SustainERA Public Research Talk #10

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Talk Abstract

Commonly associated with progressive and emancipatory politics, environmentalism can also serve as a tool for explicitly or implicitly advocating various forms of social exclusion. In his talk,  Balša Lubarda refers to these forms of politics as exclusionary environmentalism: the reproduction of social hierarchies and injustices at the expense of underprivileged social groups, for example on the grounds of race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, ability or belonging to human species. Exclusionary environmentalism is best conceptualized as a form of scapegoating, encompassing both explicit attempts to exclude marginalized groups on “environmental” grounds and more implicit forms of “othering” as part of broader processes of identity formation. In this talk, he will present empirical findings from research examining the presence and influence of eco-scapegoating among environmental activists in Serbia and Montenegro. Using a range of methods, including surveys, digital ethnography and interviews, the study reveals that exclusionary environmentalism and eco-scapegoating extend well beyond the far right.

About the Speaker

Balša Lubarda is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University - University Pompeu Fabra Public Policy Center in Barcelona. His work focuses on how environmental politics can be utilized to justify or amplify social exclusion. He is the author of the book "Far-Right Ecologism: Environmental Politics and the Far Right in Hungary and Poland" (Routledge, 2024) and a co-editor of the volume "Global Far-Right Ecologies: Trends, Issues and Challenges" (Routledge, 2026). He was previously the Head of Research at Damar Institute, the Head of Ideology Research Unit at the Far-Right Analysis Network (formerly Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right) and the Visiting Lecturer (Fulbright) at the University of California, Berkeley (United States). He received several research awards for his work, such as the Best Scientist Under 30 in Montenegro (2023), the Advanced Doctoral Student Award (Central European University) and fellowships, such as MSCA, Fulbright and Chevening. Balša is also a Junior Fellow at the Montenegrin Academy of Arts and Sciences.

About SustainERA

Running from 2025–2029, the ERA Chair in Sustainable Futures project (SustainERA) at Tallinn University combines high-level research with innovative solutions to promote sustainable mindsets and practices.  The project is funded by the European Union (Horizon Europe, GA No 101186958).

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