Post-material green parties? An evaluation of the green parties of Finland and Sweden

Abstract: This thesis evaluates the political focus of the Swedish and Finnish green parties by examining their election manifestoes since year 2000. This is investigated through a content analysis with a coding scheme based on theories and previous research about post-materialism and post-material political issues. The theory of Inglehart regarding post-material value change, from material focus to post-material focus on subjects such as quality of life and self-actualization are used as context to my research purpose and as markers for the content analysis. The theory of the GAL-TAN scale is used to further determine the coding scheme of post-material politics. Furthermore, previous research on the importance of the German green party and their key characteristics are used for the coding scheme. The coding scheme contains four different themes: positive views on democracy, protection of individual rights, support for self-actualization and liberal views on social issues. The results and analysis show that the Swedish greens have a higher general percentage of post-material political issues in their election manifestoes. The results also show that there are differences both between the parties and over time regarding which distinctive themes are focused on.