The Graying of the German Greens

Pity the fate of the graying Greens. Germany is full of this sad—and perhaps politically endangered—species. The “antiparty” that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a synonym for youthful vigor has become just another political party—nearly as boring and encrusted as the old-line parties. A product of post-World War II Germany’s “baby-boomers,” the Greens never got the knack of capturing the support of the “babybust” cohorts born after 1967.

Partly, the Greens have been the victims of their own success. When everybody is more or less “green,” maintaining the distinctiveness of the Green party is no easy trick. But, beyond this “crisis of consensus,” ...