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Max­ine Möl­gen

Ph.d. Fellow

Subjects
Communication Discourse Politics Media Network Environment

Primary research areas

The ‘Green­lash’: How pro- and anti-green co­ali­tions shape the dis­course around green gov­ernance
I in­vest­ig­ate the cur­rent mo­bil­iz­a­tion against green poli­cy­mak­ing and the re­si­li­ence of green move­ments in times of polit­ic­al con­test­a­tion. Against the back­drop of rising pop­u­lism and at­tacks on green agen­das, I ex­plore how the dis­course around en­vir­on­ment­al policies shifts, and how dif­fer­ent act­ors from the right and left strategize to shape this shift. Spe­cific­ally, I am in­ter­ested in act­or net­works and dif­fu­sion pro­cesses of pro- and anti-green ideas.

In­vest­ig­at­ing dis­course and power in the gov­ernance of the green trans­ition

I am a PhD Fellow at the Department of Organization (IOA) studying how the discourse around green policies has changed since 2019, which actor groups have been influential in shaping the discourse, and which strategies these groups have utilized. I plan to use discourse, network and text analysis as well as conducting expert interviews and ethnographic research to map the evolution of discourse, the network of actors and how they influence the public discourse.  
 
With my interdisciplinary background at University of Mannheim and Copenhagen Business School, I bring a broad and international research perspective to my PhD. My research interests lie in the governance of the green transition and its intersection with social movements, ideologies, populism and climate denialism. I am particularly interested in the role of discourse, actor networks and diffusion processes within this field.  

Outside activities

2025 , -

No out­side activ­it­ies to re­port