Markus Leibenath

Diskursive Konstituierung von Kulturlandschaft am Beispiel politischer Windenergiediskurse in Deutschland

ZusammenfassungEs gibt zahlreiche Landschafts- oder Kulturlandschaftsbegriffe, was mitunter irritierend sein kann. In diesem Beitrag wird kein „neuer“ Landschaftsbegriff propagiert. Stattdessen untersuchen wir, wie „Landschaft“ oder „Kulturlandschaft“ in politischen Diskursen mit Bedeutung aufgeladen werden. Ziel ist es, einen Ansatz zur Analyse der diskursiven Konstituierung von Kulturlandschaft und Methoden zu dessen Umsetzung vorzustellen. Dabei stützen wir uns auf die poststrukturalistische Diskurstheorie von Ernesto Laclau. Als Beispiele werden eine bundesweite Erhebung zu den thematischen Bezügen ortsbezogener Kulturlandschaftsdiskurse und eine vertiefende Untersuchung von Landschaftskonzepten und Argumentationsmustern in politischen Diskursen über die Nutzung der Windenergie in Deutschland vorgestellt. In den Windenergiediskursen werden allgemein bekannte Landschaftskonzepte reproduziert: „Landschaft als schönes, wertvolles Gebiet“, „Landschaft als von Menschen geprägtes Gebiet“ und „Landschaft als etwas subjektiv Wahrgenommenes“. Der Pro-Windenergie-Diskurs verursacht jedoch Brüche in der scheinbaren Geschlossenheit des konservativen Landschaftsdiskurses, dessen Kernstruktur das Landschaftskonzept „schönes, wertvolles Gebiet“ darstellt, und auch in umgekehrter Richtung werden Friktionen ausgelöst. Durch bestimmte Argumentationsmuster wird versucht, die Diskurse zu schließen und gegen Störungen zu immunisieren. Insgesamt spielen Landschaftskonzepte in Windenergiediskursen eine nachgeordnete Rolle und werden teilweise unter instrumentellen, argumentationstaktischen Gesichtspunkten artikuliert.AbstractThere are numerous ways to define ‘landscape’ or ‘cultural landscape’—a fact that can be irritating. We do not propose any “new” notion of landscape. By contrast we examine how ‘landscape’ and ‘cultural landscape’ acquire meaning in political discourses. The objective is to introduce an approach to analyzing the discursive constitution of cultural landscape and methods by means of which it can be implemented. We draw on the post-structural discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and we take two empirical analyses as examples: a nation-wide survey on issues of local landscape discourses and an in-depth study on landscape concepts and argumentation schemes in political discourses about the deployment of wind energy in Germany. The landscape concepts which are reproduced in the wind energy discourses sound familiar: ‘landscape as a beautiful, valuable area’, ‘landscape as an area under human influence’ and ‘landscape as something which is perceived subjectively’. However, the hegemonic discourse in favour of wind energy constantly disrupts the conservative landscape discourse which relies on the concept of ‘landscape as a beautiful, valuable area’. Certain argumentation schemes are employed to close the discourses and to immunize them against future disruptions. Generally speaking, landscape concepts play a subordinate role in wind energy discourses. In some cases, they are articulated in an instrumental, tactical manner.

The Social Construction of Landscapes: Two Theoretical Lenses and Their Empirical Applications

Abstract There is growing interest amongst landscape researchers on social constructivist perspectives on landscapes. This paper discusses two ways of conceptualising the social construction of landscapes: historical institutionalism and post-structuralist discourse theory. The aim is to explore the opportunities that both approaches offer, and to assess their strengths and limitations. Drawing on two local case studies from Germany, we illuminate the ontologies of landscape implied by the two theoretical lenses, how they conceive of the social construction of landscapes, and finally the ways in which they can inform political processes. Both approaches apply an anti-essentialist agenda, though in different ways. Whereas in historical institutionalism materiality is treated as separated from the social sphere, in post-structuralist discourse theory material objects, practices, subjects and linguistic utterances are all part of relational systems of meaning called discourse. Both approaches can contribute to a more democratic and pluralistic practice of landscape planning and policy-making.

The interrelation between collective identities and place concepts in local wind energy conflicts

In Germany, plans at the local level to construct wind turbines often find support as well as rejection – often in both cases for ecological reasons. In this paper, we argue that the key to understanding local wind energy debates is to analyse the interrelations between collective identities and concepts of place. Based on the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, we analyse how two completely contradictory place notions have evolved in a local dispute in a small town in Germany, and how existing political identities have been modified, realigned and superseded in the course of the conflict. Furthermore, we show how the involved discourses are characterised by strong continuities with respect to an earlier struggle over an asphalt mixing plant.

Streifzug mit Michel Foucault durch die Landschaften der Energiewende: Zwischen Government, Governance und Gouvernementalität

Die Energiewende verandert Landschaften. Die Forschung dazu aus politikwissenschaftlicher und steuerungstheoretischer Sicht hat zugenommen, beschrankt sich jedoch oft auf monoperspektivische Ansatze. Ziel des Beitrags ist es deshalb, einen multiperspektivischen Ansatz bereitzustellen, um die Landschaften der Energiewende und ihre Entstehung umfassender zu analysieren und zu verstehen. Dabei greifen wir auf das so genannte Triple- G-Modell zuruck, das Arts und Visseren-Hamakers (2012) vorgeschlagen haben. Der Name ‚Triple G‘ bezieht sich auf die drei Perspektiven Government, Governance und Gouvernementalitat, die sich in den Kontext von Landschaftspolitik stellen lassen. Von besonderer Bedeutung sind dabei die Arbeiten von Michel Foucault. Sein Denken kommt in zweifacher Hinsicht zum Tragen: Erstens zeigen wir auf, welche Erkenntnisse zu den Landschaften der Energiewende aus einer Gouvernementalitats-Perspektive und den beiden anderen Perspektiven zu gewinnen sind. Zweitens – und grundlegender – folgen wir Foucaults konstruktivistischer Forschungshaltung. Nachdem die Windenergielandschaften in Deutschland beispielhaft entsprechend den Perspektiven Government, Governance und Gouvernementalitat analysiert wurden, vergleichen wir die Zugange und identifizieren Schnittstellen.

Windenergielandschaften als Konfliktfeld: Landschaftskonzepte, Argumentationsmuster und Diskurskoalitionen

Die politische Diskussion uber die Energiewende, also die verstarkte Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien sowie die Abkehr von fossilen Energietragern und der Kernenergie, nahm in Deutschland in den 1980er Jahren ihren Anfang. Seit 1991 gewahrt der Staat eine finanzielle Unterstutzung fur die Einspeisung von Strom aus erneuerbaren Energien.

Systemic evaluation of cross‐border networks of actors: Experience with a German‐Polish‐Czech cooperation project

Abstract Cross‐border networks of actors constitute a special type of cross‐border cooperation as well as a special kind of network. This form of cooperation is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, particularly in the case of the Polish‐German and the Czech‐German borders with their problematic history and rather weak traditions of cooperation. Evaluations can help to raise the effectiveness of cross‐border networks. This article refers to the concept of systemic evaluation. Such an evaluation is a collective process of learning and deliberation which is intended to increase the problem‐solving capacity of the system and to involve the participants and users from the beginning of the process. The main question dealt with in this article is how systemic evaluations of cross‐border networks of actors have to be designed and implemented. In the article, a brief survey on the state of art of systemic, participatory cross‐border evaluation is supplemented by a case study of the evaluation of the project Enlarge‐Net. The conclusions include the findings that systemic evaluations cannot be regarded separately from the intervention logic and that evaluators who are dealing with systemic evaluations of cross‐border networks of actors need a diverse tool box and have to adapt their methods to the actual phase of the cooperation.

Political landscapes between manifestations and democracy, identities and power

Abstract This editorial discusses the importance of a political perspective on landscapes and comes to the conclusion that political aspects can be discovered in virtually all landscapes as they are inevitably imbued with politics, antagonistic dimensions and power. It furthermore analyses previous research on political landscapes and on ‘the political’ in relation to landscapes. It does so with reference to four key aspects: (a) physical and representational manifestations, (b) landscape democracy, (c) collective or individual identities and (d) productive or repressive power relationships. These aspects establish a framework according to which the subsequent papers of this special issue are introduced. Finally, a tentative agenda for further research on ‘political landscapes’ is outlined.

Environmental Cooperation across Germany’s External Borders – The Case of Ecological Networks

Ecological networks represent a key nature conservation policy concept in Europe and Germany. Cases in point are the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS), with its notion of a Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN),1 and Article 3 of the German Federal Nature Conservation Act, which obliges the German federal states (Lander) to set up an ecological network in cooperation with neighbouring states. The concept is also receiving growing attention in spatial development policy documents such as the Territorial Agenda of the European Union2 or the Visions and Strategies for Spatial Development in Germany.3

Territorial Cohesion and Transboundary Governance: Insights from the Polish-German and the Czech-German Borders

The term territorial cohesion has evolved as a new buzz-word among policy-makers and academics dealing with European spatial development. After it was officially introduced in the Amsterdam Treaty establishing the European Community1, the notion soon gained increasing attention in policy discourse. For instance, informal ministerial meetings on territorial cohesion were organised at the EU level in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 a special issue of the British scientific journal Town Planning Review as well as a track of the annual congress of the Association of European Schools of Planning were also dedicated to this theme.

Understanding ‘landscape governance’: the case of wind energy landscapes in Germany

Abstract Although the term ‘landscape governance’ has been attracting increased attention in literature, its use until now has been rather heterogeneous. In order to conceptually systematise various notions of landscape governance, the paper applies the Triple G model developed in the context of forest governance. We demonstrate that three distinct concepts of governance, namely government, governance in the narrow sense and governmentality provide the observer with a range of genuine lenses for analysing space, scale, actors, institutions and political decision-making processes as well as the relations between them and how they are mutually constitutive of one another. The three perspectives are discussed with an eye to overlaps and differences, the constitution of landscapes, the respective take on power and the potential interfaces between science and policy. For illustration, the paper draws on empirical evidence of German wind energy landscapes.