CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Werner, Annika |
|---|---|
| Title | Structural Change(s) in Lusatia: Potentials and Limits of the Just Transition in a Peripheralized Region |
| Summary | The transition of the energy sector from fossil resources to renewable energies has posed questions about the social and economic impact of the Green Transition on the affected regions. Lusatia, a coal region in Eastern Germany, has been at the center of the German discourse due to the drastic socioeconomic effects of the post-socialist deindustrialization and the remaining importance of the coal industry for the local economy and identity today. Ambitious German Just Transition measures, such as the German InvKG law, are meant to ease the social costs of the Green Transition but often remain contentious on the local level. Based on my empirical findings from interviews and participant observation in a municipal administration in Lusatia, I ask: What does a Just Transition mean in light of greater processes of Peripheralization? I argue that while the transition is framed as an economic issue on the national level, Lusatian actors perceive structural change (Strukturwandel) as a matter of de-peripheralization. Even though the InvKG has capacity-enhancing qualities, I find that its procedures reaffirm peripheralization experiences among municipal actors. Using a multi-level perspective, I finally outline continuities within the existing energy regime and portray local energy cooperatives as niches of de-peripheralization. Overall, I argue that the potentials and limits of the Just Transition in Lusatia depend on its relation to larger (de-)peripheralizing dynamics and spatial inequalities. |
| Supervisor | Naumescu, Vlad; Zentai, Violetta |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/werner_annika.pdf |
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