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form of regulatory policy issues that face a political dynamic different from interests that are
distributive or redistributive in character (Lowi, 1964). Moreover, environmental protection is
usually characterized by a concentration of costs on a small number of political actors for the
sake of benefits that are widely diffused throughout the society. This pattern of impacts imposes
a much more difficult situation on the organizers of environmental groups than it does on the
interests to be regulated (Wilson, 1980). And beyond this guarantee that resistance to
environmental protection will always be easier to mobilize than will support for it, the diffused
and collective character of the environmental goods at stake imposes a free-rider problem. The
organizing efforts of environmentalists are undermined because individuals who value
environmental goods will enjoy them to the same degree as others whether or not they participate
in securing them (Olson, 1965). So, as with the internal limits on group representation, these
external limits also work to the disadvantage of non-corporate interests trying to gain attention
for their needs in the interest group liberalism environment.
How should environmentalists who are also deliberative democrats respond to these
obstacles? One approach is active political partisanship. All across Europe and, more recently,
in the United States, the growth of the Green Party has given hope to many that
environmentalism would one day fight and win electoral battles that would give nature its due.
Beginning in 1981, European Green parties enjoyed some success in electing members of
parliament. A survey of electoral results in thirteen European countries shows that during the
1980’s Green parties received from 1% to nearly 7% of the popular vote in national elections.
However, the growth in Green electoral support has been weak. During the 1990’s, only two of
these same thirteen countries saw Green support in national elections exceed 8% (Carter, 2001).
In the United States, Green Party success has been even more limited.
Convention