Congratulations to Larissa Deppisch on her doctorate!

Her cumulative dissertation, titled Feelings of being “left behind” in rural areas was written as part of a research project of the same name funded by the Thünen Institute. This was carried out from 2018 to 2023 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Andreas Klärner at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies.

In her dissertation, Larissa Deppisch examines the socially highly relevant question of how the increasing popularity of a right-wing populist party with right-wing extremist tendencies in Germany can be explained and what role so-called “feelings of being left behind” play for people in rural areas.

As a result, the articles from her dissertation provide a critical and clearly differentiated analysis that emphasize (regional) differences in the rural population's perception of space and interpretation of the situation. The dissatisfaction observed in rural areas can be attributed only in part to a lack of services of general interest and infrastructure facilities.

Larissa Deppisch proposes infrastructure policy to strengthen rural areas as a political recommendation for action. However, she does not see this as the sole approach and emphasizes that political education and a more differentiated view of rural areas are also necessary. Debates that naively adopt the right-wing populist narrative of rural areas being neglected by urban elites are of little help when it comes to seriously formulating and implementing a policy to strengthen rural areas.