Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt und die Handlungskompetenz von Kommunen am Beispiel ausgewählter Städte in Sachsen und Sachsen-Anhalt

Die gravierenden Folgen des demographischen Wandels, regionaler Strukturwandel und weitere Transformationsprozesse wie etwa neue politische Weichenstellungen haben die Perspektiven und Handlungsspielräume von ländlichen Kommunen in peripheren Situationen seit einigen Jahren stark verändert und sie vor neue Herausforderungen gestellt. Das spiegelt sich in den kommunalen Verwaltungen und auf kommunalpolitischer Ebene einerseits wider und zeigt sich andererseits auch in der Zivilbevölkerung, die unterschiedlich auf (global zu beobachtende) und regional erlebte Transformationen reagieren. 

In dem Panel werden am Beispiel ausgewählter Städte und Kommunen in Sachsen und Sachsen-Anhalt jenseits großurbaner Zentren Handlungskompetenzen und gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt diskutiert. Es geht um Kommunalfinanzen und Verwaltungshandeln im Strukturwandel einerseits und die Nutzung bzw. Beurteilung von Handlungsspielräumen innerhalb der Kommunen durch die Stadt selbst und die Zivilbevölkerung andererseits. Wir diskutieren darüber hinaus das Zusammenspiel von Erfahrungen, Erkenntnissen und Expertenwissen aus der kommunalen Praxis und dem auf Innovation gerichteten Expertenwissen in akademischen Einrichtungen im übergeordneten Rahmen folgender Fragestellungen:  Welche Formen von gesellschaftlichem Zusammenhalt beobachten wir an ausgewählten Orten in Sachsen und Sachsen-Anhalt? Inwiefern tragen diese zur Stärkung von Handlungskompetenzen der Kommunen bei? Wo gibt es Herausforderungen, Widersprüche und Abwehr, wo Zuspruch? Was läuft gut, was schlecht, an was fehlt es? Wie zeigt sich das? Hierzu äußern sich Akteure, die vor Ort tätig sind, und jene, die zwischen Universität und Kommunen „pendeln“, und treten miteinander in den Austausch, was u. a. auch zum Vergleich der Situationen und der „best practices“ einlädt.

 

Impulsvorträge und Diskussion zum gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt und der Handlungskompetenz von Kommunen anhand verschiedener Beispiele aus Aue-Bad Schlema (Beukert/Steinbach-Hüther), Eilenburg (Freyer/Lehmann) und Zeitz (Maier)

 

Teilnehmer:innen: 

Thomas Beukert war nach seinem Studium der Geografie an der Universität Leipzig zunächst seit 2006 erst freier und später wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter des Institutes für Strukturpolitik und Wirtschaftsförderung (ISW) gGmbH in Halle. Seit 2020 ist er wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Kompetenzzentrum für Öffentliche Wirtschaft, Infrastruktur und Daseinsvorsorge e.V. (KOWID). 

Seine Arbeitsschwerpunkte liegen im Bereich der Öffentlichen Finanzen und Finanzierungssysteme, Schülerkostenanalysen und Ersatzschulfinanzierung, dem Aufbau von Indikatoren- und Monitoringsystemen und der Erstellung statistischer Analysen. Darüber hinaus erstellt er auch Studien in den Bereichen Wirtschafts- und Regionalentwicklung, Bildung sowie Gesundheit und Pflege.

 

Lena Freyer ist seit 2024 Kommunale Innovationsmanagerin der Stadt Eilenburg und verantwortet im Rahmen des Werkstattbereichs „Transfer über Köpfe“ die Entwicklung innovativer Formate und kollaborativer Projekte. Ihr Fokus liegt auf der Förderung kommunaler Innovationspotenziale und der Gestaltung zukunftsorientierter Regionalentwicklungen.

Lena Freyer bringt vielfältige praktische Erfahrungen aus den Bereichen Wirtschaft, Psychiatrie und Verwaltung ein. Sie studierte zunächst Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität Leipzig, nach einem Wechsel in die Soziologie schloss sie ihr Studium 2021 ab. Nach einer Tätigkeit als Koordinatorin ehrenamtlicher Patientenfürsprecher:innen der Stadt Leipzig, assistierte Lena Freyer in einer Kanzlei für Rechts- und Steuerberatung in Leipzig und war stellvertretende Leiterin einer Zensus-Erhebungsstelle während der Erhebung 2022.

 

Sven Lehmann, gebürtiger Eilenburger, ist Gründer und Inhaber der Unternehmensberatung SL | Marketing & Management. Mit über 30 Jahren Erfahrung unterstützt er als Berater, Coach und Supervisor Unternehmen, Einzelpersonen und Gruppen in den Bereichen Organisation, Unternehmensführung, Marketing sowie psychologische Beratung und Coaching.

Nach einer technischen Ausbildung hat er sich in verschiedenen Bereichen der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, Personalberatung und Organisationsentwicklung weitergebildet. Sven Lehmann engagiert sich zudem in verschiedenen Initiativen, darunter als Vorstand und Mitglied im Tourismus- und Gewerbeverein Eilenburg e.V., im Deutschen Fachjournalisten-Verband (DFJV AG) und im Marketing Club Leipzig e.V. Als Initiator und Projektleiter hat er das Kreativnetzwerk sowie das Kleinstadtlabor KUNSTwoche Eilenburg ins Leben gerufen und ist zudem Mitgründer des Netzwerks „Vereine im Portrait“. Darüber hinaus ist er in der Initiative „Muldecities“ aktiv.

 

Markus Maier unterstützt seit über 20 Jahren Existenzgründungen im Hochschulkontext. Als Dozent im SEPT Mastermodul und am Marketing-Lehrstuhl der Universität Leipzig vermittelte er Wissen zu Führung, Förderung und Entwicklung von kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU). Zudem leitete er zehn Jahre lang das internationale „Global Competitiveness Program“ (GCP) der Universität Leipzig in Kooperation mit der Ohio University.

Seit 2023 gehört er zum Team der Gründungsküche, einem regionalen Inkubator für Food Startups in Zusammenarbeit mit der Egenberger Lebensmittel GmbH. Im Werkstattbereich „Transfer über Köpfe“ begleitet er den Aufbau von Innovationsorten in Eilenburg und Zeitz. Seine Schwerpunkte liegen in der wissenschaftlichen Unterstützung von Service Learning Aktivitäten, der Ansiedlung von Startups aus dem Hochschulkontext und der Prototypenentwicklung mittels Virtual Reality.

 

Ninja Steinbach-Hüther wurde mit einer Arbeit zu Publikationen afrikanischer Intellektueller auf dem deutschen und französischen Buchmarkt in Paris und Leipzig promoviert, hat dann am Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL) über die Praxis und Konzepte geographischer Gesellschaften geforscht und arbeitet seit 2024 im Werkstattbereich „Stadtentwicklung bis 2030 – Strategiebildung in Mittelstädten“ des Forschungszentrums für globale Dynamiken (ReCentGlobe) der Universität Leipzig innerhalb des T!Raum-Projektes zur Stärkung der kommunalen Handlungskompetenz. Dabei begleitet sie in Aue-Bad Schlema städtische Entscheidungsprozesse und untersucht deren Akzeptanz in verschiedenen Bevölkerungsgruppen.

Social cohesion lost and found: sense of belonging in the post-Soviet Ukraine, 1991-2025

Currently the speakers of the Zelenskyy’s administration are spreading alarming predictions on the inevitable civil war if Ukraine will sign a peace deal on Putin’s – and Trump’s – conditions. Though these high-ranking Ukrainian officials are rather contradicting their own narrative spread in 2022-2023 on the strong unanimity of the Ukrainians united around the banner – and leader – due to the full-scale Russian invasion. This contradiction makes both narratives questionable: is Ukrainian society really united or sharply divided? Does the war contribute into increase or decrease of social cohesion? 

The panel compares changes of social cohesion and sense of belonging in the areas under Ukrainian government control, in the “new territories” occupied by Russia, and among Ukrainians abroad. It also examines dynamics of social cohesion influenced by crises – collapse of the USSR in 1991, antigovernment rallies in 2004 and 2014 accompanied with annexation of Crimea and secessionist insurgency in Donbas, and, finally, invasion of 2022 and collapse of the US-Ukraine alliance in 2025.

Papers:

Vlad Mykhnenko (Oxford University): Ukraine's Economic, Social, and Territorial Cohesion in a Comparative Perspective.

This paper considers the evolution of Ukraine’s space-economy from 1990 onwards, paying particular attention to its comparative regional economic performance vis-a-vis major industrially advanced and emerging market economies. Previous research has shown that Ukraine inherited from the Imperial and Soviet eras a space-economy that was amongst the most unbalanced in Europe, whereas the country's post-Soviet regional trajectories intensified these territorial imbalances even further (Mykhnenko & Swain, 2010). Indeed, in comparison with other European countries, by 2005, the level of economic divergence in Ukraine had become the highest on the continent. This paper updates and geographically extends the prior economic, social, and territorial cohesion analysis of Ukraine with development trends since the mid-2000s until the Russian large-scale invasion of 2022. The paper concludes with a discussion on Ukraine's future economic, social, and territorial cohesion trajectories in context of the EU enlargement and the country's accession process.

Vlad Mykhnenko is a professor of Geography and Political Economy at Oxford University and a fellow at St. Peter’s College, Oxford.

 

Oksana Myshlovska, (University of Bern): A Narrow Peace Process That Failed: Conflict Dynamics and Conflict Transformation During the Maidan Protests (November 2013-February 2014)

The paper studies the dynamics of inter-group conflict and factors facilitating negotiated settlements during the Maidan protests, the failures of several consecutive conflict transformation efforts and the barriers to inclusion. It uses a relational and constructivist approach to explore the influence of norms, identities and narratives on actions and the dynamic interaction of multiple actors across levels. Empirical data is analyzed with a discursive process tracing method. Factors that have facilitated negotiated agreements included pressure from the USA and EU, Russia’s nominal support for non-violent resolution and civil society pressures. However, third-party engagement often narrowed the peace process, excluding groups legitimizing force, driven by Western liberal peace visions, Russia's historical biases and internal opposition dynamics. This exclusion led to the emergence of multiple spoiler groups undermining settlements. The research highlights the context-specific and relational nature of barriers to inclusion. The paper underscores the need for inclusive, multi-level peace processes and highlights the persistent barriers to inclusion.

Oksana Myshlovska, is a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute of History, the University of Bern.

 

Oksana Mikheieva (Ukrainian Catholic University Lviv/Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien, ZOiS Berlin): Social cohesion in Ukraine in the third year of full-scale Russian invasion: key components and measurement challenges

Current theoretical models do not provide an unambiguous understanding of the parameters by which we can measure social cohesion. However, a universal approach to understanding social cohesion is to take into account such parameters as co-operation and integration, sense of belonging, trust, mental health and resilience. In our study, we can talk about how these components of social cohesion manifest themselves in war-affected societies.

Oksana Mikheieva is a Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien (ZOiS), Berlin. In 2020–2023 she was a DAAD Professor at the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at the European University Viadrina (Frankfurt/Oder).

 

Alexandr Osipian (GWZO, Leipzig)Sense of belonging in old industrial region: historical legacy of Donbas in Ukraine and Russia, 1991-2024

This paper investigates the dynamics of identity changes in Donbas from nationally indifferent class identity in the USSR to “regional” one in the post-Soviet time and, finally, to neo-imperial Russian one in the Russia’s occupied areas since 2014. I compare the representations of industrial areas in imperial and national contexts: Ukrainian and Russian historical narratives, commemorations, and museum exhibitions, particularly after 2014. On the one hand, under-representation or – in some cases – negative representation of the Donbas industrial legacy in Ukrainian historical narratives, commemorations and museum exhibitions accompanied with deindustrialization and political crises of 2004 and 2014 had caused in Donbas the strong resentment and growing disloyalty to Ukrainian nation-state project. On the other hand, after unsuccessful efforts to implement recently invented “Novorossiya” identity in Donbas, Russian historical politics in the occupied areas now appropriate the industrial legacy of Donbas as important for late imperial and Soviet narratives of Russian history. In that way Donbas regional identity is incorporated to Russian neo-imperial one even though many industrial plants and monuments were destroyed to the ground by Russian military in 2022-2024.

Dr. Alexandr Osipian (Leipzig) is a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO), Leipzig. In 2020-2022 he was a Research Fellow at Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin. In 2012 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), the George Washington University (Washington, DC).

Daniel Hedinger: Trump and the Global Rise of Fascism

Between the March on Rome in 1922 and the January 6 Capital attack of 2021 lies almost one hundred years. We now cannot help noticing that fascism is celebrating its centenary with an astonishing comeback. It is a comeback in a double sense: as a real-world phenomenon and an academic topic. On the one hand, we are just witnessing the rise of a radical right on a level not seen since the interwar years. Therefore, the ghosts, traumas, and catastrophes that haunted those years are back in the media and the broader public discussion. On the other hand, scholars are debating with increased intensity how all of this relates to interwar fascism and if we should label contemporary right-wing movements “fascist.” 

All of this is obviously closely linked to Donald Trump’s rise and the political crisis in the USA. This keynote will explore how the concept of fascism can help us understand current developments. It will examine the interwar period to identify both parallels and differences. While comparisons of Trump to Mussolini or Putin to Hitler are often made, I argue that such simplistic parallels and direct continuities do not necessarily enhance our understanding of contemporary issues or interwar fascism. Instead, we should focus on the processes of mutual and cumulative radicalization, which, during the already interwar years, did not arise in isolation but rather from interconnected national contexts. To do this, the notion of transimperial fascism is key.

Far-Right and Anti-Genderism: Gender as the Glue of Social Cohesion? A Balkan Perspective

The far-right worldwide appears to be rooted in what is often referred to as anti-genderism, a term that encapsulates a range of sex/gender-based identity policies aimed at fostering re- traditionalization, anti-LGBT mobilization, and the promotion of a heteronormative family model. At the same time spread of femonationalism (Farris, 2017) indicates novel ways of integrating women in the new right, signaling simultaneous exclusion and inclusion far-right is aiming at (Dombrowski and Hajek, 2021). 

Introduced as part of struggle to save civilization, these policies and movements represent a backlash against feminism and policies aimed at gender equality, social diversity and inclusivity. In her latest book “Who’s afraid of gender?” Judith Butler maps different anxieties related to the gender – from threat to national security in Russia, to heteronormative family and pedophilia in Catholic communities worldwide (Butler, 2024). Antigenderism fights for traditional gender roles, which are perceived as the oldest bases of social cohesion, and “symbolic glue” of societies (Kováts and Põim, 2015). Anti-genderism, in other words, demands re-traditionalization of gender, in order to secure social cohesion and national survival of (own) civilization. 

The Balkan region provides a compelling case study for the gradual rise of anti-genderism, which has emerged in the context of anti-communist nationalism and clericalism on one hand, and the European framework of gender equality on the other. Post-socialist countries in the region, influenced by the specific roles of both Catholic and Orthodox Churches and a pervasive sense of demographic threat tied to ethnic nationalism, exhibit strong anti-gender and anti- LGBT policies. Following a period of harmonization with EU laws that initiated attempts to legalize gender diversity, a backlash ensued, characterized by a renewed insistence on traditional family values, hyper-masculinity, and an emphasis on the biological reproduction of the nation. This far-right mobilization is manifested in legislative rejections of gender equality, as well as grassroots activism - such as protests and marches aimed at protecting traditional family values and promoting heteronormative family structures, alongside digital pro-family initiatives. This has led to an overt rejection of feminism, LGBT rights, and gender diversity in general. 

The panel seeks to explore anti-genderism and femonationalism in the Balkans in historical context of (post)socialism and nationalist mobilization in the 1990s, while focusing on actors promoting the backlash from clerics to far-right parties, asking about grassroots activism, intellectual contributions and importance of women in these movements. Moreover, we are interested in the transnational connections among these groups, their shared campaigns, political goals and common narratives, especially through digital activism. Finally, the panel explores how anti-genderism works as a force unifying far-right across borders while fostering ethno-nationalist mobilization within, promoting unity through homogeneity, falsely assuming that shared biological ethnicity can ensure social cohesion. 

Participants:

Jelena Ćeriman and Marija Mandić (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade): Contesting Gender, Asserting Tradition: The Serbian Orthodox Church and the Discursive Reframing of Equality

This paper examines how the Serbian Orthodox Church has contributed to the discursive recontextualization of gender equality policies in Serbia from 2008 to 2024. Drawing on Theo van Leeuwen’s critical discourse analysis of social actors, the study examines the Church’s discoursive strategies and arguments used in a negative response to legal reforms regarding gender equality. The central hypothesis is that the Church’s engagement, through specific uses of strategies of nomination, predication and argumentation, as well as figurative speech (e.g. metaphor), shapes the interpretive frameworks through which gender policies are received, resisted, or rearticulated. It asks how this anti-gender argumentation is formed, what cultural, theological, and political premises it draws upon, and how it constructs legitimacy in the public debate. This process can be understood as a discursive reframing of equality, in which gender rights are redefined not as a question of justice or inclusion, but as a repression and a threat to collective identity, moral order, and social stability. Methodologically, the study is based on critical discourse analysis of official statements and documents issued by the Church. The study contributes to understanding how gender becomes a site of political struggle through the strategic activation of social meaning by traditional institutions.

Jelena Ćeriman is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. Her research is situated at the intersection of political and cultural sociology, with a focus on care, family relations, and gendered dimensions of social inequality in Southeast Europe. She examines how discourses, norms, and social practices shape (and are shaped by) broader political and cultural contexts. Ćeriman has led and participated in numerous interdisciplinary research projects, and her work integrates empirical and theoretical approaches to explore the relations between everyday life, institutions, and resistance in post-socialist societies. 

Marija Mandić is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. She was a Humboldt Research Fellow (2016–2018) at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research combines linguistic anthropology, critical sociolinguistics, and ethnographic approaches, focusing on minority languages, ethnicity, migration, and social memory in Southeast Europe. She has led and participated in numerous international and national research projects and conducted extensive fieldwork in Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. She has taught sociolinguistics at the doctoral level and given guest lectures at universities in Belgrade, Vienna, Berlin, Oslo, Tirana etc.

 

Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts): Anti-gender backlash to gender equality measures in higher education and academia

Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc is a political scientist who approaches political issues from a cultural studies perspective. Her research focuses on memory politics and public remembrance of crimes committed during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and during the Second World War. She pays particular attention to the impact of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on the countries of the former Yugoslavia, as well as to the reproduction of historical narratives in school textbooks. Another line of her research deals with gender equality in science, the position of women scientists from the socialist era to the present, and the integration of gender dimensions into research. She is a member of the Commission for Equal Opportunities in Science at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

 

Katarina Ristić (Leipzig University): Mapping Far-right "Anti-genderism" in Digital Space: Balkan Perspective

Research on digital far-right movements identifies anti-genderism as one of the main pillars of far-right mobilization. In their mission to "save Western civilization," the far-right promotes traditional gender roles as the "glue of social cohesion" and a necessary element for the traditional family, which they argue is essential for the reproduction of the nation and the survival of the white race. Literature on this topic remains driven by methodological nationalism (Donovan et al., 2022; Leidig, 2023; Nagle, 2017), while the research on transnational connections remains scarce (Lazetic, 2025). The Balkan region provides a promising starting point for exploring digital anti-genderism in transnational perspective, due to the region’s dual connection to both Western and Russian branches of the far-right, sharing demographic anxieties with European and American white racists, while also aligning with certain visions of pan-Slavic Russian Orthodoxy. Moreover, it is specific for both Catholic (Tranfić, 2022) and Orthodox (Stakić, 2015) traditions, emerging within post-socialist political and legal context (Ćeriman & Vučković Juroš, 2024).

This paper aims to map the actors promoting anti-genderism in digital space, comencing with the Serbian scene, and to analyze their positions, connections, and relationships with the far-right digital space. I will focus on three specific digital genres of anti-genderism: TradWifes (Danica Crnogorcević), Toxic Masculinity (Nikola Gladović, Baka Prase), and Dark Intellectuals (Vladislav Djordjević). By examining the digital environment—primarily focusing on YouTube, Reddit, and 4chan—I will trace connections, links, narratives, and arguments, and assess their collective contribution to the transnational far-right and its traditionalist and anti-genderist discourses. This paper maps the scene, identifying the main actors and narratives as a first step toward better understanding of the digital features of the transnational far-right.

Katarina Ristić is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Global and European Studies Institute (GESI) at the University of Leipzig. Since 2024 she is also a reseacher at the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC/FGZ), and an associted researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), working on the project »Far-right Digital Activism: Transnational Connections and Memory in Southeast Europe«. Her research is on the intersection of Southeast European history, media and memory studies, mainly dealing with the memory of Yugoslav wars in the 90s. 

Her transition to Global Studies started during the PhD in History, obtained at the Faculty of History, Art, and Regional Studies at the University of Leipzig (2013) following the studies of Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade (2004). She has been a research associate at the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg and at the University of Magdeburg in the field of International Security and Conflict Studies. Currently, she is researching transnational far-right and digital memory culture.

 

Sina Arnold (Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University Berlin / Research Institute Social Cohesion): "Men Can’t Be Women and Jews Can’t Be American“: Antisemitism and Transphobia in Contemporary American Far-Right Discourse

In May 2022, a far-right assassin carried out an attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, murdering ten Black people. His manifesto is characterized by racism and antisemitism, and their entanglement in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. The perpetrator was inspired by numerous global right-wing terrorist attacks, from Norway to Germany and New Zealand. But for the first time ever, an accompanying manifesto mentions trans identities, and gives the topic a central place in its anti-genderism. What's more, the alleged “rise of transgenderism” is presented by the perpetrator as a Jewish campaign to destroy the West and the 'white race'. 

These ideas can build on a long tradition of far-right sexual antisemitism, and yet fundamentally renew it. Based on empirical analyses of right-wing extremist books (Howard Scott's “Transideology”) and online magazines (including “National Vanguard”, “Occidental Observer”) after 2020, the lecture will discuss these changes and flesh out structural links between antisemitism and transphobia via Klaus Holz' concept of the “figure of the third”. In addition, personal and ideological connections to other political developments in the United States will be discussed, such as the Trump administration's January 2025 decision by decree that only be two biological genders exist.

Dr. Sina Arnold is a principal investigator at the Research Institute Social Cohesion and senior researcher at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technical University Berlin. She studied Social Anthropology, Education and Political Sciences in Berlin and Manchester. Her work focuses on contemporary antisemitism in the United States and Germany, (institutional) racism, migration, and memory politics. She is the author of “From Occupation to Occupy. Antisemitism and the Contemporary American Left” (Indiana University Press, 2022). In her current research project she analyzes transnational far-right discourses in the United States and Germany.

Rebuilding Social Cohesion in Syria

On the 8th of December 2024 -after 54 year of dictatorship by the Assad family and after 14 years of civil war- Syrian rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir ash-Sham and the Syrian National Army toppled the Assad regime. As hope for peace and reconstruction intermingles with fears of sectarian violence and the continuation of authoritarian rule by new actors, the challenges for rebuilding the country seem insurmountable: More than 6 million Syrians have fled the country and more than 7,4 million are internally displaced; more than 90 % of the population live under the poverty line and many regions in Syria lack in functioning basic infrastructure such as electricity; additionally bombings by Turkey and Israel continue in the border regions and massacres in early March in the coastal cities mainly inhabited by Alawis have stoked fears of new waves of (sectarian) violence. Disarming and/or integrating paramilitary groups, finding justice for the victims of war crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Assad regime and its security apparatus but also by terrorist groups and warlords, rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and economy, and building a political system and society inclusive of all of Syria’s diverse communities are among the chief challenges the interim regime and Syrian society are currently facing. 

This panel explores what social cohesion means in Syrian contexts. How do familial, ethnic, sectarian, class, local and national forms of identities, loyalties, and senses of belonging compete, entangle and mutually condition each other? How have the decades of dictatorship and 14 years of civil war influenced social structures, group identities, forms of social cohesion and concepts of national cohesion/national identity? To answer these and related questions, this panel looks at various communities, social groups and formations in Syria -rural communities, paramilitary groups, syndicates, and kinship networks- from historical and contemporary perspectives. In doing so, it highlights the diversity of Syrian society and explores how diverse social groups and communities each develop their own forms of cohesion in order to meet the challenges of a society rich with diverse historic roots and entanglements, fragmented by decades of repression and political violence as well as geographically dispersed by flight and exile and heavily influenced by foreign interventions.

 

Papers: 

Katrin Köster (ReCentGlobe, Leipzig University): Introduction: Rebuilding Social Cohesion in Syria – Historical Background

This paper provides a brief summary of Syria’s socio-political history during the twentieth century, that is from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the civil war that began in March 2011. It outlines how the Baath Party and the Assad regime rose to power and which ramifications this had for diverse social groups in the country. It also gives a cursory overview of important factions in the civil war as well as their regional and geo-political entanglement. The paper thus serves as background information for an easier understanding of the expert papers on specific group cohesions and how they were influenced by recent upheavals in Syria. 

Rahaf Aldoughli (Lancaster University): From Regime Collapse to Military Integration: Identity Transformation and Social Cohesion Among Syria’s Armed Groups

This paper investigates the formation of a new Syrian military following the fall of the Assad regime, focusing on the integration of diverse armed groups such as the Syrian National Army (SNA) and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Drawing on extensive fieldwork, including over 150 hours of interviews with fighters and commanders, the study applies a theoretical framework of emotionality and identity transformation to analyze the evolving concept of social cohesion within this newly integrated military structure.

Social cohesion among armed groups is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional phenomenon shaped by shared emotional experiences, collective trauma, and shifting group identities. The revolutionary moment following Assad’s fall catalyzed a process of identity fusion, wherein individual fighters’ identities became inseparable from their group affiliations. This emotional bond, forged through common struggles and sacrifices, fostered a sense of psychological kinship that transcended ideological and tribal differences. Ahmad al-Sharaa’s leadership played a crucial role in harnessing these emotional dynamics to consolidate rival factions under a unified command, reinforcing a collective sense of purpose rooted in the revolutionary experience.

However, the integration of armed groups presents inherent challenges to social cohesion. Divergent loyalties, historical rivalries, and varying motivations—ranging from ideological convictions to material incentives—complicate efforts to build trust and solidarity within the new military framework. The exclusion of groups such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and southern factions further underscores the difficulty of achieving comprehensive cohesion across Syria’s diverse military landscape. Moreover, the legacy of localized governance and external influences, particularly from Turkey, continues to shape factional identities, posing additional obstacles to fostering a unified national identity.

This study argues that achieving social cohesion within Syria’s new military requires more than structural integration—it necessitates addressing the emotional and ideological foundations that have shaped fighters’ identities throughout the conflict. By examining the processes of identity transformation and emotional bonding, this paper highlights the complex interplay between individual experiences and collective narratives that underpin social cohesion among integrated armed groups. Ultimately, the long-term stability of Syria’s military will depend on its ability to reconcile local loyalties with the construction of a shared national identity, ensuring that the legacy of the revolution serves as a unifying force rather than a source of continued fragmentation.

 

Katharina Lange (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin): “The Trees are like our Children”: War, Ecology and Social cohesion in Afrin / Syria

The Syrian district (mantiqa) of Afrin, situated northwest of Aleppo directly along the border with Turkey, has historically been a Kurdish-populated region. Historically known as Kurd Dagh / Jabal al-Akrad (The Kurdish mountain), the district has been primarily agricultural, with olive cultivation going back centuries. Since the late 20^th century, olive trees have dominated the landscape of Afrin, constituting not only the mainstay of local livelihoods, but also serving as a symbol and medium of local belonging and a specific social identity. Following the Syrian uprising and subsequent war, Afrin was autonomously administered by the PYD (the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party) from 2012 to 2018; in 2018, it was occupied by Islamist militias under Turkish control. Following the final toppling of Asad rule in December 2018, the region has nominally (if not practically) been incorporated into HTS-ruled Syria. 

The occupation by the militias of the Syrian National Army (SNA) has brought about profound and violent demographic change. Not only has a large part of the original human population been displaced by unchecked crimes and human rights violations; numerous trees (in particular, olives) have also been uprooted, cut down or damaged. Drawing from earlier fieldwork, accounts on social media and experiences of displaced Afrin inhabitants now living in Germany, the lecture maps these violent changes against the backdrop of earlier agrarian practices and social relations. In particular, it asks to what extent cultivating and destroying plant life may appear as practices that also embody territorial and political claims. 

 

Felix Wessel (Berlin Graduate School for Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Freie Universität Berlin): The Historicity of Corporatist Labour Regimes in Syria

The surprising breakdown of the Assad regime in December 2024 sparked hope for a democratic and just new start in Syria. Yet, at the same time, the groups that succeeded the regime did not break with the sectarian logic that fuelled the war – and that had been a part of Syrian politics since at least the late Ottoman Empire. While class-based identities could potentially run counter to these communalist faultlines, the working class as a subjective actor was suspiciously absent from the events since 2011 and even before. And although strikes and other forms of labour action have increasingly occurred from 2018 on, and became ever more common in the 2020s, in the absence of any meaningful independent class-based organization or representation, they have not led to the development of a working class identity. I would like to address this issue from a historical point of view and deplore why class as a subjective identity seems to have played such a negligible role in Syria and what factors have historically created obstacles for the development of a working class identity? To answer this question, my presentation outlines the history of the organizations of the working people in Syria such as guilds and trade unions since the late 19^th century. The aim is to describe the genesis and the characteristics of the corporatist regime in Syria. 

Felix Wessel writes his Phd. on the end of the Ottoman guild system and the beginning of trade unionism in Syria. He is a doctoral student at the Berlin Graduate School for Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS) at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU), and is a PhD. fellow at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation. He holds a BA in History and Area Studies from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and a MA in Islamic Studies from FU Berlin.

Finding Hope in the Downturn? Social Cohesion, Industrial Decline, and the Ecological Crisis

An experience of loss and decline is conventionally expected to generate conflict, while projects of material abundance are thought to promote peace and social cohesion. In this vein, scholarship has highlighted new political cleavages and social conflicts around ecological problems and socio-ecological transformation: Environmental policies, the phasing out of polluting industries and deindustrialization in general are at the heart of current political polarization. But could decline also bring about new forms of social cohesion? This interdisciplinary panel explores the visions and practices of social cohesion that might emerge from an experience of socio-ecological decline. Under what conditions has social cohesion historically emerged around economic and ecological problems? What are the challenges for social-ecological cohesion today, in a context characterised by deindustrialisation and increasing ecological disasters? Which actors are currently engaged in building social-ecological alliances? Which understanding of sociality and subjectivity underpin their visions – and what might be their limits?

 

Nora Räthzel (Umeå University): Contradictions in Trade Union Environmental Thinking: Between Trade Union Daily Life and Utopias of the Good Life

It seems clear: Workers want to keep their jobs. Trade unions have fought to slow the closure of coal mines, arguing that workers need their jobs. However, 85% of workers in the Scottish oil industry stated that they would like to work elsewhere – if only they could. When we asked trade unionists in Spain and the United Kingdom to paint us a picture of the society they would like to live in, these pictures spoke of local community, access to nature, education, mutual care, a life where less work is done and more is lived. The question is, how can trade union environmental policy, or environmental policy in general, connect with such needs? How can workers become agents of transformation, a transformation that includes their needs for a good life and is not dominated by the fear of losing existing jobs? How can utopias be meaningfully integrated into everyday politics?

Dr. Nora Räthzel is Professor emerita at the Sociology Department of Umeå University.

 

Julia Kaiser (Global Studies Institute, University of Leipzig): The socially integrated factory of the Collettivo di Fabbrica GKN as an ecological-proletarian utopia

Four years ago, the workers at the GKN Factory near Florence, an automotive supplier, were dismissed. They responded to their layoffs by demanding an ecological conversion of production. Their cause has garnered significant attention, as they united tens of thousands of people in civil society in Italy and internationally behind it. The factory remains until today the stage for the social-ecological struggle. In that context, a radical questioning of alienated labor is taking place, creating a space of in-betweenness that suggests what democratic industrial labor might look like. A collective desire for use-value-oriented work has emerged, leading to various visions of a new togetherness, a new kind of work, and a new politics within the climate movement. What motivates and empowers the workers at the former GKN to fight for an ecological production? What are the characteristics of a climate struggle led by industrial workers? What collective imaginations and concrete results are produced by this concrete utopia?

Julia Kaiser is a PhD student at the Global Studies Institute, University of Leipzig. 

 

Jacob Blumenfeld (Center for Social Critique, Humboldt-Universität Berlin): Managing Decline: On the Subject of Fossil Capitalism and its Demise

Ending fossil fuels requires managing the decline of both an industry and a world. It means reshaping how we relate to the environment, to others, and to ourselves. Since fossil fuels are so deeply embedded in how we live today—in our foods, heating, homes, work, transport, electronics, chemicals and more—any attempt to decarbonize society will not just be difficult practically, but subjectively. The subjective barriers to ending fossil fuels can emerge negatively when certain values like liberty and security, shaped by our reliance on fossil fuels, are threatened by the demand to cut emissions. Resentment, hostility, and aggression are normal reactions to what are perceived as  threats to the stability of the ego. Can this be avoided? Managing decline, if done carefully, can also be an opening for new forms of aesthetic experience that are currently blocked by society. Developing the capacity to end things is an important step in this process.

Jacob Blumenfeld is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Critique at Humboldt University Berlin. He is co-directing a Gerda-Henkel Stiftung funded project on Socialization of Land and Energy. His most recent book is: „Umkämpftes Eigentum: Eine gesellschaftstheoretische Debatte“ (Suhrkamp, 2025).