Up and Down with the Environment

Abstract

This chapter provides an analysis of party system attention to the environment based on the issue incentive model. The importance of issue characteristics and especially problem information is clear. During the 1980s, all countries struggled with environmental performance, and focusing events like the Chernobyl disaster drew attention to the issue. The conditions were perfect for parties that wanted to draw attention to the environment, and in the second half of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, party system attention to the environment peaked in almost all countries. The improvement of the state of the environment in all countries from the 1990s has generated less attractive conditions for parties wanting to draw attention to the environment, and party system attention has declined, but far from disappeared. Green parties, and to a lesser extent Social Liberal parties, are the ones that focus more on the environment than do other parties. The importance of studying the incentives of the large, mainstream left-wing parties is also clear. These parties do not automatically focus on the issue, but coalition considerations can make it attractive, and then they are able to push the environment towards the top of the party system agenda. There are typically two situations when coalition incentives make the issue attractive. One is when a Social Democratic party is seeking to win government power with a Green party. The other is when Social Democratic parties are trying to draw environmentally friendly Social Liberal/Centre parties away from the right-wing bloc.