Democracy

An interview with Ralf Fücks, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Given the current political climate, it behoves ecologists to thrust imagination, innovation and experimentation to the forefront of political action and thought. This requires a “benevolent distance” between the Green foundations and the Green parties.

The European Elections, held in tandem with local elections, proved to be a turning point for the Irish Greens. It was a real comeback at local level, particularly in Dublin, and came desperately close to electing an MEP. Green Foundation Ireland (GFI) has played a real part in this recovery.

The coming upheaval in our ways of living and working will require us to live an ecological lifestyle based on new forms of democratic participation that enable us to collectively and comprehensively reshape our social and physical environment.

Are political parties still capable of integrating the long term into their strategic reflections?

Before investing excessive hope in radical participatory solutions we need to re-examine established beliefs about democracy and sustainability and their mutual relationship.

Modern representative democracy is not conducive to handling environmental challenges. Ecology requires new political institutions capable of tackling long-term concerns.

The economic crisis and the democracy crisis share some of the same causes: redefining the ideal of democracy, the impotence of current regulatory methods in the face of collective decision-making, and a crisis within political programmes.

Old Europe is disaggregating. The new Europe, which has long been a reality in the mind of many European citizens, is waiting for its constitution, one that will effectively take us into the future.

What do the Greens think about the current fatigue with representative democracy?