Panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Isabel Feichtner, PD Dr. Verena Frick, PD Dr. Anna Meine and Dr. Philipp Gieg on the book „Natural resources: On exploitation and socialization“

As part of the Forum Sustainability event series, the second event of the 2026 summer term took place on June 17^th, 2026, as a make-up session for the overarching theme of the 2025/26 winter semester on "Local sustainability policy". Following a brief introduction by PD Dr. Verena Frick (JMU) and Gina-Sophia Krug (JMU), PD Dr. Anna Meine(Universität Münster), Dr. Philipp Gieg (JMU) and PD Dr. Verena Frick discussed the book „Natural resources: On exploitation and socialization“ with its author Prof. Dr. Isabel Feichtner (JMU).

At the beginning, Prof. Isabel Feichtner presented the central arguments of her book. In it, she analyzes how land – from urban property to the seabed – is increasingly becoming an investment asset and what social, political and legal conflicts are associated with this trend. Using, among others, the citizens’ initiative „Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen” as an example, she demonstrates how the law not only enables the exploitation of land, but how law and counter-law can also be used as instruments to reclaim the commons and the collective.In the discussion that followed, PD Dr. Verena Frick, Dr. Philipp Gieg and PD Dr. Anna Meine raised critical questions and comments from the perspectives of political science, maritime policy and legal scholarship on the concept of political space and the equating of the seabed with rural or urban spaces, the role of habitability and participatory decision-making, international law and the book’s understanding of norms. 

The event can also be credited towards the GSiK Certificates ("Intercultural Competence" in areas B and C, as well as "Sustainability and Global Responsibility")!

The events will be organized in interdisciplinary cooperation with the Chair of Social Science Sustainability Research, the Department of Political Theory, the Chair of International Relations and European Studies, the Chair of Public Law and International Economic Law, the Chair of Human Geography and the WueLAB.