The Green Party of Canada as a New Politics party: Philosophical and programmatic foundations

A reaction against the Old Politics post-war consensus view of progress as affluence through economic growth, political order and military security, the term 'New Politics' describes the post-materialist political demands of the new social movements in Europe which resulted in the formation of Green parties in the 1970s and 1980s. Using a theoretical construct of an ideal type New Politics party, Poguntke (1993) establishes the New Politics bona fides of the German Greens (Die Grunen), the archetypal Green party. I apply this model to the Green Party of Canada and conclude that the GPC also meets Poguntke's criteria of a New Politics party. Acknowledging the 1980s context of the New Politics, I suggest that the GPC also has the potential to meet the emerging demands of a 21 st century New Politics in Canada.