We invite you to an open lecture held within the Jean Monnet Network PROSPER, titled “Green Activism in the Era of Re-Democratization: Which Factors Determine the Transition from Coal towards Alternative (Greener) Energy Sources in Poland?” The lecture will be delivered by Adam Fagan from King’s College London. It will take place on 27 March (Friday), 09:45–11:00, in room 543 at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University.
The literature on environmental policy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) typically assumes that progressive change is more likely under centre-left governments, given the links between environmental organisations and left-liberal party networks, as well as a greater willingness to comply with EU decarbonisation requirements. However, recent research on Poland suggests that variation in the pace of progressive environmental reforms depends on a more complex, sequential interaction of multiple factors, including campaign framing strategies, the circulation of new information and data, and the emergence of new activist networks. Focusing on the transition away from coal in three Polish regions—Zabrze (Upper Silesia), Bełchatów (Łódź Voivodeship), and Konin (Eastern Greater Poland)—the author argues that although local political conditions clearly matter, they should be seen as a necessary but insufficient factor for explaining successful coal phase-out. He contends that four factors are crucial for explaining the pace of change: (i) the specific framing of local campaigns and actions; (ii) the density of local activist/civil society networks; (iii) local institutional capacities; and (iv) dominant local preferences regarding state–market relations and views on environmental issues.
Biographical Note
Adam Fagan is Professor of European Politics at King’s College London and a comparative political scientist. His current research focuses on democratic resilience and anti-populist mobilisations in Central and Eastern Europe, Europeanisation and pro-democratic movements in post-conflict Western Balkan and Southeast European states, as well as environmental activism and coal phase-out politics in Poland. He is particularly interested in the role of non-state actors and civil society mobilisation.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal East European Politics.
Jean Monnet Network PROSPER
The Jean Monnet Network PROSPER project team at the Jagiellonian University is led by Dr Natasza Styczyńska (Institute of European Studies, JU). The multidisciplinary team also includes Prof. Joanna Dyduch (Institute of Middle and Far East Studies, JU), Dr Paulina Lenik (Taube Centre for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), and Dr Marcin Zubek (Institute of European Studies, JU).
