Benjamin Beuerle

Research Area 2 and Research Area 5

Stay at EEGA: mid-April – mid-July 2018

Benjamin Beuerle is a postdoctoral research fellow at the German Historical Institute Moscow. He has published a number of articles on legislative reform debates and politics in late imperial Russia and is the author of Russlands Westen. Westorientierung und Reformgesetzgebung im ausgehenden Zarenreich, 1905-1917 (Harrassowitz, 2016). Since joining the German Historical Institute Moscow in March 2017, he has been dealing with contemporary Russian environmental history and policy, and is the scientific coordinator of a new joint research project on Russia in the Asia-Pacific region.

Current research Project: Climate Change and Emissions in Russia: Attitudes and approaches from late Soviet and post-Soviet times (1970s-2010s)

This research project explores attitudes on climate change – among politicians, scientists, the press and various organizations – and approaches to lower emissions in Russia from the late 1970s until the present time, with the Russian Far East as a specific case study. Recent literature and preliminary findings point to widespread climate-scepticism in Russia. The current project asks how Russian attitudes on climate change have evolved from late-Soviet times until today and which political approaches have been developed and debated – in which ways – in Russia to deal with the topic. Two questions will receive especial attention: How does the picture change if we take into consideration a region which is already sensibly affected by climate change – notably the Russian Far East? And which approaches and motivations can be and have been there to lower anthropogenic emissions if climate change delivers none? In order to tackle the latter question, renewable energy projects and the topic of urban air pollution will be taken into consideration.

Video Interview with Benjamin Beuerle:

#1 – Please present yourself and your research project briefly – and: how did you get to know the Campus?

#2 – How do you expect your fellowship with EEGA to contribute to your professional career?

#3 – What ist the benefit of EEGA for researchers?

#4 – What are you plans for your fellowship? Which EEGA activities do you plan to attend?

#5 – What is the special and global aspect of your research project and how does it go beyond classical studies in Eastern Europe?