The Origin of Green Politics - Essay Example

Green Politics: Left, Right or Forward With an eye on the "seven generation" foresight agenda, green politics is an amalgamation of ideologies that serve to take welfare policies to the next level. Drawing from ideologies that have come from an essentially ethical stand in terms of teachings from heavy weights of the world's basic political terrain like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Spinoza and various others. This paper focuses on the fact that green politics lacks any formal alignment. It is neither left, not right. So the point that this paper seeks to prove is the fact that green politics is in fact forward looking in its 'alignment'. This has been done through an analysis of its various features. History Green politics began its earliest cruise in the form of the Green Party that was formed in 1980. This party began as a third party that follows a broad political ideology of global justice and preservation of the ecology. This was followed by a worldwide spurt of similar green parties. In Australia, the same decade saw the birth of the Green Australia Party. It came from the Franklin River Dams campaign during the 1980s which proposed to address issues like peace and democracy at the grassroots level. (www.wikipedia.com) Britain soon followed suit with environmental politics high on its list of priorities. With a formal panel of 'green' advisors, Britain's green political movement has addressed issues that basically have to do with the environment more than anything else. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Green Party of Quebec took off in the 1980s to address issues like ecological preservation and other issues in the same vicinity. (www.wikipedia.com) These parties have made a point in a world where limited resources and unchallenged use of the same are coming under fire. They have managed to have a representation in governments apart from drawing attention to causes in the form of a place of priority on worldwide agendas. (www.wikipedia.com) Foresight One of the most basic features of green politics that makes it neither left, nor right, but forward, is the fact that it practices with foresight, for foresight and by foresight. Like its precursor, democracy, foresight is the feature that gives green politics an edge over other forms of politics. Foresight helps a green politician perform in accordance with issues that will influence the times to come for at least seven generations. Free of alignments that could tie it down in terms of leftist or right hand ideologies, green politics is that form of politics that creates the vision for furthering causes and catering to a more wholesome humanitarian purpose. By making use of foresight more than anything else, green politics helps in a global integration of goals and results. (Hawkins, 2006) Globalization Another important feature of green politics lies in its ability to combine global issues on a very global platform. Through its efforts to secure representation in national governments, green politics seek to address global issues rather than focus merely on national ones. Globalization is a real phenomenon that is fast combining the collective conditions of economic interests, peace efforts and other such endeavors that put issues on the map and help find solutions that will benefit the entire world. With an increase in the phenomenon known as globalization and the wide use of technology as a complementary feature, human society has changed and the needs have increased manifold. Changes in the political, economical and cultural arena have challenged and effected alterations within various professions. The autonomy of nation states and political parties has been under challenge because the global arena has tried to decrease it so to reduce their power and status. Also, trust has been replaced by target setting accountability as client-professional interactions have been limited in order for services and companies' profits to be increased. Finally, all these changes have affected and put under challenge international politics. This is further evident in the following lines as mentioned by Robert B Reich, when he says, "In this mercantilist game, one sovereign's advance (was) necessarily at the expense of another, because the whole point (was) to gain more power than a potential opponent." (Reich, 1992) In this regard, green politics has an important role to play as far as furthering interests is concerned. Through its ideologies, green politics unifies every issue to find a unified solution to suit all states and nations. This comes from the fact that green politics in essence aims at developing peace relations more than anything else, between nation states. This comes across in its affinity towards globalization. (Reich, 1992) In adopting globalization as one of its most important features and ideologies, green politics is forward looking. This is due to the fact that global integration is the latest trend that governs international politics and thus has a bearing on domestic agendas. (Reich, 1992) Non-Alignment Strategy The green politics movement is not aligned to a single party, ideology or part of the world. This makes it forward looking. A non-alignment strategy aims at finding members that will align with a certain cause. This is due to the fact that non-alignment generally brings with it the promise of 'no strings attached'. With least effort, power brokers in the political scenario the world over, get a shot at solving issues and retaining their own identities. (Hawkins, 2006) This is what makes green politics a precursor in building relationships between political players the world over, besides giving them a common cause even as they rough it out for their individual issues. In solving domestic issues, the help that these parties get is energy saved. By not aligning either with the left or the right, green politics makes best use of this saved energy by combining efforts in the direction of creating a fitting platform upon which global peace relations may be built. Independent Ideologies Green politics are made up of independent ideologies like non violence, social justice, awareness and education regarding the ecology, democracy that reaches the grassroots, decentralization and other such principles. These are borrowed from the teachings of various leaders who have come and gone over the ages, yet the wisdom that is used by green politics is unparalleled and relevant for ages to come. (Hawkins, 2006) Green politics combines these principles to create a more forward-looking society that integrates interests to reach out to the lowest level in the socio economic ladder. In doing so, green politics secures the future of people the world over without compromising on personal agendas. This is furthered by the all-important mechanism that green politics uses - creation of awareness. Awareness is the basic fundamental that can pull the most ordinary human being out of ignorance and propel him or her into fruitful action. In following this basic rule of thumb, green politics has managed to be forward looking so that generations to come may know of a brighter future through correct use of resources and deployment of efforts today. (Hawkins, 2006) Free of any agendas, this kind of decentralization in activities is what makes green politics forward looking. This also leads to a stronger system of reaching out to the very grassroots level for economic upliftment and democracy. As far as ideology goes, green politics uses a performance based mechanism rather than region or people based one. This helps it shy away from differentiation and focus on issues. Conclusion Green politics is a force to reckon with. As far as its ideological inclination go, the above analysis proves that with a strong focus on a brighter future for everyone, green politics is not aligned to the right or the left. It is, instead, forward. It draws from the wisdom of various world leaders and combines the same with issues that are of relevance today. In doing so, it aligns itself with a vision based on foresight and a movement based on wholesome human good. (Reich, 1992) References: Reich, Robert (1992). The work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism. Vintage. Wikipedia - The World's Free Encyclopedia. URL: www.wikipedia.com (Accessed during: January, 2008) Hawkins, Howie (2006). Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate. Haymarket Books. Read More