Researchers from the Institute for Political Science and the Institute of Sociology participated in the international workshop called “Workshop on Sustainability Conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans,” organized by the Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU) and the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences in Vienna on 20–21 May 2026. The workshop was held within the framework of the STRUDEL project (“Sustainability Conflicts, Transformation and Uneven Development”), supported by the Bilateral Scientific and Technological (TÉT) Cooperation programme (2023-1.2.4-TÉT-2023-00058). The event aimed to examine sustainability conflicts, democratic participation, environmental mobilization, and the socio-political dilemmas of the green transition from Central and Eastern European and Western Balkan perspectives.
The workshop was opened by Áron Buzogány and Dániel Oross. During the two-day programme, several panel discussions and professional debates addressed issues related to democratic backsliding, environmental conflicts, political participation, and the social challenges of sustainable transition. In his presentation entitled “Environmental Conflicts under Democratic Backsliding,” Dániel Mikecz examined the characteristics of environmental movements in increasingly autocratic regimes. Drawing on the Hungarian and Polish cases, he demonstrated that under the PiS and Fidesz governments, environmental conflicts became more localized and partially depoliticized, while in certain cases broader political interpretive frameworks also emerged. In their joint presentation, “Democratic Innovation and Socio-Ecological Imaginaries: Centre/Periphery Perspectives on Climate Citizens' Assemblies — Evidence from Hungary,” Annamária Sebestyén and Dániel Oross analyzed the social perception and democratic legitimacy of climate citizens’ assemblies based on the results of a nationwide representative survey experiment.
On the second day of the workshop, the focus shifted to questions of mobilization, emotions, and political participation. In her presentation “From Voice to Mobilization: Analyzing Emotions in Online Petitions,” Szabina Kerényi examined the mobilizing role of online petitions and the moral emotions expressed in them through the example of Hungary’s aHang platform. In his presentation “Mobilization on a Different Ground: Enemy Images, Threats and Political Participation in Hungary,” Márton Gerő analyzed how different forms of enemy images and perceptions of threat contribute to political mobilization in Hungary. Based on nationwide representative surveys, the research examined the relationship between fear- and enemy image-based political communication and political participation between 2018 and 2025.
As a closing event, participants discussed the possibilities of establishing a Central and Eastern European research network on sustainability conflicts in a roundtable discussion. Particular emphasis was placed on strengthening regional scientific cooperation, developing common research directions, and exploring future perspectives for the comparative analysis of sustainability and democratic challenges. In addition, participants also discussed the possible thematic and structural framework of a jointly edited volume to be developed collaboratively.