This work is about new themes and changed political styles. More precisely, it means the "interrelated extension of 'participatory dispositions and techniques' and the 'partial change' of the 'political agenda' through the surge of a new set of political demands" (Poguntke, 1993). The book assembles the most important articles which deal with such underlying changes or with the political results of the "New Politics", that is, political parties and new social movements. New politics theory recognises that, throughout the post-war period, western political agendas have been dominated by the "Old Politics", which have largely been centred around conflicts between "haves" and "have-nots", and were chiefly concerned with the overriding goals of stability and security, be it economic or military (Inglehart, 1977). From the 1970s onwards, however, the agenda of the new politics represented a substantial departure form these well-trodden paths. The younger and better educated citizens of western democracies began to concern themselves with political goals like ecology, self-determination, non-military approaches to international conflict resolution, equal rights for minorities, and improvement of the conditions in the Third World. These new concerns surfaced in the upsurge of environmental action groups, protest movements against nuclear power plants, the mobilization of massive resistance against the arms race (particularly against the deployment of cruise missiles and Pershing II), the new women's movement and a wide range of other groups concerned with this agenda. The book goes on to describe how these groups tried to accomplish their goals of their own vision for society by using participatory techniques like mass demonstrations, boycotts, occupations of building sites and so on. It also shows how these techniques are more mainstream in the 1990s. The effects of these new politics are also analyzed. In particular, the effect on the Left is assessed, especially in the attempts to redefine welfare and affluence. Dissention over matters of ecology has also led to fragmentation in the Left. At the same time, some sceptics have taken the 1970s and 1980s Left phenomenon as a temporary distraction from the materialist essence of politics (fuelled by the absence of real problems). The book also offers explanations for the new political phenomenon, in particular, the views of Ronald Inglehart, who maintains that gradual and persistent shifts in value orientations among western mass publics are the most important cause for the surge of the new politics.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Theoretical Approaches: Ronald Inglehart (1987), Value Change in Industrial Societies; Ronald Inglehart (1981), Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity; Scott C Flanagan (1987), Value Change in Industrial Societies; Oddbjorn Knutsen (1989), The Priorities of Materialist and Post-Materialist Values in the Nordic Countries - A Five-Nation Comparison; Jan Van Deth (1983), The Persistence of Materialist and Post-Materialist Value Orientations; Ferdinand Boltken and Wolfgang Jagodzinski (1985), In an Environment of Insecurity: Postmaterialism in the European Community, 1970 to 1980; Max Kaase (1984), The Challenge of the "Participatory Revolution" in Pluralist Democracies; Claus Offe (1985), New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of Institutional Politics; Wilhelm P. Burklin (1987), Governing Left Parties Frustrating the Radical Non-Established Left: The Rise and Inevitable Decline of the Greens; Herbert Kitschelt (1988), The Life Expectancy of Left-Libertarian Parties. Does Structural Transformation or Economic Decline Explain Party Innovation?; Wilhelm P. Burklin (1988), A Politico-Economic Model Instead of Sour Grapes Logic: a Reply to Herbert Kitschelt's Critique; William M. Chandler and Alan Siaroff (1986), Post-industrial Politics in Germany and the Origins of the Greens. Part II New Politics Parties: Martin Bennulf and Soren Holmberg (1990), The Green Breakthrough in Sweden; Markus Kreuzer (1990), New Politics: Just Post-Materialist? Ferdinand Muller-Rommel (1985), The Greens in Westem Europe - Similar but Different; Thomas Poguntke (1987,) The Organization of a Participatory Party - the German Greens. Part III (New) Social Movements: Hanspeter Kriesi and Philip van Praag Jr (1987), Old and New Politics: The Dutch Peace Movement and the Traditional Political Organizations; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel (1985), Social Movements and the Greens: New Internal Politics in Germany; Rudiger Schmitt (1989), Organisational Interlocks Between New Social Movements and Traditional Elites: the Case of the West German Peace Movement. Part IV New Political and Party Systems: Scott C. Flanagan and Russell J. Dalton (1984), Parties Under Stress: Realignment and Dealignment in Advanced Industrial Societies; Herbert Kitschelt and Staf Hellmans (1990), The Left-Right Semantics and the New Politics Cleavage; Herbert P Kitschelt (1988), Left-Libertarian Parties - Explaining Innovation in Competitive Party Systems; Oddbjorn Knutsen (1990), The Materialist/Post-Materialist Value Dimension as a Party Cleavage in the Nordic Countries; Ferdinand Muller -Rommel (1989), The German Greens in the 1980s - Short-term Cyclical Protest Indicator of Transformation?; Thomas Poguntke (1987), New Politics and Party Systems - The Emergence of a New Type of Party?; Michael Minkenberg (1992), The New Right in Germany: The Transformation of Conservatism and the Extreme Right.