Dear Colleagues and Friends,
we kindly invite you to the next Helsinki University Environmental Humanities Forum
September 17, 2019 (Tuesday), at 14.15- 15.45
Risto-Matti Matero, University of Jyväskylä
"From companionship to green consumerism. Competing belief systems in Finnish and German green parties"
HELSUS Lounge, Porthania 244, Yliopistonkatu 3, 2 krs.
Please kindly see Abstract and short Bio of Speaker below.
Looking forward to meeting/seeing you soon!
Twitter @helsinkienvhum
Facebook @helsinkienvhum
With kind wishes, Viktor Pál and Mikko Saikku
Abstract
The Finnish green party Vihreä Liitto and the German Die Grünen have both undergone a significant ideological change that occurred mostly in the 1990’s. Before that, their political thinking revolved mostly around radical ideals of recognizing human-nature companionship over individual economic liberties. They even demanded the rundown of marked-based environmental politics for the sake of ecological balance and a radically altered understanding of well-being, with the individualistic freedoms of consumption and/or production restricted and subordinated to environmental obligations.
In the 1990’s, however, both green parties changed their ideological position towards a more market-friendly, individualistic, and anthropocentric position, emphasizing consumerism and green economic growth. Meanwhile, demands for the rundown of growth-oriented politics became virtually extinct. Looking for reasons behind this change, the analysis has to expand further than the level of nation states. Changing value system of urban youth, European-wide ideological discussion, and even global economic structures all played a part in this change.
Bio