C_07 Social Cohesion in the Europe-Wide Energy Transition

By examining public participation procedures as institutionalized options of voice, this work package (WP) makes an important contribution to RISC’s overarching research question concerning social cohesion in democracies. The focus lies on social cohesion in cross-border regions in the context of socio-ecological transformation processes. In addition to their voice function, public participation procedures also hold the potential to strengthen social cohesion and loyalty toward democratic institutions. In this way, the WP addresses the research focus questions concerning how social cohesion contributes to coping with transformation processes and how these processes simultaneously challenge cohesion in particularly affected regions. It thereby contributes to the guiding questions of Research Area C regarding the emergence of divisive effects in the design of innovative infrastructures and public goods.

The central research question of the WP is therefore to what extent conflicts arising in the course of socio-ecological transformation can be constructively addressed through participation procedures and thus contribute to supporting transformation processes, dismantling old infrastructures, and building new ones without undermining democracy and social cohesion.

We pursue two complementary analytical approaches that relate to the dismantling and expansion of infrastructures in the energy transition:

First, the WP analyzes regional structural change in the context of the lignite phaseout in Germany and in the tri-border region of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany. As a prominent example, it examines the conflict surrounding the Turów open-pit mine. Building on the core questions of the research area, the analysis focuses on (1) how infrastructures change in the course of the lignite phaseout and what consequences these changes have for social cohesion, and (2) which specific measures can be adopted to use infrastructures as a resource in socio-ecological transformation and thus to strengthen social cohesion, including across national borders. The WP adopts a transformative approach aimed at activating local cohesion through a multistage transfer process.

Second, the WP investigates conflicts arising from the expansion of cross-border energy infrastructures. After constructing a corridor matrix, two regions that are affected by the energy transition in different ways are compared. Case selection is based on the procedural stage of infrastructure projects. The analysis examines whether conflicts surrounding the construction of new infrastructures can be constructively addressed through institutionalized public participation procedures and whether these procedures can function as (cross-border) institutions of social cohesion.

The lignite phaseout, like the expansion of renewable energy and related energy infrastructures, constitutes both a central component and a spatial manifestation of a broader and multifaceted socio-ecological transformation. Through the lignite phaseout, the conditions for sustainable development and social innovation are being fundamentally redefined. In addition to managing and shaping regional structural change, the expansion of energy infrastructures—and particularly the construction of “undesired infrastructures” such as transmission lines—poses substantial additional challenges to social cohesion.

According to Hirschman’s exit–voice–loyalty model, actors may respond to these processes in different ways, with varying implications for social cohesion. In the context of the lignite phaseout and the expansion of energy infrastructures, governments may seek to legitimize transformation processes by appealing to social cohesion (loyalty). At the same time, affected populations may attempt to actively shape transformation processes (voice) and support sustainable transformation. Alternatively, actors may reject change and withdraw from engagement with socio-ecological transformation (exit). Transfer and participation procedures offer an important opportunity to strengthen both social and physical infrastructures locally through involvement in transformation processes.

Target-group-oriented participatory instruments can enhance social cohesion by increasing perceptions of participation, self-efficacy, and collective efficacy among affected groups. At the same time, institutionalized public participation procedures can create spaces for constructive conflict resolution.

To date, differences in political and societal cultures of participation across Europe have received limited attention in research. We assume that citizens make use of participatory formats differently across democratic systems, as their experience with such procedures varies, which is reflected in differences in participatory literacy. Whether and how participation is effective may therefore depend on context and additional framework conditions. In the tri-border region of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany, these include differing attitudes toward structural change as well as different modes of political organization (Germany as a federal state, Poland and the Czech Republic as unitary states). In the context of energy and infrastructure projects, these differences result in varying advantages, disadvantages, and levels of exposure for national states and regions. Some regions, such as coastal areas, may be considered “winner regions” of the energy transition due to their economic benefits from the expansion of wind energy.

Against this background, WP C_07 makes a substantial contribution to understanding the diverse challenges and conflict fields associated with socio-ecological transformation. It provides (1) an actor-centered analysis of regional structural change processes in the context of decarbonization in the Polish–Czech–German border region, (2) an analysis of the role of participation in transformation processes for social cohesion in a cross-national comparison, and (3) an activation of social cohesion through transfer and participation processes.