Editing GroenLinks (section)

===Ideology===
The party combines green and left-wing ideals.<ref name="Andeweg"/> The core ideals of GroenLinks are codified in the party's programme of principles (called ''Partij voor de Toekomst'', "Party for the Future").<ref name="PVDT">{{cite web|url=http://organisatie.groenlinks.nl/toekomstproject|title=GroenLinks presenteert vernieuwde uitgangspunten|work=GroenLinks|access-date=11 September 2010|archive-date=24 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724152725/http://organisatie.groenlinks.nl/toekomstproject|url-status=dead}}</ref> The party places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the left. Its principles include:
* The protection of the [[Earth]], [[ecosystem]]s and a [[animal rights|respectful treatment of animals]].
* A fair distribution of natural resources between all citizens of the world and all generations.
* A just distribution of income and fair chance for everyone to work, care, education and recreation.
* A pluralist society where everyone can participate in freedom. The party combines openness with a sense of community.
* Strengthening the international rule of law, in order to ensure peace and respect for [[human rights]].

The party's principles reflect the ideological convergence between the four founding parties which came from different ideological traditions: the [[Political Party of Radicals]] and the [[Evangelical People's Party (Netherlands)|Evangelical People's Party]], from a [[Christian left|progressive Christian]] tradition; and the [[Pacifist Socialist Party]] and the [[Communist Party of the Netherlands]] from the [[socialism|socialist]] and [[communism|communist]] traditions. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the parties had come to embrace [[environmentalism]] and [[feminism]]; they all favoured democratisation of society and had opposed the creation of new [[nuclear plant]]s and the placement of new [[Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear weapons in the Netherlands]].<ref name="Koole"/>

Halsema, the former political leader of the party, has started a debate about the ideological course of GroenLinks. She emphasised the freedom-loving tradition of the left and chose freedom as a key value. Her course is called [[social liberalism|left-liberal]] by herself and observers,<ref>"Halsema kiest voor liberalisme." in NRC Handelsblad, 11 October 2005.</ref> although Halsema herself claims that she does not want to force an ideological change.

Following [[Isaiah Berlin]], Halsema distinguishes between [[positive freedom|positive]] and [[negative freedom]].<ref name="vrijzinnig">{{citation
|last=Halsema
|first=Femke
|author-link=Femke Halsema
|title=Vrijzinnig Links
|journal=De Helling
|volume=15
|issue=2
|year=2004
|url=http://www.dehelling.net/artikel/280/
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070206164312/http://www.dehelling.net/artikel/280/
|archive-date=6 February 2007
|access-date=29 April 2008
}}</ref> According to Halsema, negative freedom is the freedom of citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to the [[multiculturalism|multicultural society]] and the [[rechtsstaat]], where the government should protect the rights of citizens and not limit them. Positive freedom is the [[emancipation]] of citizens from poverty and discrimination. Halsema wants to apply this concept to [[welfare state]] and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema, GroenLinks is an [[dogma|undogmatic]] party.<ref name="vrijzinnig"/>