Understanding Political Participation

Green Party Membership in Scotland

Lynn Bennie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351876919
• Subtopic: Political Parties
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Developing a framework of analysis which enables a detailed empirical investigation of Scottish Green Party membership, this is a detailed assessment of why people become members of a green party. The questions are particularly relevant in the light of declining political participation. Lynn Bennie responds to the gap in the literature on green and small parties and builds on the work of other researchers who have used similar methods to explore membership of the larger parties. The volume incorporates an extensive review of participation literature; details the history of the Scottish Green Party; documents extensive survey data of party members; and develops an understanding of motivations behind membership of a green party. It will prove ideal for courses on political behaviour and green politics, and be of interest to sociologists and political science researchers.

Chapter 1
Introduction

Green parties are becoming increasingly prominent in modern western democracies. Consequently, much has been written on the green party phenomenon, most studies concentrating on explaining the electoral fortunes of such parties, either in case study form or through comparative analysis of green parties (Franklin and Rüdig 1992, 1995; Kitschelt 1988; Müller-Rommel 1982, 1989, 1998; O’Neill 1997; Parkin 1989; Richardson and Rootes 1995; Rüdig 1985, 1992; Rüdig and Franklin 1992). More recent accounts, however, have focused on the challenges faced by green parties in government and opposition (Bomberg 2002; Burchell 2001, 2002; Doherty 2002; Mair 2001; Müller-Rommel and Poguntke 2002; Rüdig 2002; Talshir 2002). A small number of studies have examined membership and activism in green parties (Kitschelt and Hellemans 1990; Poguntke 1990; Prendiville and Chafer 1990; Rüdig et al. 1991, 1993, 1996). However, very little attention has been given to the question of why individuals are recruited into and devote time and energy to green parties. The following pages form such an analysis of green party membership in Scotland, in an attempt to shed greater theoretical and empirical light on the processes influencing membership of a green party.

The end of the 1980s was a quite extraordinary period in the history of green politics in Britain. Green ideas suddenly became salient and ‘fashionable’ and there was a dramatic increase in all forms of environmental behaviour, including voting green (Bennie and Rüdig 1993; Curtice 1989; Franklin and Rüdig 1992; Franklin and Rüdig 1995; Pattie et al. 1991; Rüdig and Franklin 1992; Rüdig et al. 1996). Furthermore, the Greens across the UK recorded a remarkable increase in membership levels. The Scottish Greens, who formally voted to become independent of the other green parties of the UK in 1989, did not attract the same level of electoral support or membership as Greens in the South of England (Rüdig et al. 1991: 19). Nevertheless, the rise in membership was quite exceptional. The Greens in Scotland had never before managed to recruit more than a few hundred members, but at the end of the 1980s they experienced an unprecedented influx of members, reaching a peak of over 1,200.¹ Almost as dramatic was the rapid decline in party membership during the early 1990s. Unfortunately for the party the new members left almost as quickly as they had arrived, and the party was unable to attract new members to replace them. The realisation of a Scottish Parliament in 1999 changed the political landscape and created a more promising set of opportunities for the Greens. Membership rose as a response – from 350 in 1999 to 780 by the end of 2003 – however membership levels did not begin to challenge those of 1989/1990.

This book attempts to explain these developments. While electoral support will be explored, the principal objective is to develop an understanding of motivations behind Scottish Green Party (SGP) membership.² The party was able to convince, by its standards, a large number of supporters to fill out a membership form and join the party at the end of the 1980s. By 1993, most of these members had allowed their membership to lapse. This research is an attempt to understand the fluctuation in membership support. What factors explain membership of this small and rather marginalised political party? Traditionally, participation of this kind, when the immediate returns for membership are less than obvious, has been treated as paradoxical. The terms used to describe this process vary; it can be referred to as the paradox of social movement, the collective action problem, or the collective action dilemma. Nevertheless, precisely how groups mobilise for political action and overcome this problem has been the subject of a great deal of research by both political scientists and sociologists in the last three decades. Baumgartner and Leech (1998: 8, 169), for example, identify the area as one of major advance.

A number of established theories on why the individual participates in collective action provide a theoretical framework (these are reviewed extensively in chapter 3). Many observers of political participation focus on who actually participates (see Parry et al. 1992). In other words they examine the individual’s socio-economic characteristics and point to the resources and political skills of individuals who participate. This book does explore the socio-economic background of Scottish Green Party members. However, it will be argued that examination of the individuals with the capacity and skills to participate does not fully illuminate how and why they become involved.

‘How’ participants become involved, or the routes into membership, are also investigated in this study. Drawing on the organisational perspective in political science and resource mobilisation approaches in sociology, it will be suggested that a party, group or organisation can draw potential participants into membership but sometimes the joining process is explained by rather higher levels of self-initiative on the part of the member. As for motivations behind membership – the ‘why’ of joining – a useful body of literature is rational choice theory, which explores the costs and benefits of participation to the individual. Inspired by the work of Olson (1965), an extensive range of ideas has been generated to explore incentives behind membership, including selective material incentives, solidary incentives, and collective purposive incentives (see Clarke and Wilson 1961). This book explores incentives behind membership of the Scottish Greens. In the case of a small green party which can offer very little in the way of selective returns for membership we would expect collective incentives to be most important. While recognising the limitations of strict economics-based analyses of membership, in that it is very difficult to measure rationality, it will be argued, in line with Wilson (1995: 26), that ‘people join associations for a variety of reasons and that they are more or less rational about action taken on behalf of these reasons’.

Other models to be explored include interactionist or network theories (see della Porta and Diani 1999; Diani 2003a, 2003b). Experience of movement involvement, and interaction with other participants in ‘solidarity networks’, is said to increase the probability of mobilisation into other groups. These experiences may be important in a green party which is likely to have links with other environmental organisations.

Another important group of theories are ‘political opportunity structure’ approaches. These suggest that collective behaviour is the result of interaction between the individual and a wide political environment. While ‘political opportunity structure’ is a rather all-embracing term which can include political, economic and social factors it may be useful in developing an understanding of green party development.³ These approaches predict that movement activists will channel their activities to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them by the political system (Kitschelt 1986, 1989; Kreisi 1995; McAdam et al. 1996; Tarrow 1996). It is possible that increases in membership of the Scottish Greens may be the result of environmental movement supporters turning to the party at times when it is viewed as a credible political force. Conversely, there may be periods when membership of the party may not have been viewed as such a good ‘opportunity’. In other words, these theories may offer some useful insights into the timing of joining.

Garner (1996: 43) makes the point that a number of ‘why’ questions are addressed by different theories: Why do some individuals join movements? Why do some movements successfully accomplish their goals while others do not? Why do some societies have higher rates of movement activity than others? This study addresses the question of why people become involved as members in the Scottish Green Party. However, it will be suggested that, in order to fully understand why people join, one must also consider who joins, how they join and when they join. The study examines individual level data i.e. it involves a mainly micro level of analysis, rather than exploring the wider issues of state/movement relations, or the impact of social movements. However, it will be argued that the structural setting of collective action and available political opportunities are important because they influence the expectations and attitudes of individuals who are potential party participants.

The study of party membership has recently experienced a revival amongst political scientists, marking a deeper appreciation of the value of party members (Bennie et al. 1996; Katz and Mair 1992, 1994; Scarrow 1996; Seyd and Whiteley 1992, 1999, 2002; Whiteley and Seyd 1998, 2002; Whiteley et al. 1994). While an interest in party membership amongst political scientists is not new (Blondel 1973; Duverger 1954, 1964; May 1973; McKenzie 1964; McKitterick 1960; Michels 1962; Minkin 1978), traditional studies were primarily interested in the implications for party democracy i.e. the distribution of power in the parties. The new wave of studies – of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties – have employed surveys to examine ordinary party members and have provided a wealth of information on what makes the party member ‘tick’. However, the small parties in British politics have been sadly neglected in this respect. Only the Greens have been examined in such detail, providing valuable information on all aspects of the membership experience (see Rüdig et al. 1991, 1993, 1996). All of these studies however have been British level studies. Indeed very little attention has been paid to the party member in Scotland. Small scale, localised studies do exist (for example Bond 1999) but very little is known about the experiences of party members in Scotland. This study of the Scottish Greens makes some contribution to expanding our knowledge of the Scottish party member, although we would expect a member of a green party to be driven by different motivations from those which influence a traditional party member. For example, a Labour member in Scotland is likely to feel that their party can ‘make a difference’ in policy terms. The Scottish Green Party, until very recently, has appeared almost completely ineffective in this regard.

The study of members of environmental groups, peace and human rights organisations has been quite extensive, largely within the social movement tradition. Parkin (1968) conducted a postal survey of CND marchers and members in 1965.⁴ Taylor and Pritchard (1980) conducted a postal survey in 1979 of people who had been members between 1958 and 1965.⁵ In 1978, Cotgrove (1982) surveyed a group of ‘New Environmentalists’ (Conservation Society and Friends of the Earth), and in 1980 a group of ‘Nature Conservationists’ (World Wildlife Fund).⁶ Byrne (1988) conducted a 1985 postal survey of CND members.⁷ Finally, the political scientists Jordan and Maloney (1997) conducted postal surveys of Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International in 1993.⁸ However, as in the work on parties, the Scottish dimension of membership has been seriously underresearched. Any studies of environmental groups in Scotland have tended to focus on the group (its internal dynamics, relations with policy-makers and so on) rather than the individual member (for example McDowell 1993). Clearly, there is a major gap in our information on Scottish green participation.

As well as contributing to our understanding of political participation, and ‘filling a gap’ in academic research, this study of a green party allows us to address some wider theoretical questions regarding the place of such parties in traditional party systems. Much has been written about the decline of traditional, class-based, political parties, the argument being that parties are experiencing a decline in membership, attachment and support (see Dalton and Wattenberg 2002; Katz and Mair 1992, 1994; LeDuc et al. 1996, 2002; Webb 1996, 2000; Widfeldt 1997). Moreover, it has been suggested that green and left-libertarian parties may be in a position to threaten the traditional parties (Fisher 1980; Müller-Rommel 1989; Müller-Rommel and Poguntke 1995). However, the decline of party thesis is not universally accepted. Webb (1996, 2000) for one argues that the traditional parties are still ‘legitimate’ and have merely been adapting to a changing political environment. Furthermore, there is little evidence to suggest that green parties are replacing traditional parties. The signs are that green voters are exceptionally volatile, and this is particularly true in Britain (see Franklin and Rüdig 1995; Rüdig and Franklin 1992). More important in the context of this discussion, green parties also appear to have problems building up a stable membership. This may be because green activists are ideologically opposed to formal organisation, or because green parties generally have little to offer in the way of material and social incentives as ‘rewards’ for membership.

To some extent, studying membership of a green party enables us to assess the relationship between traditional party and green party membership. For example, are increases in Scottish Green membership the result of movement of members between parties? In other words, do the Scottish Greens attract disaffected ex-members of the traditional political parties, or do they tend to mobilise individuals who have never previously been involved in party politics? Furthermore, when members leave the Greens do they turn (or return to) the other parties, do they turn to alternative green organisations, or do they turn their backs on all forms of political involvement?

These questions obviously have major implications for the Scottish Green Party itself. Until now the party has known very little about its own members. An understanding of why members join and leave helps a party to develop an effective recruitment strategy, and can contribute towards building a more stable membership base. Furthermore, members are especially important to a party like the Scottish Greens because membership subscriptions and donations are the party’s main source of income.

However, understanding motivations behind party membership has wider implications for our understanding of political participation. The pluralist tradition (Dahl 1961, 1982) assumes that people will join groups to promote common or shared interests. Joining groups and parties is regarded as an important feature of a modern liberal democracy. From this point of view, it is important to study and to understand why people join political parties and groups. This book does not attempt to address the ‘democratic value’ of Scottish Green Party membership. However, the fluctuations in Scottish Green Party membership represent an interesting case in the history of collective action. From the point of view of political science and the study of parties, the membership dynamics of the Scottish Greens require explanation.

The Data

The analysis of Scottish Green members is based on a number of surveys conducted between 1990 and 2002. The first survey took place in December 1990, two months after the Scottish Greens formally separated from the other green parties of the UK.⁹ At the time of the survey the party in Scotland had 998 members (numbers had already begun to decline). All of these members were sent a 24-page questionnaire and covering letter, followed-up with a reminder postcard. Seven questionnaires were returned because the respondent had moved away or was not known at the address given. A total of 509 completed questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 51.4 per cent. This was regarded as very satisfactory, as the questionnaire was fairly lengthy. In addition, as membership levels had already begun to decline quite steeply this must have had an adverse effect on the rate of response.

The 1990 survey of Scottish Greens was part of an ESRC funded study of UK Greens directed by Wolfgang Rüdig, Department of Government, University of Strathclyde.¹⁰ In this larger study, questionnaires were sent to a randomly selected sample of 8,604 members of the UK Greens (roughly half of the membership). A total of 4,357 completed questionnaires were returned, a net response rate of 51.1 per cent. This w...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Greens in Scotland: A Record of Electoral Events
• 3 Explaining Participation: Learning From Social Movement Approaches
• 4 Who Were the Scottish Greens in 1990?
• 5 How and Why Did the 1990 Members Join?
• 6 When the Members Joined: Assessing the 1989/1990 Joiner
• 7 The Members in 1997
• 8 New Members, Old Motives? Comparing Scottish Green Party Members 1990 and 2002
• 9 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index