Jun-Prof Endre Borbáth: "The New Climate Divide"

Part of the series of lectures “Politics in Europe”

Date: 22.05.2025
Time: 16:30-18:00
Place: Bld. C1 7, room 0.08

The presentation is held in English

Announcement poster
Event at LSF

 

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Jun-Prof Dr Endre Borbáth

Endre Borbáth is a Junior Professor of Empirical-Analytical Participation Research at the Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University and a visiting researcher at the Center for Civil Society Research at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB). His research explores mass mobilization and shifting conflict structures in European electoral and protest politics, with a particular focus on political mobilization and participation related to climate change. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. He earned his PhD in Political Science from the European University Institute in 2018. He holds degrees in political science from the Central European University in Budapest and in political science and philosophy from Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania.

 

Summary

This talk explores the New Climate Divide—the emerging conflict over climate politics in Europe—and reflects on the process of securing an Emmy Noether grant. The ClimateDivide project examines how climate change has shifted from a widely supported valence issue to a contested positional issue, fueling polarization in electoral and civil society mobilization. While green and right-wing actors drive the politicization of climate change, mainstream parties are increasingly shaping the issue through socio-economic and redistributive conflicts. This transformation is unfolding in a polycrisis context, where climate change intersects with geopolitical and economic instability.

ClimateDivide investigates how mobilization dynamics shape political participation by bridging supply-side (party and movement strategies) and demand-side (citizen engagement) perspectives. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project integrates computational text analysis, surveys, and focus groups across seven European countries (France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania).

Beyond the research, the talk will also provide insights into the Emmy Noether grant application process—from conceptualizing a project to navigating the application procedure and securing independent research funding. It offers practical advice on developing a proposal that prioritizes original data collection and multi-method research.

Language: English

Interested parties are cordially invited to attend. Please register in advance at vinciane.pilz(at)uni-saarland.de.