An integral frame for the Greens
The state began to reserve residual forests after the enclosure of the commons in the 17th century, and the conservation of these ecosystems resulted in national parks late in the 19th century. Conservation segued into environmentalism when the harmful behaviour of industry became more evident by the mid-20th century. Ecology emerged from biology as evolution gave way to a system focus on nature, and the Gaia hypothesis has since accumulated a substantial evidence basis, and become established theory in science.
Green politics emerged from environmentalism in the early '80s. Activists could see that governments of the left were just as inclined to condone damage to the environment by business as governments of the right, so the greens identified both left and right as part of the problem, and self-identified as the solution. They created the slogan `neither left nor right, but in front' to explain their political stance concisely to people. Since their personal values predisposed some toward business-like policies, and others toward state bureaucracy policies, they gravitated separately into leftist and rightist alignments. Thus three sub-tribes became evident within the global green movement...
Green politics emerged from environmentalism in the early '80s. Activists could see that governments of the left were just as inclined to condone damage to the environment by business as governments of the right, so the greens identified both left and right as part of the problem, and self-identified as the solution. They created the slogan `neither left nor right, but in front' to explain their political stance concisely to people. Since their personal values predisposed some toward business-like policies, and others toward state bureaucracy policies, they gravitated separately into leftist and rightist alignments. Thus three sub-tribes became evident within the global green movement...
This values-driven tribal identification then began to coalesce into political alignments, which in the ensuing three decades have tended to embed in ideology and become inertial as group belief systems. The triangulation can therefore be seen in this ideological frame:
Nowadays the way green party members see themselves is via a tacit affiliation deriving from the above historical devolution. Most are non-aligned, but a substantial minority in our Green Party self-identify as leftist. The diagram below depicts them as red-green. Few blue-greens ever joined due to the leftist alignment adopted in March 1991, and they found their home as a formal faction within the National Party. Since the GP represents only two of the three subtribes, it does not represent the green movement on an authentic basis, and is consequently sectarian. Green voters remain split. Activists are motivated more by identity politics than ideology, but both motivations are tacit: few have become conscious of them! Not just in green politics, but politics generally, the motivating factors in the psyche of players in the game remain terra incognita. Political science does not encompass psychology & psychologists do not explore the terrain of political endeavour. Here colours indicate political brand identification:
Putting this all together, we get an integral frame, in which we can see how the triangulation of the antique left/right polarity is being performed nowadays. It is evident in three contexts: in the wider culture of media & public life, in the minds of voters, and within the Green Party. Politicos & green activists talk past each other, or at cross-purposes, when they mis-identify each other or mis-read the social contexts in which others are operating. The integral frame elucidates the overall psychological and historical deep context and helps all players in the game grasp the big picture. Getting their heads around it puts them all on the same page. Antipathies and confusion can be resolved as clarity emerges. Then they can all collaborate more effectively.
