This article examines how to adapt the global production network (GPN) approach to situations of natural resource extraction. Therefore, we integrate a political ecology perspective into GPN research. The integrated framework helps to move away from merely economic analyses and to identify the underlying emergence of unilateral dependencies, declines of social autonomy and the unequal distribution of environmental risks.

More and more initiatives are being taken to encourage a transition towards low-carbon mobility. One of these is car-free housing, where residents commit to living without a private car. A survey and interviews in nine car-free housing developments show an overrepresentation of families and people with a high level of education. Residents refer to practical reasons but also ecological awareness and social values in explaining their motivations and long-term commitment to living car-free.

Am 18. Januar 2017 beschloss der Senat der Universität Greifswald die 1933 verordnete Benennung nach Ernst Moritz Arndt zu streichen und zum ursprünglichen Hochschulnamen zurückzukehren. Dies nahmen rechts orientierte politische Gruppen zum Anlass, gegen die Rückbenennung und für den Verfasser militaristischer, juden- und ausländerfeindlicher Schriften eine Kampagne um vorpommersche Identität zu starten. Erst nach einem Jahr gelang es, die Krise diskursiv beizulegen.

In debates on deep-seabed mining (DSM), contrasting stories on mining carry different degrees of narrative potency and thus of potential discursive influence. We trace dominant discursive positions and their narrative structures to explain their relative success or failure. A successful narrative critique on DSM requires more pronounced depictions of the negative consequences in particular for humans, exposing the politics in policy making and offering captivating stories on alternatives.

With electrified and connected vehicles, the automotive industry is undergoing transitions which affect technical service companies. This article explores (1) how IT and engineering services for automotive applications are organized and (2) how current transitions affect their position vis-à-vis manufacturers. Depending on characteristics of an input and exposure to competition, technical services show organizationally fragmented patterns, while spatial dislocation plays a relatively minor role.

Based on empirical results from Bonn, the paper discusses the development of public libraries between digitization and austerity. The results published here are part of the research project „Öffentliche Bibliotheken im Spannungsfeld von Finanzknappheit und kommunaler Daseinsvorsorge“ at the University of Bonn, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Starting from a multi-level perspective, the project compares three local case studies in Europe with a qualitative mix of methods.

Based on qualitative fieldwork we analyse the struggles that enfold around the predicted extinction of a herd of wild horses in the Namib Desert. Our investigation shows that the conflictual border work around questions of whether and with what means humans should intervene appears also as an incorporated practice of subjects. Thus, we suggest repositioning research and nature conservation practice towards learning about, and with, the lived bodies of all actors involved.

The article argues for a Political Geography that takes the acutal practices of doing politics as its main point of interest. With the help of Hannah Arendt's philosophy analyzes the way in which these political practices are tied to particular places and their material equipment. Far from being limited to parliament or government buildings, the political permeates the web of our everyday life and the spaces in which it transpires.