IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/sumafo/v32y2024i1d10.1007_s00550-024-00537-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tracing a caring transition policy for the German coal region Lusatia

Author

Listed:
  • Paula Walk

    (Europa-Universität Flensburg
    Technische Universität Berlin)

  • Marius Koepchen

    (Europa-Universität Flensburg)

  • Nora Stognief

    (Europa-Universität Flensburg
    Technische Universität Berlin)

  • Johannes Probst

    (Europa-Universität Flensburg)

Abstract

Coal mining and generation adversely affect several ecosystems, including climate, water and land. On the other hand, questions of justice and socio-economic considerations of affected regions are crucial for a successful coal phase-out, underlining the need for a nexus perspective. This includes taking a gender perspective, which thus far has received relatively little attention. We contribute to closing this gap through our study on the coal region Lusatia in Germany, where an unprecedentedly high amount of money is spent to shape the regional transition. The allocation of these funds is the subject of a contentious debate about which societal needs are considered most urgent to be met. We conducted a critical discourse analysis examining relevant policy documents and analyzing dominant ideas about what a successful transition in Lusatia should look like. Based on feminist care theory and interviews with locally organized women, we show that concepts of care for humans and nonhumans are severely underdeveloped. To address this gap, we propose based on women’s emerging discourse four pillars of care work as social infrastructure that should be central to transition processes: (1) aftercare for social and ecological residuals of coal mining, (2) social cohesion, (3) democratic care services, and (4) caring democracy: democratic decision-making on how to care.

Suggested Citation

  • Paula Walk & Marius Koepchen & Nora Stognief & Johannes Probst, 2024. "Tracing a caring transition policy for the German coal region Lusatia," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 1-15, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:sumafo:v:32:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00550-024-00537-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s00550-024-00537-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00550-024-00537-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00550-024-00537-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walk, Paula & Braunger, Isabell & Semb, Josephine & Brodtmann, Carolin & Oei, Pao-Yu & Kemfert, Claudia, 2021. "Strengthening Gender Justice in a Just Transition: A Research Agenda Based on a Systematic Map of Gender in Coal Transitions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(18).
    2. Stognief, Nora & Walk, Paula & Schöttker, Oliver & Oei, Pao-Yu, 2019. "Economic Resilience of German Lignite Regions in Transition," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(21).
    3. David Schiefer & Jolanda Noll, 2017. "The Essentials of Social Cohesion: A Literature Review," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 579-603, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oei, Pao-Yu & Burandt, Thorsten & Hainsch, Karlo & Löffler, Konstantin & Kemfert, Claudia, 2020. "Lessons from Modeling 100% Renewable Scenarios Using GENeSYS-MOD," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 103-120.
    2. Mª Ángeles Caraballo & Eva Mª Buitrago, 2019. "Ethnolinguistic Diversity and Education. A Successful Pairing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Francesco Burchi & Armin von Schiller & Christoph Strupat, 2020. "Social protection and revenue collection: How they can jointly contribute to strengthening social cohesion," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 13-32, July.
    4. Ollendorf, Franziska & Sieber, Stefan & Löhr, Katharina, 2023. "Societal dynamics of sustainability certification in Ghanaian cocoa producing communities: Assessing social cohesion effects and their implications for collective action," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 212-238.
    5. Oei, Pao-Yu & Hermann, Hauke & Herpich, Philipp & Holtemöller, Oliver & Lünenbürger, Benjamin & Schult, Christoph, 2020. "Coal phase-out in Germany – Implications and policies for affected regions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    6. Kustov, Alexander & Pardelli, Giuliana, 2024. "Beyond Diversity: The Role of State Capacity in Fostering Social Cohesion in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Betts, Alexander & Flinder Stierna, Maria & Omata, Naohiko & Sterck, Olivier, 2023. "Refugees welcome? Inter-group interaction and host community attitude formation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Jan-Philipp Sasse & Evelina Trutnevyte, 2023. "A low-carbon electricity sector in Europe risks sustaining regional inequalities in benefits and vulnerabilities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Dadashpoor, Hashem & Sajadi, Afshin, 2024. "Principles of just urban land use planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Vangelis Marinakis & Alexandros Flamos & Giorgos Stamtsis & Ioannis Georgizas & Yannis Maniatis & Haris Doukas, 2020. "The Efforts towards and Challenges of Greece’s Post-Lignite Era: The Case of Megalopolis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    11. Strupat, Christoph, 2021. "The preserving effect of social protection on social cohesion during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Kenya," IDOS Discussion Papers 33/2021, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), revised 2021.
    12. Leonardo Chiesi & Paolo Costa, 2022. "Small Green Spaces in Dense Cities: An Exploratory Study of Perception and Use in Florence, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.
    13. Oberndorfer, Moritz & Leyland, Alastair H. & Pearce, Jamie & Grabovac, Igor & Hannah, Mary K. & Dorner, Thomas E., 2023. "Unequally Unequal? Contextual-level status inequality and social cohesion moderating the association between individual-level socioeconomic position and systemic chronic inflammation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    14. Marek Walesiak & Grażyna Dehnel, 2023. "A Measurement of Social Cohesion in Poland’s NUTS2 Regions in the Period 2010–2019 by Applying Dynamic Relative Taxonomy to Interval-Valued Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    15. Viniece Jennings, 2019. "Social Cohesion and City Green Space: Revisiting the Power of Volunteering," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-4, September.
    16. Fehr, Alexandra & Muela, Joan & Nieto-Sanchez, Claudia & Manneh, Ebrima & Baldeh, Dullo & Ceesay, Omar & Bardají, Azucena & Zuiderent-Jerak, Teun & Bunders-Aelen, Joske, 2021. "The role of social cohesion in the implementation and coverage of a mass drug administration trial for malaria control in the Gambia: An in-depth comparison of two intervention villages," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    17. Bujar Aruqaj, 2023. "An Integrated Approach to the Conceptualisation and Measurement of Social Cohesion," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 227-263, August.
    18. Ben Robaeyst & Bastiaan Baccarne & Jonas De Meulenaere & Peter Mechant, 2022. "Online Neighborhood Networks: The Relationship Between Online Communication Practices and Neighborhood Dynamics," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 108-118.
    19. Jungwon Min, 2020. "Does social trust slow down or speed up the transmission of COVID-19?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Julia S. Granderath & Andreas Martin & Laura Froehlich, 2021. "The Effect of Participation in Adult Education on Life Satisfaction of Immigrants and Natives: A Longitudinal Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 3043-3067, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sumafo:v:32:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00550-024-00537-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.