Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Nordrhein-Westfalen via Flickr
The Greens in 2021
Ready for Government?
Despite a lackluster federal election result in 2017, the Greens have been riding high in public opinion polling ever since, hovering around the 20 percent mark. This has made them the second-placed party, perhaps even supplanting the venerable SPD as the main force on the center-left. In fact, it is almost the consensus view that they will go into government with the CDU/CSU after the September election. But, after 16 years out of power, are the Greens ready to govern? Are the pragmatic “realos” dominant enough within the party to negotiate with the Union and to keep the more radical “fundi” faction in check? In light of some recent evidence of slippage in the polls and several campaign missteps, will they even be strong enough to be the junior coalition partner?
Niko Switek is currently DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School for International Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. His research interests focus on political parties and party systems as well as on coalition politics. He wrote extensively about the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and the green party family in Western Europe. In addition, he worked on parties on European level (Europarties) and just recently compiled a volume on fictional TV series about politics.
Jon Worth authors one of the longest running blogs on EU affairs and is one of the most active Twitter users debating EU politics. He has been widely quoted in the media on the EU and Brexit, and has appeared on live television and radio in English, French and German. He has published articles for new sources such as LabourList, Politico Europe, and Guardian Comment is Free. Worth has also authored chapters from the books How to Work with the EU Institutions: A Practical Guide to Successful Public Affairs in the EU, and Geschlossene Gesellschaften? Beteiligungsprozesse, Medien und Öffentlichkeiten in Europa. Worth regularly makes speeches and presentations at events and training courses across Europe. Outside of blogging, Worth is a self-employed consultant on online communications for political purposes. He is also a member of the Europe Policy Group of the World Economic Forum and the Advisory Group of Transparency International’s EU office. Worth was in the 2012 cohort of Europanova’s 40 Under 40 European Young Leaders programme, and a former President of the Young European Federalists. Worth has been listed by Euractiv as among the 40 most influential Britons on EU policy. He previously worked as a civil servant in London, and as an assistant in the European Parliament in Brussels. Worth speaks fluent English, French, and German, as well as intermediate Swedish and Italian. He holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from Merton College, University of Oxford, and a MA in European Politics from the College of Europe, Bruges.
Moderator:
Dr. Carolyn Rowe, Senior Lecturer, Languages & Social Sciences and Politics and International Relations, Aston Centre for Europe (ACE), Aston University
This webinar will convene via Zoom. Please contact Elizabeth Caruth at ecaruth@aicgs.org with any questions.
This webinar is supported by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presented in partnership with The Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, Birmingham, UK; the International Association for the Study of German Politics; and the BMW Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University.
