Governmental participation and the organizational adaptation of Green parties: On access, slack, overload and distress

Abstract.  This article explores the reciprocal links between the organizational transformation of Western European Green parties and their governmental experience. On the one hand, a series of hypotheses with regards to the possible link between prior organizational adaptation and eventual access to governmental participation are examined. On the other, the opposite question is addressed: that of the potential impact of governmental participation – and, more recently, exit from government – on further organizational adaptation. Following both a qualitative and a qualitative comparative (QCA) analysis, one ultimately identifies a link between prior organizational adaptation and eventual access to government, but a much more indirect and contrasted link between governmental participation (and exit from government) and further organizational adaptation.