Civil Disobedience in the Climate Crisis - Criminal or Criminalized Protest?Phenomenology, Backgrounds and Radicalization Markers

该研究项目的目的是对德国气候抗议活动进行犯罪学调查，重点是病因和动机。定性访谈和对气候运动积极分子的在线调查将结合起来；该项目将检验犯罪学理论，同时也将检验激进化的可能性是否存在以及在多大程度上存在。特别是后一点将有助于确保这项研究与警察和执法实践有关。第一个研究问题是，为什么气候运动的一部分选择了公民不服从的道路，或者更准确地说：选择（至少部分）跨越犯罪的抗议形式的决定性因素是什么。a)在这种情况下的假设是，气候抗议者的动机起点与极端主义运动，特别是右翼或宗教极端主义团体的动机起点完全不同。b)关于动机的第二个假设与作为抗议手段对积极分子进行刑事制裁有关。抗议-制裁悖论将在此背景下进行调查：抗议者将他们的公民不服从建立在这样一个假设之上：尽管严厉的刑事制裁确实会造成伤害，但它们也会在社会中产生团结。到目前为止，抗议研究的重点主要集中在抗议的直接影响上，即抗议是否能够实现所追求的政治目标（这里是气候保护）。本项目扩展了这一视角，并通过考察有意识地接受制裁是否以及在多大程度上（因为期望的中间目标：社会内部的团结、出席率的提高，以及抗议的相互自我强化）是抗议者越界行为的动机因素，将重点放在抗议的间接影响和中间目标上。2. 基于此，第二个研究问题集中在“激进化”的可能性上。气候正义运动中每个群体的激进化潜力（特别是“Letzte Generation”、“Extinction Rebellion”、“Ende Gelände”、“Fridays for Future”）将被阐明。我们必须根据不同的抗议形式加以区分（有针对性地对人民实施暴力的激进化，还是拒绝我们的自由民主秩序的激进化？）此外，必须对比不同的动机驱动因素。

The aim of the research project is a criminological investigation of the climate protests in Germany, focusing on etiology and motivation. Qualitative interviews and an online survey of activists of the climate movement will be combined; the project will test theories of criminology, while also examining whether and to what extent radicalization potentials are present. The latter point, in particular, will help to ensure that the research is relevant to police and law enforcement practice.1. The first research question is why parts of the climate movement choose the path of civil disobedience, or more precisely: what is decisive for choosing forms of protest that (at least in part) cross over into criminality. a) The hypothesis in this context is that the motivational starting point of climate protesters is completely different from that of extremist movements, in particular from that of right-wing or religious extremist groups. b) A second hypothesis concerning motivation is linked to the criminal sanctioning of activists as a means of protest. The protest-sanction paradox will be investigated in this context: The protesters base their civil disobedience on the assumption that while harsh criminal sanctions do hurt, they also generate solidarity within society. The focus of protest research so far has been primarily on the immediate effects of protest, i.e., on the question of whether protest is capable of achieving the political goals pursued (here: climate protection). This project expands the perspective and focuses on the indirect effects and intermediate goals of protest by examining whether and to what extent the conscious acceptance of sanctions (because of the hoped-for intermediate goal: solidarity within society, increased attendance, and thus a reciprocal self-reinforcement of the protest) is a motivational factor for deviant behavior among protesters. 2. Based on this, the second research question is focused on the possibility of "radicalization". Radicalization potentials specific to each respective group of the climate justice movement (especially "Letzte Generation", "Extinction Rebellion", "Ende Gelände", "Fridays for Future") will be illuminated. A distinction will have to be made based on different forms of protest (is a radicalization towards targeted violence against people or toward a rejection of our free democratic order conceivable?). Further, different motivational drivers must be contrasted.