Project Overview 

Project Start

01.06.2017

End of Project 

31.03.2021, extended

Project Management Agency

DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)

Project Manager

Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller

Participating Researchers of the Universit Augsburg

Claudia Foltyn

Matthias Klaes

Simone Lackerbauer

Assistant

Valerio Pennica

Project description

Description du projet - version française

Opis projektu - wersja polska

Fracking is subject to public controversies in all three countries of research; the conflicts share similar constellations of arguments, interpretative patterns, narratives, as well as expertise and counter-expertise.
Nevertheless, country-specific differences with regards to the interaction with hydraulic fracturing can be observed: while a moratorium concerning the use of fracking exists in France, the impact of the technique for Germany still seems unclear. In contrast, Poland has and still is supporting the further exploration of the fracking method for the benefit of commercially using potential shale gas resources.
Against this background, the core focus of this project is the question how we can understand and explain said national differences in the position towards hydraulic fracturing, despite similar conflict constellations.

From a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD) (Keller 2011) perspective, the investigation focalises the respective processes of societal valuation and assessment of risk scenarios within the three targeted countries.
Per theoretical-conceptual expansion and precision of the sociological research on risks, this project is interested in the role of ecological orders of justification and evaluation (Lafaye/Thévenot 1993); in the trajectories of the conflicts observed (Chateauraynaud 2009); and in how they are embedded in more general societal evaluation contexts (civic epistemologies) (Jasanoff 2005) which orient the forms and processes of risk assessment within the controversies.

From this starting point, we examine the actors, arenas, and trajectories of the controversies on fracking at the nation-state level and comparatively analyse them for their dimensions and conflict developments. Two supplemental case studies per country of research will be conducted, where the conflicts regarding hydraulic fracturing are observable at specific locations. The analysis of central documents (media coverage, expert reports, statements etc.) forms the empirical basis, to be complemented by guided interviews with key actors in the respective and country-specific fracking debates.

Ultimately, the goal of the investigation is to contribute to the differentiated scientific and societal understanding of contemporary conflict dynamics under the conditions of transformative energy policy.
 

Tendering for topics for final papers [05.02.2018]

Start of DFG Project on Hydraulic Fracturing [16.10.2017]

Press Release of the University [19.06.2017]

Press

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