The fragile victory of French ecologists

The French parliamentary election of 1997 witnessed the emergence of environmentalism as a force within the French political landscape. This article considers the political significance of the election of eight Green candidates to the French parliament. The election results represent the first occasion in French political history where the question of the environment and the management of territorial resources have carried weight in the decision of voters in a national election. To be a potent force which makes real political progress on issues of the environment there is a necessity for the Greens to develop into a socialist ecology movement, moving towards objectives such as democracy at every level of decision making, and social equality against all forms of exclusion. The threat to achieving these ideals lies in the power of their political adversaries whose ideals belong the system of capitalism which forms the basis of environmental destruction.