able to revitalize existing democratic institutions and create new ones...

...The most important split is already manifest in the conflict between two broad groups called "fundamentalists" and "realists...

...Socialism ON A RECENT VISIT to New York, Rudolf Bahro left us with the uncomfortable impression that his party is opposed to the satisfaction of the immediate interests of the working class, that it does not distinguish between the Social Democrats and the parties of the right, and that it is willing to look for allies anywhere on the political spectrum...

...It sought to provide a critique of industrial society, in the name of a "postindustrial" or "postmaterialist" cultural model...

...And for this, two preconditions are needed...

...It seeks both peace and sovereignty...

...And what do we mean by the success or failure of a social movement...

...Ecology THE CONFLICT between the fundamentalists and the realists first appeared in relation to one of the Greens' primary concerns: ecology...

...Clearly, standard sociological categories of class, strata, or function do not yield meaningful conclusions about the Greens' motivations or goals...

...This is not to say that the Greens among themselves are in complete agreement about the meaning of these terms...

...The low tolerance for dissent or extraparliamentary political action typical of postwar Germany complements this mode of policy-making...

...Such a view obscures the two most interesting aspects of the Greens: their ambiguity and the importance of the political questions they raise...

...The Greens see themselves as the voice of the various radical, democratic, ecological, antinuclear, citizen-initiative movements that have been active in West Germany since the early '70s...

...The West German political system has lacked a meaningful opposition since the Great Coalition of 1966 between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic party (SPD...

...The limits to human intervention in the environment are not determined by "nature in itself" but are agreed on, through public discussion, by those affected...

...Its stated goals, however, are logically compatible with two different political positions: fundamentalist and antimodern on the one hand, democratic and modern on the other...

...The best way to guarantee the existence of an opposition would be the reconstitution of the Greens as a parliamentary, democratic, socialist, and ecological organization...

...the other is the development of a coherent industrial policy addressing workers' fears about jobs and offering a more imaginative vision of the future than the Social Democrats' static defense of the welfare state...

...Nor should rallies and civil disobedience be dismissed as criminal acts in a democratic society, since they are an important way for excluded groups to express their concerns...

...The Greens' very decision to form a political party and their success in entering provincial parliaments and the Bundestag is divisive to the Greens in their fragile political identity...

...But it is not desirable or even possible for a democratic social movement to be permanent...

...They emerged as a national party in January 1980...

...There might eventually be a split between the parliamentary party and the larger movement...

...Fortunately, there is a group among the Greens that not only wishes to prevent the crippling of the parliamentary system, but seeks to revitalize and supplement it...

...Nevertheless, the conflict with the SPD remains...

...They are responsible for placing the idea of the society's further democratization on the political agenda...

...They want a drastic reduction of "official" work time and the legitimization of a second sphere of work, distinct from the labor market, in which all who seek to supplement their guaranteed minimum income could participate by exchanging goods and services...

...Symbolic gestures tend to destroy parliamentary discourse and prevent the formation of a general political will...

...for the expansion of civil liberties and workers' rights...

...The resulting arrangement placed the highest value on political consensus, and all too often consensus has been reached by behind-the-scenes bargaining that precludes public debate of fundamental issues...

...This minority protests both American and Soviet missiles, and it spoke out in support of Solidarity...

...Subverting existing forms of democracy in the name of a more democratic alternative is bound to have authoritarian consequences...

...If the parliamentary Green factions comport themselves in accord with the "fundamentalist" tendencies of their movement, refusing all political compromise, they will at best block the Social Democrats' return to power...

...And they contest the prevailing interpretations of ecology, development, sovereignty, peace, national identity, democracy, and even socialism...

...How long the Green movement will last is another question...

...Fortunately, Bahro's is a minority position among the Greens, and it's losing popularity every day...

...This version of ecology is guided by an ascetic moralism regarding needs, an "ethics of conviction" about the value of life and nature, and by a fondness for "exemplary actions...

...There are also two distinct types of "realist-moderates": again, one stressing the ecological issues (Joschka Fischer and Otto Schilly), the other a socialistic direction (Claus Offe, Oskar Negt, the late Rudi Dutschke...

...This, clearly, would require a definitive rejection of the fundamentalist line, a coherent industrial program —and the luck to survive the resulting splits...

...As an end, it is not always compatible with democratic principles: militants rarely have a democratic relation to the people they mobilize...

...Yet if the Greens conform to normal parliamentary procedures, this may lead to splits within the movement itself...

...But because the mass appeal of the Green party is based on the defense of "life as such," and because the party has gained a substantial following among pacifists, the second position has been articulated only rarely within the party...

...Success" on the cultural level, however, depends on a transformation of the rather authoritarian German political life, one that will strengthen the rights of individuals and of groups, toleration of dissent and alternative life styles, formation of a democratic national identity, and the expansion of the possibilities of action by new social movements...

...the ecological fundamentalists try to be even-handedly critical of both superpowers, though occasionally an exclusive emphasis on the value of "mere life" leads them to a unilateralist position...

...In practice, if not by intention, the first position tends toward a policy of capitulation to the Soviet Union—even if its adherents dream of alternative forms of defense designed to decimate Soviet generals by making them laugh themselves to death...

...q 332...

...Collective action of this sort should be seen as a means to creating more sophisticated forms of assembly (councils, parliaments, associations, and so on) to address key issues...

...328 The use of counterexpertise by the Greens is a promising idea, for it implies a shift of emphasis from exclusive concern with "life" itself to considerations of "the good life"—the kind of society we need and want...

...It calls for a new economic rationality that includes environmental protection and retraining programs in the calculation of costs...

...Given this arrangement, it's not surprising that the early '70s saw a proliferation of citizen movements undertaking direct action on housing, transit, pollution, and industrial siting...

...Its advocates protest Pershings and cruise missiles, but they say nothing about the SS-20s...

...Yet the project of democratizing German society remains ambiguous...

...Their party must be seen as part of a movement that holds up the key values of West German politics for reinterpretation...

...They don't revitalize the parliamentary sphere, as some of the Greens claim...

...Most Green militants are young, well-educated, urban, and of the "new middle class...

...To our knowledge, only one group of Greens, in the city of Bielefeld, has made a truly interesting proposal in this direction...

...The standard view is that the Greens are a singleissue, middle-class, left-leaning youth movement— a temporary irritant for the more serious German parties...

...True, the parliamentary groups of the other parties do not take such discourse seriously either and have their own versions of the imperative mandate...

...The "realist" tendencies within the Greens favor the first...

...In Germany as elsewhere, it is time to lay to rest the impossible utopia of a self-managing communitarian society that could dispense with the mechanisms of formal democracy, yet remain democratic...

...In this regard, the Greens still have a lot to learn from the working-class movement...

...In fact, there are two types of "fundamentalists"— one ecological and the other leftist...

...Peace and Sovereignty IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, opposition to American and West German military policy has become the Greens' central concern...

...A new and democratic political culture must be formed from below...

...But this is not much of an argument for a party seeking to make society more democratic...

...Is it to be democratic—or authoritarian...

...By 1972 there were at least 1,000 such groups...

...Yet much more work remains to be done if West Germany is to be transformed into a freer society...

...And Greens in provincial parliaments are showing an increased willingness to cooperate with the SPD...

...The "realists" believe that a sane approach to the ecological problem entails not a rejection of modernity but a realization of its potential— that is, control by society as a whole over its own development...

...With its union support, it will be much stronger on economic issues...

...it would also mean the end of the movement as a movement...

...The Green party's national program advocates increased workers' rights, self-management, the defense of jobs, and a 35-hour work week...

...It has been put forward mainly by left Social Democrats, though even they have not faced the economic and political costs that a viable European defense would involve...

...As long as some ties are maintained, this could be a sign of the need to seek democratic social reform along many different avenues, institutional as well as extrainstitutional...

...But this could happen 331 only if the SPD also absorbed important parts of the Green program...

...The meaning of this alternative model, however, has been in dispute...

...The model raises interesting questions for real democrats...

...The first position, held by a majority of Greens, favors unilateral disarmament and seeks to do away with (or seems to wish away) the modern state and its military capacity...

...but as yet it is no more than an outline...

...Much worse, this strategy could create the kind of political deadlock that, in Germany, is likely to have an undemocratic outcome...

...The dominant ideal among the Greens is that of full and direct democracy, on some sort of council model...

...An articulate minority among the Greens is striving toward the second position...

...National Identity THIS ISSUE, while not raised in the official Green programs, is crucial to an understanding of the movement...

...This would be a great achievement...

...The Greens would then have contributed to the necessary revival of Germany's "vanishing opposition...

...Rather than desiring to eliminate modern industry, this proposal seeks to reduce the importance of the sphere of "necessary labor...

...Now, almost 40 years after the Second World War, the younger generation of Germans is searching for a positive national identity— and rightly so...

...At first glance, their aim seems clear: the preservation of peace and the recovery of full West German sovereignty...

...The Green movement is part of this effort...

...they paralyze it...

...Only the socialist fundamentalists are one-sidedly anti-American...

...Among the moderates, the socialists are more open to the unions, while the ecologists confine their openness to the SPD...

...Yet its supporters include farmers, fishermen, scientists, law327 yers, church figures, and marginals...

...Green electoral support is greatest in university towns and the northern cities...

...It can't long claim to be a democratic movement without creating democratic institutions...

...This group wants to create new democratic forms in the workplace, in local communities, in urban centers, and so on...

...In 1977 a number of regional, provincial Green parties were formed, and by 1980 a disparate group of figures founded a national Green party to synthesize "left and right, red and green...

...This is a "catch-all" party with a difference: a real opposition in the West German political system...

...There are many antidemocratic, scientifically sophisticated partisans of ecology...

...The Greens have never seen themselves as a single-issue movement...

...One is the defeat of the fundamentalists...

...In a society with several centers of democratic power, which center shall be sovereign, and in regard to which issues...

...but advocates of 330 this model must make it clear that parliamentary democracy is an end in itself, and that whatever other centers of democracy may be developed, the form of representation characterizing parliaments should be maintained...

...The apparent success of Willy Brandt's line, which seeks a national majority left of center, will be hollow unless the Greens show a readiness to work together with the SPD in coalitions or at least informally...

...The goals of a movement can be realized only by institutional actors: party, parliament, pressure groups, direct democratic associations...

...Such questions should be debated...

...There are, not surprisingly, deep conflicts within the Green party over how these values should be understood...

...But however festive they might be, demonstrations should not be confused with politics...

...The ecology movement was born out of the shocks created by destructive effects of unimpeded industrial growth and by the crisis of welfare-state economics...

...Their "synthesis" proved illusory: by the end of 1980 most of the party's prominent conservatives had left the Greens, and the party had passed a rule against dual membership, aimed at excluding authoritarian leftists...

...Here an all too common lack of interest in the fate of Eastern Europe provides an important clue...

...The two conflicting interpretations of "ecology" may be seen as antimodern and modernist...

...Nevertheless, it still is difficult to place the Greens on the traditional political map...

...The consequences of pursuing the ideal of direct democracy in parliament—insistence on the "imperative mandate" (delegates strictly bound by party instructions), biannual rotation of delegates, a refusal to compromise—are disastrous for the existing form of democracy...

...Since the formal institutions and political culture of both Germanys are in many ways marked by a great continuity with the past, it would be highly undesirable to leave the question of national identity to the 329 state...

...The expansion of democracy, indeed its preservation, must, in a complex society, involve a plurality of forms...

...for greater socioeconomic equality, and for social control over technological innovation...

...when Solidarity was crushed in Poland, they offered little protest...

...The ecologists include Petra Kelly and Rudolf Bahro...

...A less desirable version of the latter focuses exclusively on the reunification of Germany...

...it defines "life" as the highest value...

...Whether the Greens will be similarly open depends on how they resolve a deeper issue: that of national identity...

...But on examination, this aim is not unambiguous...

...As long as the Greens were only a "movement" this ideal could remain intact, even with the unfortunate implication that a democratization of the state is excluded...

...The success of a movement can be measured by the traces it leaves in the political culture and by the contribution it makes to institutional reform...

...This latest version of a romantic and populist protest against modernity that dates back to the 18th century appeals to "nature in itself" as the source of inviolable limits to "artificial" human intervention...

...The Greens' participation in parliament should strengthen those who advocate this model of democracy...

...The Social Democrats' SchmidtLöwenthal group, which opposes cooperation with the Greens, has lost out only on the issue of nuclear missiles...

...This inilieu gave rise to the Green "antiparty party...