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Profs & Pints: The Greening of Europe

Profs and Pints presents: The Greening of Europe, with Erik Jones, director of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies.

Europes Green parties are enjoying remarkable surge in support, gaining seats in recent European parliamentary elections in several nations, including Germany, France, and even the UK. But its hardly like the Greens, who arose from the counter-culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s, are a fresh new alternative on the scene. Why all the enthusiasm for them now?

Join Erik Jones, a professor of European Studies and International Political Economy and a prolific writer on European politics, for an in-depth analysis of why the Greens are having a moment in the sun. Hell discuss how the Greens have outlasted other single-issue protest movements over the past half century by embedding alongside its advocacy of environmental protection a political ideology with a distinct conception of representative democracy and democratic participation. And hell show how two of the Greens central political strategiesencouraging activism among youth and drawing disaffected voters away from Europes traditional center-leftare serving Green parties well in an age of populism.

To a large extent, the surge in support for the Greens is just another sign of the rising volatility in the European electorate in a time of deepening disenchantment with more traditional political elites and the increasing frustration in the face of wicked problems with no obvious solutions. If that is all there is to it, todays Green revolution might not last long. But it might also be the case that support for the Greens alternative vision of democracy represents a transformative moment for European democracy, which is in desperate need of rejuvenation. Perhaps the resurgence in support for the Greens in Europe particularly among younger voters could lead to fundamental change. The same could hold true in the United States if the Greens find a more successful way to navigate what now is essentially a two-party system. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15. Save $2 with student ID. Time listed is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please arrive in plenty of time to place any order and be seated and settled before the talk begins.)