Christin Stühlen

Doctoral Researcher

In my work, I focus on socio-eco­logical con­flicts of trans­forma­tion in South­east Europe and examine how global climate, energy, and re­source policies shape local dis­putes over land­scapes, labor relations, and partici­pation. 

Christin Stühlen is a Docto­ral Researcher at PRIFS's Research Depart­ment Intrastate Conflict. In her work, she focuses on pro­tests against mining and energy pro­jects, as well as labor dis­putes in coal-depen­dent regions.

Christin Stühlen
stuehlen(at)prif.org
 Press photo

CV

| since 2024
Doctoral Re­searcher, Research Depart­ment Intrastate Conflict, PRIF

| 2024
Lecturer at the Depart­ment of Develop­ment Policy and Post­colonial Studies at the University of Kassel

| 2022–2024
Research assis­tant and lecturer at the Philipps Uni­versity of Marburg

| 2021–2022
Student assistant at the Depart­ment of Feminisms and/from the Global South at Goethe Uni­versity Frankfurt/M.

| 2021–2022
Parental leave replace­ment in the public relations depart­ment at medico international e.V.

| 2019–2021
Student assistant at medico inter­national e.V.

| 2018–2022
Master's degree in Inter­national Studies/Peace Research at Goethe Uni­versity Frankfurt/M.

| 2018–2023
Freelancer for Hessischer Rund­funk

| 2017–2023
Freelancer for West­deutscher Rundf­unk

| 2015
Erasmus+ stay at the University of Akureyri, Iceland

| 2013–2017
Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences at Hein­rich Heine Uni­versity Düsseldorf

PhD Project

Green transition efforts in South­eastern Europe are shaped by two simultaneous and partly inter­connected developments linked to European politics and EU accession prospects. On the one hand, countries in the region are undergoing a domestic shift from fossil fuels – especially coal – toward renewable energy sources, which is a requirement of EU accession. On the other hand, the EU’s own transition to a green economy increas­ingly relies on so-called transition minerals, such as lithium. Policies like the European Critical Raw Materials Act (ECRMA) provide economic incentives for trans­national companies to develop new mining projects in the region, often framed by domestic and international actors as aligning with high environmental and social standards.  

However, resistance against these efforts is growing across the Balkans. Protest movements frequently point to dys­functional and corrupt state institutions, alongside a lack of trans­parency and accountability, as key threats to local environ­ments, livelihoods, and social cohesion. At the same time, labor struggles in coal-dependent regions highlight the challenges of implementing just transition plans for both workers and their regional commu­nities. What connects these arenas of protest is a shared concern that EU-aligned sustaina­bility agendas are under­mining domestic democratic processes and contradict the idea of a “just transition”. 

This project aims to examine the socio-ecological trans­formation conflicts arising from these EU-driven develop­ments in the post-Yugoslav space. Focusing on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia as case studies, the dissertation aims to (1) reconstruct and map these conflicts “from below” – starting from the perspective of protest actors. The first phase consists of explora­tory field research in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, including interviews with local activists, workers, unions, community members, and NGOs, as well as participant observation at protest sites and political events. In this phase, the project seeks to empirically assess how socio-ecological transfor­mation conflicts unfold and evolve, examining their key fields, themes, and trajectories, the dynamics at play, as well as the actors and actor constellations involved. In the second phase, the aim is to (2) zoom in on two specific protest sites (one in each case), exploring their political-economic structures and historical trajectories. Here, the analysis is guided by the research question of why certain socio-ecological conflicts emerge, escalate, or persist in some contexts but not in others. By analytically exploiting differences between the two cases, the project aims to identify recurring socio-ecological conflict patterns across the region, while also examining how the inter- and trans­national dynamics at play, including EU accession processes, are shaping these local struggles.  

Theoretically, the project draws on a rich body of literature on socio-ecological transfor­mation conflicts and regional protest studies, while contributing to it empirically by high­lighting the under­explored context of the (Western) Balkans. The dissertation is informed by a materialist perspective, asking how the EU’s green transition materially shapes social and labor conditions, and thereby potentially also the conditions for peace or conflict, in the region. In doing so, it seeks to reverse the dominant perspective on the EU, EU accession, and EU conditionality – examining them not merely as normative frameworks, but as concrete forces that produce new forms of conflict and contestation in the (Western) Balkans.  

Overall, the project aims to critically assess how EU-led green transition policies interact with local political economies and social dynamics, giving rise to new forms of resistance, conflict, and political agency in South­eastern Europe.

Publications

  • Transnational companies in environmental conflicts: Rio Tinto, anti-mining resistance in Serbia, and the contradictions of Europeanization
    | 2024
    Stühlen, Christin; Anderl, Felix (2024): Transnational companies in environmental conflicts: Rio Tinto, anti-mining resistance in Serbia, and the contradictions of Europeanization, Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, 13: 1, 243–268. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42597-024-00114-5
  • Transnational companies in environmental conflicts: Rio Tinto, anti-mining resistance in Serbia, and the contradictions of Europeanization.
    | 2024
    Stuehlen, Christin; Anderl, Felix (2024): Transnational companies in environmental conflicts: Rio Tinto, anti-mining resistance in Serbia, and the contradictions of Europeanization., Zeitschrift für Friedens und Konfliktforschung. DOI: 10.1007/s42597-024-00114-5
    Publication
  • Infrastrukturen der Gewalt. Lützerath, Dannenröder Forst und die Klimagerechtigkeitsbewegung
    | 2023
    Haudenschild, Daniel; Anderl, Felix; Stühlen, Christin (2023): Infrastrukturen der Gewalt. Lützerath, Dannenröder Forst und die Klimagerechtigkeitsbewegung, Wissenschaft und Frieden , 2: 41, 10–14.
    Publication
  • An den Grenzen Europas. Fürsorgliche Solidarität als aktivistische Praxis.
    | 2021
    Stühlen, Christin; Behrends, Jasmin; Reinhardt, Darius (2021): An den Grenzen Europas. Fürsorgliche Solidarität als aktivistische Praxis., Who Cares. Engagée journal , 1: 10, 64–69.

  • Solidarität, Care und Widerstand an der französisch-italienischen Grenze.
    | 2022
    Behrends, Jasmin; Leuthner, Rebekka; Reinhardt, Darius; Stühlen, Christin; Wenz, Ruth; Zirker, Franziska (2022): Solidarität, Care und Widerstand an der französisch-italienischen Grenze., in: KollektivDagegenhalten (eds), Zivilgesellschaftliche Solidaritäten gegen das EU-Grenzregime, 28–33.

  • The Strait of Hormuz in Perspective: One Global Chokepoint, Multiple Vulnerabilities, Compounded Effects
    | 2026
    Birchinger, Sophia; Flamm, Patrick; Abb, Pascal; Al-Wally, Mariam; Driedger, Jonas J.; Kebede, Sandra; Koyier, Hilda; McKee, Sarah; Michelini, Sidney; Peters, Dirk; Sebgo, Jean-Baptiste; Simon, Hendrik; Standke-Erdmann, Madita; Stühlen, Christin; Trpkovic, Mina; Warnck, Skollan Elisabeth; Witt, Antonia; Xian, Yaolong (2026): The Strait of Hormuz in Perspective: One Global Chokepoint, Multiple Vulnerabilities, Compounded Effects, PRIF blog, Frankfurt/M..
    Publication
  • Thirty Years of Onion Politics: Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement
    | 2025
    Stühlen, Christin (2025): Thirty Years of Onion Politics: Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement, PRIF Spotlight, 13, Frankfurt/M. DOI: 10.48809/prifspot2513
  • Belgrad ist (wieder) die Welt? Protestzyklen und politische Transformation in Serbien
    | 2025
    Stühlen, Christin; Trpkovic, Mina (2025): Belgrad ist (wieder) die Welt? Protestzyklen und politische Transformation in Serbien, FJSB-Plus: 2025/09.
    Publication
  • Uprisings in Serbia
    | 2025
    Trpkovic, Mina; Stühlen, Christin (2025): Uprisings in Serbia. Struggle(s) against a resilient regime, PRIF Spotlight, 2, Frankfurt/M. DOI: 10.48809/prifspot2502
  • Grün ist das Versprechen, grau die Realität
    | 2024
    Stühlen, Christin (2024): Grün ist das Versprechen, grau die Realität, medico international.
    Publication

Further Activities

  • Doctoral Researchers' Speaker at PRIF
  • Mid-level repre­sentative on the budget committee of Philipps-Uni­versity Marburg

  • The Vio­lence of the Climate Crisis – Extinction, Repression & Environ­mental Justice Activism (together with Laura Kotzur) (ipb-conference 2023, organized by Philipps-Uni­versity Marburg, FU Berlin and the INTER­ACT Research Center)
  • PRIF: Um­strittener Berg­bau im Balkan; film series: The Green Transi­tion and its Costs for the Balkans

| 2026 
EU Peace Doc­toral Mo­bility
Scholarship

| 2025 
German Academic Ex­change Service (DAAD)
Scholarship

| 2024 
Carl and Charlotte Schott Foun­dation, Philipps-Uni­versity Mar­burg 
Scholarship

| 2023 
EU PEACE: European Uni­versity for Peace, Justice, and In­clusive Societies
Small grant for the co­opera­tion project “The EU as Glo­bal Gover­nance Actor” (together with Felix Anderl)