Der lange Umweg zur Macht: Die Geschichte der Grunen in Salzburg bis 2013

The change in values
taking place in western industrial societies not only caused a boom in post-materialistic values, but also a change in political participation behavior from an elite-controlled to an elite-challenging one, as illustrated by the broad-based citizens’ initiatives that were formed in the 1970s. The politicization of the environmental issue played a central role, since the crisis of ecology was interpreted not only as a mere disturbance of the environment, but as a crisis of the political system that required a different policy. In this development, the citizens’ initiatives in the city of Salzburg deserve special attention, as they joined forces in 1977 to form the Citizens List election platform, moved into the municipal council and in 1982 joined the city senate. At the provincial level, these successes came with a time lag: with the first entry into the state parliament in 1989 and the government participation in a three-party coalition in 2013 for the first time in Austria.