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Abstract Both the Green Party of Germany and the New Party of Taiwan are minority political parties. Yet, they both play a critical role. Their party line is explicitly defined. For the Green Party, they appeal to ¡§Ecological Issues¡¨ and gaine their support from new social movements. As for the New Party of Taiwan, they appeal to ¡§Issues of Anti-Independence of Taiwan and Anti-Black Money¡¨ as their national identification. This has its root in the 1990s, when Taiwan was overheated by the issue of declaring independence or unification with Mainland China. In Germany, the Green Party has successfully constrained the development of nuclear industry, and gained strong support from the public in social well-beings. In Taiwan, the New Party also claims to speak for the common people. This posture enabled the New Party to win high popularity in Metropolitan Taipei, and exert high pressure to the Kuomintang. Indeed, the New Party has had stirred up a hurricane in Taiwan. However, this did not last long. The appeals of both parties have been incorporated into the guidelines and agendas of other larger political parties as well. This was deteriorated by the egocentrism of the key leaders of the parties. As such, the parties were divided, and those leaders tended to play one off against another. They both faced the crisis of disintegration and failure as the third choices for the public in political participation. The Green Party has revised its party line and compromised with reality. They formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and won the election of the Bundestag in 1998. A coalition government between the red and green was formed in Germany. In the election of the Bundestag in 2002, the same coalition won again. Indeed, the Green Party has performed exceptionally outstanding in the recent election. They won 8.6 % of the votes, the highest in the history of the Green Party. The New Party in Taiwan adopted the slogan of ¡§ Bring Down Lee Teng-Hui and Protect the Republic of China¡¨ as their appeal. However, some of the topics in their agenda have been absorbed by other political parties. They hardly won support by spelling out this slogan for a number of reasons. Lee Teng-Hui completed his term in 2000. Nativisim has gained momentum in Taiwan. The tension between Taiwan and the mainland intensified. The homogenous People First Party was founded. The strife inside the New Party intensified, coupled with the exodus of elites. All these events severely hampered the reputation of the New Party and their efforts in the election. Therefore, they lost in the election of the Legislative Yuan in 2001, with humiliation. Outsiders describe their downfall as a bubble. Nevertheless, the New Party revitalized themselves by appealing to the common people, which enabled them to win 5 seats in the City Council of Taipei in the 2002 election. This success changed the attitude of the others towards the New Party, as they felt that this party is going to rejuvenate. Therefore, the rise and fall of the Green Party of Germany and the New Party of Taiwan and their strategies for development may well be served as cases for the study of political parties that appeal to political agenda.

State subventions to parties have been introduced in many Western democratic states with little discussion about the effect that such payments from a state to a political party have on the party. Political scientists, though, have conducted a lively debate about the effect of these state subventions on parties and party systems. With the introduction of state subventions in Canada, there is a significant opportunity to study the effects of the subsidy on parties. This thesis is a case study of the Green Party of Canada during the first three years after the introduction of state subventions to parties. The Green Party of Canada offers us a unique opportunity to see a party emerge from fringe status with the assistance of a state subvention to the party. There are many important findings we can draw from this party’s experience of the state subvention. / ix, 128 leaves ; 29 cm.

This thesis examines the level of intra-party democracy within the Czech Greens. Using two separate content analyses (a quantitative analysis of the party statutes and a qualitative analysis of several interviews with active party members) the three main criteria of intra-party democracy are measured - inclusiveness, decentralisation and institutionalisation. Following the results of the two said analyses that both prove and amend each other it is stated that the level of intra-party democracy within the Czech Greens is currently considerably high. The two analyses also revealed persisting gaps and possible threats to intra-party democracy within the Czech Greens. Because of the lack of a comparable research on this topic in Czech political environment the results are collated to those of some other Central-European countries and simultaneously stated as normative. The method used is also suggested to inspire further research to be made on the level of intra-party democracy of any other Czech political party.

The thesis' purpose is to analyse the evolution of Green Party between 2006 and 2010. Thesis is concentrated on the period when the party recorded under the leadership of M. Bursik its greatest electoral success and managed to not only exceed the electoral clause to enter the Chamber of Deputies, but also participate in forming a government together with the ODS and the KDU - CSL. Soon it became clear that the party was splitted in opinion and there was a struggle between realists, realizing that if they wanted to enforce their policies they would have to accept many compromises, and ecological radicals, who wanted to impose all or nothing. The thesis also describes the work of the Green Party in government and growing conflicts between members of Party, which resulted in the establishment of intra-party fraction "Democratic challenge" and consequent elimination of MPs O. Zubová and V. Jakubková of the Green Party parliamentary group. Particularly, intraparty conflicts and the inability of its President M. Bursik to unite the party meant a slow but steady decline in party preferences. This observation was confirmed by the electoral failures in regional elections and following elections to the European Parliament, after whichM. Bursik resigned. But finally even his successor O. Liška didn't manage...

Anotation The thesis' purpose is to analyse the evolution of Green Party between 2006 and 2010. Thesis is concentrated on the period when the party recorded under the leadership of M. Bursik its greatest electoral success and managed to not only exceed the electoral clause to enter the Chamber of Deputies, but also participate in forming a government together with the ODS and the KDU - CSL. Soon it became clear that the party was splitted in opinion and there was a struggle between realists, realizing that if they wanted to enforce their policies they would have to accept many compromises, and ecological radicals, who wanted to impose all or nothing. The thesis also describes the work of the Green Party in government and growing conflicts between members of Party, which resulted in the establishment of intra-party fraction "Democratic challenge" and consequent elimination of MPs O. Zubová and V. Jakubková of the Green Party parliamentary group. Particularly, intraparty conflicts and the inability of its President M. Bursik to unite the party meant a slow but steady decline in party preferences. This observation was confirmed by the electoral failures in regional elections and following elections to the European Parliament, after whichM. Bursik resigned. But finally even his successor O. Liška didn't manage...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311-330). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The aim of this master’s thesis in history of ideas is to investigate the idea circulation in the Swedish Green Party’s meetings with mass media 1980–1982. The study is based upon a series of theoretical premises. It is presumed that cultural expressions, such as speech, media use and visual representation, can be understood through studying how people think about society’s history, contemporary development and conceivable futures. Since ideas about society’s ongoing development also are presumed to be intertwined with social and cultural positions and practices, and may be expressed differently given different social and cultural circumstances, it is relevant to investigate on the one hand the Green Party’s political vision, and on the other hand how the formulation and reception of ideas took place between them and journalists.     The Green Party’s communication to the Swedish public is studied through on the one hand their own media channels, and on the other hand a selection of events where they were covered in mass media, communicating to the public via journalists. The study shows that the Green Party expected society’s ongoing development to lead to an environmental and human disaster, if not their vision of a democratic society, built on small-scale production, came true. These two conceivable futures were used to motivate political action in their present time. History, on the other hand, was used to criticize the present society built on economical growth and hierarchies. In the Green Party’s visionary society, mankind would embrace a natural lifestyle and thereby reunite with her, in growth society, lost democratic, accountable and creative nature. These ideas were related to societal processes, events and circulating ideas at the time. To get their messages across to the broad Swedish public, the Green Party arranged a press conference. Partly adapting to journalistic working methods for covering politics, the Green Party staged their alternative, small-scale ideology materially, musically and visually. The Green Party’s mass media appearance, along with their growth in membership numbers, made mass media coverage about them increase. In a parliamentary uncertain and politically hostile time, the party’s presented parliamentary strategies and political proposals awoke journalistic speculation. However, journalists’ news telling about the Green Party’s politics circulated, in different ways, around their parliamentary goal, prospects and future obligations. Thereby conceivable futures, as formulated by journalists, gave meaning to the Green Party’s formation, development and politics. These ideas were expressed in journalistic media use and interview praxis. Since around two decades, journalists were reporting more independently and confrontational on politics than previously.  Covering the Green Party, photographers, camera men and writers created meanings by using mediums, which sometimes were transferred between media forms, to support news narratives. Consequently, a political party trying to change a political lifestyle and exercise reached the Swedish public through mass media as a party mainly competing for parliamentary representation. These results contribute to ongoing research on how, and on what premises, political voices have reached the public through mass media throughout modern history.

Participating in peace support operations has been and remains a significant part of the Swedish defense and security politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the Swedish national defence has been more and more dismantled, in favor of international peace support operations which have become an increasingly important task for the Swedish defence. Why then, is Sweden so engaged in conflicts so far from home? Using two classic theories of international politics, realism and liberalism, this study aims to shed light on arguments from the Swedish parliament on why it is important for Sweden to participate in international peace support operations. After analyzing arguments of the Social Democrat Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party concerning three different peace support operations which Sweden has participated in, the result shows that although both realism and liberalism are influencing the parties’ argumentation, liberalism is the theory which is used more often. Thus, the answer to why Sweden participates in peace support operations is to be found in arguments that clearly express views of liberalism, rather than views of realism.